You're every breath that I take

My love.... my endless loooooooooooooove!!!!

I can't honestly say I've always loved Kayaks.  I can't even say I've always loved floating the river.  My first floating experience was with my Girl Scout Troop on the Illinois River when I was in middle school and I was in a canoe with Amy Price.  The river was low and there was a lot of paddling involved. A lot of carrying the canoe involved... and eventually there was boredom and then heat stroke.  I recall we came in about 2 hours after the entire group had come in and they were about to send out a search party. They didn't know whether to hug us or yell at us.   I remember thinking "good, we won't ever have to do this again!"  

Then I floated the Ouchita River while at Camp Ozark.  Must have had a better time because I convinced my parents to take me on subsequent float trips.  But it wasn't THAT much fun.  "Go left~ no right!" ugh.... stuck in the middle on a sand bar with grass all around the canoe.  Then fighting over who was going to be the one to get out and unstick us.  And of course there was the snake in the tree incident.  That pretty much did me in for a while.  That was until Gina taught me how country girls float.  Canoe??? aww heck no! who needs em!  

We would go down river on air mattresses.  And a rope tied to an inner tube with an ice chest.  And BEER.  Oh heck! No wonder I enjoyed it so much more.  This was the life.  

All of a sudden I couldn't get enough of floating the river.  I recall going down the Caddo and going under the bridges of I-30 and having cars and trucks honk.  yeehaw!!!  

There have been many years pass since those wonderful times.  I actually hadn't floated a river since then.  Until last year when Gina and Bert reminded me just how much fun it was.  And hooked me up with a float business on the Elk River.  I booked a trip and took Amy, Zach, Meghan, and their friend Cody.  But didn't book the short trip... nope. We took the long trip.  I didn't realize that teens require LOTS and LOTS of pit stops.  They need to splash,  dump each other out, jump off rocks, throw footballs, catch crawdads.  I had booked Kayaks for me and Joe and canoes for kids.  We had the sit on top type of kayaks.  And on the first part of our trip I thought... "oh how glorious to be basking in the sun!" bah hahahahaha ha. Then the last four miles of our trip I thought  "oh, look I have tan lines on my feet! They weren't there before!" 

Here's a stop at a swimming hole

   And another stop to toss the football around

At any rate, we had fun! And it got me to thinking about how nice it would be to not have to rent kayaks or canoes when we wanted to go out!  We live so close to the Elk River which is a great floating river, the Illinois is also close, and the Buffalo River is just a short drive.  And there are so many more to explore.  So I started shopping!  Naturally I found the Rolls Royce of kayaks.  And was thinking how I just couldn't possibly live without back support, cup holders, and best of all pedals!  It's taken me a long time to convince Joe this was what I needed.  Months! Meanwhile I've dropped hints a few million times, pouted, and practically stalked the poor people and Lewis and Clark Outfitters in both Fayetteville and in Rogers.  
And finally, like water wearing down a mountain into a beautiful grand canyon I wore my husband down.  
Two days ago my friend Stephanie and her son Britton went with me and we bought momma her very own kayak in hibiscus.  (that's the color name) And yesterday we went to go pick it up.  And so last night we had our first kayak date.  It was so much fun.  
Mazie hated it.

Much happier on the dock

The maiden voyage

But this one is KING OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!

And then Joe got a turn.  He raced the Cherokee Queen.

He was  a good sport when they overtook him

And we are trying to be good sports these days.  Two years ago he mooned the Cherokee Queen when it went by.  Of course they didn't mind.  They honked the horn and the people on board took pictures.  You could see camera flashes.  I can hear the tour voice now "And on your left is where the crazy people live.."  

We got lucky and our friends let us borrow a second kayak yesterday so we could ride together on our kayak date.  But you know me, I've got to talk Joe into buying another one.  or three.  

Here's to a beautiful weekend! I hope everyone is as happy as a Trish with a kayak!  

Life is good!!!!