Last week we had the opportunity to enjoy 4 hours on the Flat Creek together. A nice float in the kayaks with some technical portions, which made for some nice challenges, and unfortunately many sections that forced us out of the kayaks altogether in order to walk to deeper water. We packed our picnic lunch and plenty of water and Gatorade to drink. We had a very nice time together, I always enjoy my time with Cherilyn, pretty much no matter what we are doing. We are not perfect but we do try do do things to nurture us and these dates are good for us. :-)
Growing up, I remember reading and listening to talks or having class lessons in church that talked about how dating did not need to be expensive in order to be enjoyable. It would seem that this date might meet that criteria with a picnic lunch we packed ourselves from the food we had in the house, the fact that there was no fee to float down the river........ However, the kayaks were not free, we purchased them this year and while one of the kayaks was a used one, it was more expensive than the new one by about $150. The PDF's, Personal Flotation Devices, were around $60 a piece, the water proof boxes for the phones were around $5 each, the kayak dolly was $25 (used), paddles were $27 each and of course the truck to haul everything was more expensive than my grandparents last house. So, all tolled, this was an expensive date. Most people complain about dinner and a movie being expensive. LOL All this being said, the experience was priceless!! Not to mention, there are many other rivers in the area where we can do this again making for a new adventure.
We had a great adventure and even ran into some company on the river -
Yes, that is a copperhead - we did NOT stop by to say hello
And of course some of Missouri's finest cattle were out bathing in the cool river
Floating along the river we had to navigate to one side or the other or between obstacles and sometimes the best course was to get right in close to the obstacle without crashing or getting stuck in order to float on to the next section of the river. This challenged what little skill either of had amassed at this point in our kayak learning. Other times saw us approach sections of the river where it split and we had to choose which way to go without seeing all the way around. Sometimes these sections looked as if one side might be a more clear shot but shallow, meaning we might have to get out and walk a ways while the other choice looked deeper but unknown to be completely passable. One such choice turned out to be more work to get around obstacles and duck under fallen tress than it would have been to just float the other way until we needed to get out and walk.
I had to put my lack of maneuvering skills to the test. While both of us had a couple of close calls on the float, neither of us had our kayaks flip over.
Deep thought - As we travel through life, we often have to make choices about our direction and sometimes we make incorrect choices that cause more work for ourselves. Other times we must make choices based on very little information and just put our faith to the test and hope that it will work out. That does not mean we won't hit some rocks or rapids along the way but it does mean that we will be afforded the opportunity to work at making things go the way we would like. That work will strengthen us and the next time we find ourselves in a situation that seems difficult, we can remember that we have made it through before and we can do it again.
