It happened the beginning of June sometime, and it's July now, so I'm running behind but I want to share it with everyone.
No, it's not THAT kind of thing.
Derek was determined to take me floating down the river, it was something we never planned for, but since I don't' enjoy the water much, he decided through one of his "hair-brain ideas" as he so put, that he would give me a different kind of experience.
He claims the monotony of the pool may just be the culprit of my water-rut, not to mention my slight dislike for it. I'm not much of a swimmer, and the water has always scared me... I mean, remember Jaws ? Or how about that sci-fi classic The Blob, or Lady in the Water, or better yet the girl from the well in The Ring? I could go on and on...
But I digress.
He decided to buy us two cheap float rings from Walmart, and then off we went floating downstream, specifically down the river Oconee near my school. Which is a feat for me because for one, I don't like the river much. I like looking at it, or driving through it, but I don't like being in it. I'm not a swimmer. And secondly, this was an outdoorsy thing to do. I don't do the latter very well, if not at all. But Derek grew up around these type of activities so there was nothing to do but plunge.
I wish I could tell you that I relaxed some, but every time I finally would allow myself to something suspicious splashed in the river or my foot would graze something gross and slimy and a fish or some river creature would brush past me.
The worst part is sometimes it's hard to tell what things are because at any given moment I had mistaken twigs and tree trunks for alligator noses or river snakes (moccasins).
The river is shallow for the most part. There were times when I would be surprised and jump that something is under my butt only to realize a second later that my butt is scraping stones and sand from the shallowness.
The constant worry of being carried away by the current, a possible attack by alligators, and being bitten by poisonous snakes made me very anxious but I put my big-girl panties on and carried on.
After all, if Derek put forth enough thought to give me a new experience, surely it can't be THAT bad. And if not now, then when?
Carpe Diem, right? Seize the day.
We by-passed a few exit landings deciding to go farther since we had the time. That was until we realized we're not seeing anymore boat landings, there were less floaters and kayakers, no electric lines to speak-off, and we were pretty much alone in the company of a wilderness that was beginning to look more like the Amazon forest than Middle Georgia.
Holy Cow.
Along the way we saw several sand bars and stopped at one leading to a hill. Derek thought he might see something familiar on the other side, so on we went climbing this hill barefooted to the top only to find a huge field with weird looking larger bush among it and cow piles everywhere. We were barefooted and we were jumping and hopping to avoid cow piles.
But these cow piles had missing owners because we didn't see or hear any cows.
This field then reminded us of the fields from Jurassic Park. And it was creepy.
We didn't stay long there as we didn't find anyone. Though we did hear a radio somewhere but couldn't really locate it.
The only good thing that may have come out of this is that we were hungry (and didn't bring food) and Derek introduced me to my first wild blackberries, fresh from the bushes. He even gathered some for us to eat making us feel like regular scavengers trying to survive in the wild.
And I'm glad to report that they were not poisonous and had no diarrhea side-effects afterward. Seriously. For the longest time, I refused to eat wild berries because I had a notion that they would tear your stomach apart.
Sandbars. And mind games.
There were lots of sandbars that we opted to walk-on instead of float-by because by this time (which was late afternoon) we both decided that we've had enough floating and it was time to get off the river. Walking on the sandbars made it faster for us to travel and there were several along the way.
Derek delighted in pointing out animal tracks along the way showing me what deer tracks looked like, picking up baby turtles, teeny slimy frogs and especially pointed out tracks left by the alligators and their potential home a few feet away under huge tree stumps and sludgy looking lagoons.
And they were huge. The tracks, I mean.
But no problem, Derek said. Alligators only like to go hunting at night.
And with the sun going down faster than we can get out the river, it looked like the alligators may have company.
We met a few kayakers along the way giving us direction and telling us that (Hallelujah!) the next landing is not that far, only three more bends, a bit of a longer stretch, and that the landing is still in the same county!
What these boat people never told us was precisely how long these bends were, because as we rounded them, they definitely bended for what seemed like miles, and we were paddling for what seemed like hours.
But we got there.
And we had no plan. You see, this little unplanned adventure was never meant to go as long as we had anticipated and at most we thought we may have a couple mile walk ahead of us back to the car which was in the landing where we started the float.
Since, neither of us had a cellphone, or cash in hand, we went the biblical way and walked to our destination.
Except in the biblical times they probably had ample clothing.
We had our flip-flops, our bathing suits (swim trunks for him, and two piece bikini for me), and two large floaties.
We walked in the middle of the forest where this landing is located, through a stretch of tedious gravel road, up the hill to a quiet neighborhood, and on to a highway, walking briskly trying not to get angry that I am almost naked, carrying a dumb floaty, getting honked at and stared at from the road. And not to mention becoming dinner to several insects that gnawed my skin raw and that I rubbed furiously.
Not to mention, it was a race against daylight and neither of us had a clue of how far it was until the car.
Eventually, we recognized where we were walking to as I walked by two state prisons (and having jail birds hoot and holler at me in my bikini and our now deflated floaters that I had to makeshift into a drape), past Central state hospital, next to a Veteran's assisted home facility and through the ghetto, where we were the only two non-black kids walking through.
All I could think of was how someone was going to surely do something as this was the bad part of town and before long, the night owls and all the trouble they bring would come out.
Drug dealers, prostitutes, gangsters, and people that were up to no good would soon come out, and we would be there to greet them... or get in their way.
But we obviously made it, thanks to Derek's friendliness and making the black people laugh and we made it to the car. After hours of walking and hours floating and paddling down the river finally caught up with us and gave us both bodily pains like no one can imagine and head-splitting migraines.
Oddly enough, I had a pretty good time, in general. Even though I was a bit upset and scared, and achy, Derek and I managed to entertain ourselves teasing each other and laughing the whole way even if it was in the expense of how much I'd like to hurt him afterwards.
We laughed so hard and agreed that someday we'd tell this story to the next generation...
I guess we live to tell another story.
No, it's not THAT kind of thing.
Derek was determined to take me floating down the river, it was something we never planned for, but since I don't' enjoy the water much, he decided through one of his "hair-brain ideas" as he so put, that he would give me a different kind of experience.
He claims the monotony of the pool may just be the culprit of my water-rut, not to mention my slight dislike for it. I'm not much of a swimmer, and the water has always scared me... I mean, remember Jaws ? Or how about that sci-fi classic The Blob, or Lady in the Water, or better yet the girl from the well in The Ring? I could go on and on...
But I digress.
He decided to buy us two cheap float rings from Walmart, and then off we went floating downstream, specifically down the river Oconee near my school. Which is a feat for me because for one, I don't like the river much. I like looking at it, or driving through it, but I don't like being in it. I'm not a swimmer. And secondly, this was an outdoorsy thing to do. I don't do the latter very well, if not at all. But Derek grew up around these type of activities so there was nothing to do but plunge.
I wish I could tell you that I relaxed some, but every time I finally would allow myself to something suspicious splashed in the river or my foot would graze something gross and slimy and a fish or some river creature would brush past me.
The worst part is sometimes it's hard to tell what things are because at any given moment I had mistaken twigs and tree trunks for alligator noses or river snakes (moccasins).
The river is shallow for the most part. There were times when I would be surprised and jump that something is under my butt only to realize a second later that my butt is scraping stones and sand from the shallowness.
The constant worry of being carried away by the current, a possible attack by alligators, and being bitten by poisonous snakes made me very anxious but I put my big-girl panties on and carried on.
After all, if Derek put forth enough thought to give me a new experience, surely it can't be THAT bad. And if not now, then when?
Carpe Diem, right? Seize the day.
We by-passed a few exit landings deciding to go farther since we had the time. That was until we realized we're not seeing anymore boat landings, there were less floaters and kayakers, no electric lines to speak-off, and we were pretty much alone in the company of a wilderness that was beginning to look more like the Amazon forest than Middle Georgia.
Holy Cow.
Along the way we saw several sand bars and stopped at one leading to a hill. Derek thought he might see something familiar on the other side, so on we went climbing this hill barefooted to the top only to find a huge field with weird looking larger bush among it and cow piles everywhere. We were barefooted and we were jumping and hopping to avoid cow piles.
But these cow piles had missing owners because we didn't see or hear any cows.
This field then reminded us of the fields from Jurassic Park. And it was creepy.
We didn't stay long there as we didn't find anyone. Though we did hear a radio somewhere but couldn't really locate it.
The only good thing that may have come out of this is that we were hungry (and didn't bring food) and Derek introduced me to my first wild blackberries, fresh from the bushes. He even gathered some for us to eat making us feel like regular scavengers trying to survive in the wild.
And I'm glad to report that they were not poisonous and had no diarrhea side-effects afterward. Seriously. For the longest time, I refused to eat wild berries because I had a notion that they would tear your stomach apart.
Sandbars. And mind games.
There were lots of sandbars that we opted to walk-on instead of float-by because by this time (which was late afternoon) we both decided that we've had enough floating and it was time to get off the river. Walking on the sandbars made it faster for us to travel and there were several along the way.
Derek delighted in pointing out animal tracks along the way showing me what deer tracks looked like, picking up baby turtles, teeny slimy frogs and especially pointed out tracks left by the alligators and their potential home a few feet away under huge tree stumps and sludgy looking lagoons.
And they were huge. The tracks, I mean.
But no problem, Derek said. Alligators only like to go hunting at night.
And with the sun going down faster than we can get out the river, it looked like the alligators may have company.
We met a few kayakers along the way giving us direction and telling us that (Hallelujah!) the next landing is not that far, only three more bends, a bit of a longer stretch, and that the landing is still in the same county!
What these boat people never told us was precisely how long these bends were, because as we rounded them, they definitely bended for what seemed like miles, and we were paddling for what seemed like hours.
But we got there.
And we had no plan. You see, this little unplanned adventure was never meant to go as long as we had anticipated and at most we thought we may have a couple mile walk ahead of us back to the car which was in the landing where we started the float.
Since, neither of us had a cellphone, or cash in hand, we went the biblical way and walked to our destination.
Except in the biblical times they probably had ample clothing.
We had our flip-flops, our bathing suits (swim trunks for him, and two piece bikini for me), and two large floaties.
We walked in the middle of the forest where this landing is located, through a stretch of tedious gravel road, up the hill to a quiet neighborhood, and on to a highway, walking briskly trying not to get angry that I am almost naked, carrying a dumb floaty, getting honked at and stared at from the road. And not to mention becoming dinner to several insects that gnawed my skin raw and that I rubbed furiously.
Not to mention, it was a race against daylight and neither of us had a clue of how far it was until the car.
Eventually, we recognized where we were walking to as I walked by two state prisons (and having jail birds hoot and holler at me in my bikini and our now deflated floaters that I had to makeshift into a drape), past Central state hospital, next to a Veteran's assisted home facility and through the ghetto, where we were the only two non-black kids walking through.
All I could think of was how someone was going to surely do something as this was the bad part of town and before long, the night owls and all the trouble they bring would come out.
Drug dealers, prostitutes, gangsters, and people that were up to no good would soon come out, and we would be there to greet them... or get in their way.
But we obviously made it, thanks to Derek's friendliness and making the black people laugh and we made it to the car. After hours of walking and hours floating and paddling down the river finally caught up with us and gave us both bodily pains like no one can imagine and head-splitting migraines.
Oddly enough, I had a pretty good time, in general. Even though I was a bit upset and scared, and achy, Derek and I managed to entertain ourselves teasing each other and laughing the whole way even if it was in the expense of how much I'd like to hurt him afterwards.
We laughed so hard and agreed that someday we'd tell this story to the next generation...
I guess we live to tell another story.
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