nineteen miles.....

One River. three guides. ten women. eight hours. nineteen miles.

This past Sunday me, along with a group of strong and amazing women, went on an all day Kayak trip on the Guadalupe river between Comfort and Sisterdale, Texas. We stared out with a chill in the air and fog so thick we cut it with our kayaks. It wasn't long until the sun came out, burnt off the fog to reveal the beautiful banks of the Guadalupe and warm up the water that was chillin our bums. It didn't take long to start breaking a sweat and for the muscles to start burning!

The water was quite low, which created tons of fun rapids and obstacles to bypass giving us the opportunity to really learn how to maneuver our boats and learn how to 'read' the water. I think looking for random, large rocks in the middle of the river was most important, because even with a boat between you and the rock, it still hurts when you hit one without expecting it...unfortunately there were a few I hit pretty hard.

I learned two very valuable lessons while on this trip. One, is that yes, you can very nicely request with your paddle the direction you would like your boat to go through an approaching rapid. You can paddle your little heart out, beg and plead with the river, but in the end, it is only a request and that in no way guarantees you will get your way. That happened to me about twenty minutes before take out. I was kickin it and getting the hang of navigating through the rapids. I was sore, hot and looking for the get out. I was getting a little cocky with the water and right when I wasn't expecting it, she spoke up and said, "sister, you are not in control of this." And over I went. Luckily Kayaks are easy to get back into and I was able to track down my drenched back of snacks.

The second lesson was a lot easier. When on the water for any length of time, you can never have to much sunblock or water. I put on tons of sunblock through out the day, but still ended up with a little bit of sunburn. And I think I could have guzzled about five gallons of water and still been dehydrated.

At the end of the paddle, when we finally saw site of the ever evasive bridge in Sisterdale with the truck parked under waiting to bring us exhausted women back to Comfort, it was one of the most rewarding things I have put myself through. I was sore for about 3 days, but waiting for the next opportunity to get back on the river...hopefully next time to share the experience with Scott.




of course I couldn't bring my big camera as much as I wanted to, so I settled for disposable cameras....they work better than nothing!