7-24-11 Sunday (Not The Short Bus)

I’ll tell you now that we brought a lot of clothes with us.  Anyone who knows Jim also knows that he’s the type to have extra of stuff on hand.  Need 7 pair of underwear, he’ll pack 2-3 extra.  He nearly wiped out all the drawers at home.  We have all the space so why not use it?  The funny part is we don’t really have enough shorts that fit us.  It’s OK, our vacation home on wheels has a washer/dryer.  Jim is obsessed with clothing and I’m obsessed with doing laundry (even though I hate folding it) so it’s the perfect Ying-Yang.  Needless to say, I did laundry today, probably more to tomorrow and the day after that.

Sometime before noon we set out to Hot Springs, NC for our white water rafting adventure!  This adventure was with Huck Finn Rafting Adventures which we got from a Groupon. 

We thought we were short on time so we stopped at a local mom & pop sub shop to get some sandwiches.  We figured we’d eat them somewhere before gearing up for our adventure.  It turned out we had extra time rather than short time so Jim and I returned to the parking lot and enjoyed an in-car-picnic lunch.  OK, so not much of a picnic I guess.  The Groupon listed this adventure as 3 hours.  It was more like 5.5.  The bus ride from the store to the river starting point was a 30 minute ride on it’s own.  We were in a non-air conditioned giant yellow school bus that could do 15 mph going up some of the hills.  We know the speed cause we sat in the front.  It was the bus that really couldn’t.  I felt as though I was in some third world country.  Perhaps the back woods of NC is like that.  I was hoping to go just a little faster to get a breeze.  No luck. 

We arrived to the put-in point and boarded our raft.  5 passengers and 1 guide.  These rapids are 1 class (level) more difficult than the last we did. 

Our river guide, James, claimed to live in a hammock with his ferret out in the woods.  He sometimes crashes at friends houses or at his parents house.  He said he chooses this lifestyle and doesn’t want to work unless it’s fun stuff like this.  In the winter he goes to New Orleans or Texas and tends bar.  He’s 24 and planning to return to school.  He was a fun guide though.

The Broad River is definitely warmer and clearer than the Nantahala.  The rapids were more challenging but still suitable for beginners or even first timers.  Along with other rafters from our group, we’d stop at safe areas (no current) where one could jump off a cliff into the river, have a snack or beverage (they brought to the shore), or take a swim in a low current area. 

Overall it was a great trip.  As usual, we enjoyed the scenery on the river.  White Water rafting isn’t too physically demanding.  The paddling part isn’t that often.  It’s likely to feel it a little in your ass (from sitting), hips and arms the next day.  I’ll venture to say it’s pretty damn easy.  Try it!

I didn’t get any photos because I didn’t bring the camera on the raft with us.  I didn’t bring our old digital and sure wasn’t going to risk damage to the new one.  They took 10 photos of us on the hardest rapids so we chose 1, paid the $15 for it and it’s good enough.  I wasn’t able to scan it so I took a picture of the picture:

Although it doesn’t look like it, Jim (in red) and I are sitting next to one another and the guide is at the very back.

On the way back to the RV, we drove through historic downtown Marshall.  What a quaint little town.  Nothing was open… maybe because it’s Sunday?  Jim referred to it as the town where time had stopped.

Above: Jim points to his watch… notice the pristine American Motors sign!

For our next adventure, we showered and went to Cinebarre to see Thor, using a Groupon of course:

Cinebarre is a movie theater, bar and restaurant all in one type place.  You sit, you have a table/counter to utilize and servers come to you.  The movie itself was $1.00 which happened to be a Sunday special but not planned that way.   We caught the 10:15pm showing.

Oh, and just for the hell of it, here’s a few more camp ground photos:

Above: The Jeep and the TURD.

Above: Close up view of what we see from the windshield.