This has taken way longer than I expected. It's just when I get to typing I sometimes can't stop and the words just keep coming and coming. But I only have a few more days to talk about, promise!
Wednesday, March 12th, Day 5:
3rd and final day on the river. We're all used to be covered in sand and dirt at this point and we have awkward tan lines and we're pros at starting up a fire for our little camping stoves and I can make some pretty dang good scones and pancakes out in the wilderness. We have too many inside jokes and so many talks about our lives and this very eclectic group of people who would probably NEVER be together like this on our own or ever again, is now extremely close. We run into various other spring breakers and our old guy friends again. But early in the am we get to packing up and heading out, the nomad life is the life for us. Our last canoe trek is only a little over 13 miles which is good since I didn't sleep much with the storm raging about the night before. It was really cool to go through that and I have a new appreciation for thunder storms and nature. Mother nature is a fierce woman and you def do not want to be on her bad side. And I was a little sore from going to never canoeing/paddling to 30 miles in 2 days on a rolling river with a current of maybe 1.5mi/hr. You're supposed to use your core muscles more than your arms but my shoulders and back definitely were feeling tight.
This time I was partnered up with the other guide, we'll call her Cassie. She works not only with outdoor pursuits but with the facilities department within the Rec as well. She was the one other person I kinda sort of knew before the trip. But she was also my tent partner and we were in meal groups together as well. Once again, I had some really good, deep talks about life both past and present and future. Something about the water, the sun, and no civilization or modern material things to make you reflect and open up to almost complete strangers. It just seems right to start talking and really listening to not only the other person but yourself and your thoughts while out on that river or in a tent on the banks. It offers a different perspective and now I don't see any of these people as complete strangers anymore.
It's hard not to become close when it's just 10 of you relying on each other to help with packing, setting up your mobile home day in and day out, cooking, cleaning, etc. We were a team and we all played our parts. I often would cook the baked goods, the pancakes, scones for breakfast and the bread with dinner. But not the main meals, instead that went to my partners and instead I would clean the pot and pan we used to cook everything, sometimes 3 times over to get a meal finished. Together we all got water, pitched tents, etc. I probably cleaned that same pot and pan over 50times. Some would haul the bigger bags and tubs from the canoes to the camp and others would make sure the canoes were tethered and safe for the night. And we would chat by the camp fire and around our little stoves talking about everything and nothing, little silly stories, or serious ones too. On the river we would play bumper canoes and string our canoes together to make a 'party barge' but most of the time it was just to be all together and if you were lucky to be in the middle of the canoes you could catch a cat nap in the sun.
But soon enough our time on the river ended. We got out at our ending destination, the Suwanee National Forest and our outfitter came and drove us back to our first camp site, Stephen Foster camp grounds. It was so bizarre to get back in a car and go so much faster than our 5mile/hr pace on a canoe. That night we went out on the town of White Springs. Mind you this town was little little. No stop lights, just a blinking one used instead of a stop on the one major intersection.
We went to the best place in town for dinner, a little ma'and'pop kind of style burger joint, Fat Belly's. BBQ, meat and fried anything you want was on the menu. We ate our fill of cheap american beer, and tons of meat and onion rings and chicken wings. It was delicious and I asked for sweet tea, in attempt to taste real southern 'sweet tay' as they pronounce it. It's not THAT bad. It's not syrup with ice. It is sweet though. Lots of sugar n I'm pretty sure if I hadn't drank some water with it I would have gotten a cavity almost instantly. We definitely all left with Fat Bellies, promising to never eat again we were so full. Or at least until about an hour later when we would get hungry again.
We took a walk around the town and saw the cute picket fences and read about the historical significance of the town. We walked by Sharon's Eatery and met the owner, he was just about to have his grand reopening since the store closed after his step mom, Sharon, died. We chatted for awhile and wished him luck and then went back for a night of smores and campfire games.
Thursday, March 13th, Day 6:
We got up super early and hit the road for a 9hour trek up to Kentucky. We watched all of the same billboards go by and I nodded off after stopping at a few sketchy gas stations again. We got back into the hills and mountains of eastern tennessee and kentucky and soon we saw snow on the ground.
Snow?!? We'd be living in tents, snow is not ideal for tents!!
Yep. We were thrust back into the reality of the north and the cold that came with it. The whole reason we were there though was to check out Cumberland Falls. It's one of 2 places in the entire world that has a moon bow.
What's a moon bow? A rainbow that is created by the light of the moon. The MOON.
The way the moon reflects off of the mist from the water falls sometimes makes a moon bow, but only right around the full moon time and it has to be a clear night, obviously. The other place that you can see one is somewhere in Central Africa.
Yeah, so we were going to take our chances and try to see a moon box in Corbin, KY.
And we got to see it! It was a frigid 30 degrees out but we went down to the falls and got to see the moon bow! It was a super clear night and the moon was bright and there definitely was a rainbow on the outer edge of the falls. It was very faint though, and a picture was totally not possible, not enough light to capture much of anything but we could see it. And it was so cool. SO COOL! We spent a few hours looking at the moonbow, star gazing and drinking hot tea that we dubbed 'moonbow tea' because we could and it was delicious and it was a prefect way to wrap up our splendid spring break trip.
Moonbow!
After a very restless and cold night we packed up for the last time and headed back to Carbondale. About 5 more hours with our new friends listening to country music, national public radio and talking about how badly we just wanted a real shower. And then we were back. Back to reality, back to the good ol town of Carbondale, my home, Salukiville.
And that is the story of my spring break! Sorry it took so long but I had a great time as you can tell and a lot happened :) But now I'm so far behind on my blog, promised my mom I would get caught up soon!
So to be continued!
No comments:
Post a Comment