Early Labor Day morning we headed to Walmart in hopes of securing our posterity in much needed life jackets. Luckily, there were a few left, but the pickins' were slim. While I search Walmart, Fernando search a nearby store for wooden paddles. We finally make it up to Guadalupe River State Park. It's decided that we will play in the river,
rope swing,
and eat
before we raft down the river for about a mile*. There was a fun playground and the new friends made it more than magical. Then it was time to go on a trip we never anticipated. We loaded up into one van and drove several miles to a entrance point further up the river. The water was flowing, but by no means rapid. We should have taken a clue for how the rest of the trip would have played out by the more than rough launching of the rubber boat. The men stood on a bridge and attempted to drop it into the water below. Unfortunately, it wasn't let go at the same time so it tumbled haphazardly into the water that happened to be flowing quite steadily. I immediately jumped into the water in attempts to save the boat, multiple paddles, and the gear. Luckily I got it in time and the men were able to scramble down to help.
We only assumed we had a mile to paddle until we made it back to our picnic site. I swam for a good half hour without any life jacket. My arms were feeling a bit tired so I asked to row. I rowed down the quiet tranquil river with the other mom and most of the kids on board. We talked and sang and ate fruit. After another hour of rowing, we figured it was getting kind of late and that we all should focus on the last leg of the journey. We attempted a four man row which just took a lot more energy and got us nowhere. The kids were spent, our energy was drained. The boat would travel pretty quickly when the water was deep, but then a shallow, rocky portion of the river would maroon us and take all the adults to push it back into the deeper water, but we thought our site was just around the next bend.
We had started this journey at 1 pm. The boat and all of its weary, rock torn passengers made it back a little before 7 pm. When we saw the rope swing, we couldn't help but smile. Fernando, Joe, and I all tried the swing one more time. Unfortunately, my arms had nothing left in them. I willed them to hold on just long enough to not kill myself on the gnarled root system, but paid with rope burns up and down my arms and hands. Our somber little group rallied enough energy to load all the stuff into the van and left around 8 pm. It wasn't until we met up with the other van that we realized we had left the brand new life vests at the picnic site's playground. We drove the 20 minutes back and searched for several minutes for the vests. We found them thankfully and giggled at the misfortunes of the day.
Although it was tough, the day was more than memorable. We loved it so much that we are thinking of getting a boat of our own and doing it all over again. Next time, we'll have a more reasonable expectation and understanding of the distance we will need to travel and bring enough food to rally the troops as needed.
