We met Katie at her parents house in Collierville. From the start, it was just easy to see that it was a good, laid-back group of girls.
We left and made our way to Moscow. It was about an hour away, but it went by fast. I hadn't seen Angela or Tori in forever, so it was good time to catch up before hitting the water. We turned right onto Bateman Road and drove about two miles until we saw people, cars, and kayaks on our left. We found out they only accepted cash, but by the grace of God they still let us go, saying they would follow us to a nearby bank after the trip.
I was nervous. I was so nervous.
After that, things were better. Katie was an awesome coach. She helped me just by making me pace myself and not panic and correcting incorrect movements. I'd say the first two hours were spent learning how to turn and steer and stop. The hour following was the most amazing. It was like being in the rain forest during a storm and I was feeling pretty confident, like I was on top of the world and secretly a pro at heart. The rain was amazing. It sounded amazing. It felt amazing. And it was honestly my favorite part. This brought us up to the last hour of the trip and the last hour was the hardest.
There weren't any markers to tell you how many miles you had left, so you never knew how far you had to go. Toward the very end I started praying to God that He would give me a second wind, that He would help me make it, because I was completely out of strength. I started running into trees and bushes, because I was out of strength. I couldn't maneuver or steer. At one point I almost started crying because I got caught in some trees and couldn't find the strength to push out. Eight-and-a-half miles was starting to feel like 14. I just kept taking deep breath after deep breath and telling myself not to panic. God helped me muster up the strength I needed to paddle backwards and out of trees and I kept trucking along.
Tori would stop along the way and yell back at me since I was so far behind. I appreciated her attentiveness.
I can't explain the relief I felt to hear Katie shout back that we were almost there. Relief flooded my system and I continued to paddle. Especially when I saw Angela standing. On solid ground. Hallelujah!
Minus the lack of my strength and stamina and the mini-blisters on my inner thumbs, it was such an amazing experience. I loved the feeling of something new, I loved the rain, I loved being there with friends, I loved the girls I was with, I loved that I had prepared myself well by bringing a dry bag for my phone and extra sandwich bags and extra release forms. I even felt good that I had fallen in the water and gotten wet. It really felt good and made me not care when it rained or that water from the paddles was soaking my butt, 'cause I was already soaked. This may sound crazy, but it felt really good to fail and to get back up again and keep going. I may fall in the murky river water, but your girl got right back up and tried again. My Underarmor shorts were perfect. I wore bikini bottoms underneath, and I'm so glad I did considering that even if I hadn't fallen in, my butt got soaked from the water off the paddle. I wore a sports bra, a work out racer-back tank, and a long sleeve light dry fit workout shirt over. The long sleeve shirt was good, because as many trees, limbs, branches, and twigs that I ran into, it helped protect me. Oh yeah! And my St. Jude cap. Don't wear sunglasses you're not ready to lose. You do so much ducking and maneuvering, they're liable to fall off. Katie ended up losing hers along the way...
Things to do differently next time. Bring cash. Bring gloves for rowing (because I have some minor blisters). Stop for lunch along the way. Wear chacos. Don't bring so much stuff. Now that I've been, I know what to expect. Did I need mints? No. Did I need chapstick? Couldn't get to it even if I wanted to. Unless you bank yourself somewhere, you're constantly moving, and it's not worth almost toppling over the kayak for chaptstick. You place your back behind you underneath rubber strappy things and that's where it stays for the rest of trip pretty much. Bring your sense of humor and mindset to succeed. Be patient with yourself. Do it with friends that are patient with you. And enjoy. Enjoy the experience! I was so worried about my stamina and upper body strength, I didn't consider what would actually be on course for us. Trees and roots in the water, trees that made us lie down in our kayaks to go under... It would have been easy sailing otherwise. The hardest thing about it is right from the beginning, there are trees lying in your path. If you don't know how to turn and avoid them, you will flip. Know how to turn. Then at the end, the current picked up and you really have to know how to steer yourself.
Also, listen to your guide! I couldn't remember a word of what he said and there were a few parts of the route that we came to forks and couldn't remember which way to go. So listen, take notes, take down the guy's number, put your phone on airplane mode to save power so it's not constantly searching for a signal.
