Red, white, black and blue

The weekend of July 4th I got an extra day off of work. Since Seth's friend Andy and his girlfriend Amanda work at the same place I do, they got an extra day off too. Friday morning we all packed up one day worth of stuff (AKA our entire house) and went down to the campground early to try and get a good spot. Well, early should have been Sunday night because this place was PACKED. People had big tarps set up over 2-3 grills, 4 tents, a couple picnic tables, a makeshift clothesline, etc. We could have squeezed into the spot where Seth and Andy usually camp but it would have basically been in some other guys tent so we decided to drive on down a little furthur. Apparently, there is one camping spot all the way at the end of the property. It was pretty big and had HUGE firepit!

We set up all our stuff and got all the ice in the coolers and started blowing up our float tubes. I don't know how many of you have ever floated in a tube but these are not flimsy, plastic tubes like those in the pool. These are heavy duty. There are made out of thick plastic and zipped into a canvas cover. Andy brought one of those little pumps, like for an air mattress, and used it to start all our tubes. It would only take them so far and then we had to finsh blowing them up with a little plastic tube. I was pretty sure I wasn't even going to make it to the river before I passed out :) Seth and Andy went and dropped the truck off a little ways down the road and when they got back, we put in the river right at our campsite. It was FREEZING!!! Friday was one of the cooler days we have had this summer and it was slightly overcast so it was little chilly.

I had put a disposable camera in a baggy so I could take pictures and not ruin our good camera. Once I got used to the water (numb) it was actually pretty fun for the first 20 minutes or so. Seth and Andy were fishing here and there but sometimes it was hard for Mandy and I to find places to stop to wait for them. Once, I ended up a good 200 yards down the river from them before I could get stopped. Well, needless to say, the canvas isn't waterproof and the baggy wasn't very good at it's job. Especially when I submerged it for a good minute or so. About 20-30 into the float, my tube started losing air. The arms started deflating and I had to keep pushing myself back up into my seat. We only were planning on floating for about an hour and a half so I wasn't very concerned.

By the time we got to where the truck was parked, it was pretty shallow and I was so mad I could have screamed. My tube was so deflated it actually flipped me over because the head/back rest was so full of air and the bottom was EMPTY. I had my Crocs on and they kept coming off so I had to chase them down twice. Then, while I was barefoot, I kicked a rock and absolutely thought I was going to die. I was half swimming, half walking, pulling my float and carrying my shoes. The canvas was so full of water I couldn't hardly pick up my tube and I was afraid the camera was ruined. By the time we got out, I was cranky and cold and I was ready to go home and lay down in my bed. I had quite a few nice bruises on my back, butt and chest (where I got flipped over) to show from my adventure but it was all worth it in the end. Especially when Mandy and I drove the truck back to the campground and the boys were in the back and we had the heat on the whole way there :) I will try to get the camera developed from the float and see if any of the pictures turned out. There should be at least a few good ones on there. I'll post them soon.