The Rest of the Story, Maybe...Summer Travels #6

The best way to travel down any river: with this good looking man behind you! Hi, there! I am behind with posting. I had planned to be done with the summer posting by now. I want to write about the beginning of our school year and some thoughts that have been floating through my brain recently. Since I have not been posting about our summer adventures in chronological order, I am not exactly sure how this will end up! But, here it goes!

One day while in North Carolina, the boys and I took the boats and paddle boards to explore the part of Fontana Lake that was at the campground we were staying.

I love exploration journeys. We pretended we were discovering it for the first time. When one of us saw something interesting, we explored further.

Often, It required problem solving.

But, the rewards were were worth the effort!

We even made a new friend and learned something. Box turtles have an amazing ability to swim on with his shell completely out of the water. John was fascinated, so he had to observe it several times, and video it so he could watch it again.

After the observation, John saved him some work and put him on the bank he was trying to climb too when we first met him.

The views of this unexplored land were beautiful.

The explorers were observant of the signs of nature.

They decided after hearing some low rumbling we probably needed to start paddling back to shore, at this point, our starting part was not in our sight.

They were right! After rounding the final cove to reach our destination, this happened. We paddled in the pouring rain. It was actually quite fun.

While on this trip, Johnny had the opportunity to do several new rivers. These rivers are what John and I would call "insane." There were all Class IV & V whitewater (Class V is the highest class of rapids!) Jackson would check overtime and ask, "Are you sure I can't do it in my boat?" Oh me, I am not sure what John and I are going to do with these two! this particular day, he did the Cascades at the top of the Upper Nantahala River. It is a wild ride to the bottom. Non stop, water fall drop after another with only a limited number of places to stop and get it together. It was indeed the fastest, scariest looking water I had ever seen him get in. The boys and I didn't think we were going to get to watch him. We dropped him off--it was super crowded. But on our way down, someone had moved! I nervously parked that large red truck in a very crowded space.

We were about a 1/2 mile from the starting place, so we walked as fast as we could to the top.

We missed the first waterfall drop but caught sight of him right after. We walked/ran to catch a glimpse as that water thrust him down the river. I have never in my life seen boats without motors move that fast.

Love this shot!

When he got to the calmer part, we traveled to where he would be getting out. We had races and played with the Foamie Buddies. I proudly report that my boater won the race and the tricking contest!

When darkness overtook the campground, the boys and their friends would see how many toads they could catch.

Another day when Johnny was on one of those insane type rivers, the boys voted from several option to go to a small amusement park called Santa Land. Of course, it was Christmas themed everything.

We attended a magic show. Jackson still asks me how one trick was accomplished.

But the favorite thing to do in the park was this...This is the Rudicoaster! We rode it over and over and over...and then they kept riding it over and over and over.

Who knew that both boys were afraid of the Ferris Wheel??? I was shocked. They have been on them before and they were fine. Of course, I got to have a little fun. When we would get to the top, I would lean forward and say, "Look..." It would tip our cart forward a little. I was quickly rebuked by both of them!

We enjoyed the pedal boats. Our boys were intrigued with these orange things the workers choked on them! Their idea of life preservation are Class III pfd's. They do not recall ever seeing a Class I pfd. They did not like them at all. John was sure the thing would choke him if he fell him and ultimately cause his death. I tried to explain that not all children can swim and the park has to follow regulations probably put into place by an insurance company...it fell of deaf ears. He was convinced, so we had to make sure the boat was stable at all times....even thought the deepest place was like 4 foot!

That same evening, we ended the day with several hours of play at the rope swing we were introduced to earlier in the summer.

More discoveries!

After several hours of play with this group of children, the light faded, and we were forced to return back to the campground. The mother of these children decided to allow them to play a few hours longer than she had originally planned because they were having such a good time together!

Johnny and the boys took a float down the Nanty.

Our friends, the family from Indiana we met earlier in the summer, joined them in a raft with their dad.

Finally...we have been going to the Nantahala River for many, many years now. On most of those occasions, we would take a peak at this. It is the waterfall on down the river a piece. We have always heard it was "unrunable" or illegal to boat down these falls. There is no sign anywhere saying such. It is just what we have always "heard." Johnny had watched several people conquer the task on You Tube. So, you know what happened this trip? Of course, he and Scott successfully tackled it! Johnny even did it in a playboat. That made me a little nervous, because I would have preferred he do it in the creek boat (it is a little longer and less likely to get caught in a hole). But, it worked out well. As a matter of fact, I have NEVER seem him celebrate after conquering a big rapid. He did after this one. I was so intrigued with watching him him yell and hold his paddle in the air, I barely caught the tail end of Scott's decent on the video!I am behind on writing and posting pictures...I don't even want to thing about the video editing I need/want to do.

Meet Lou and Kathy. They are the new campground hosts at Tsali campground. They are such a delightful couple. We befriended them and shared lots of laughs. We shared our desire to live full-time on the road for at least a year before our children leave our home. Afterwards, she was insisting that we take over their job when they leave. I didn't have the heart to tell her that if we stayed in one area, we wanted that to be at Thunder Rock--where our beloved Roxe dwells. Lou liked us so much, he agreed to let me snap his picture--which he said he rarely allows!

The boys kept asking if we could stay "a lot of days" at the Ocoee on our way back home. We obliged them and stayed from Tues-Monday before heading home. We loved every minute of it! John and Jackson slept the first night in the hammocks. The remaining nights, John joined me in the camper and Johnny and Jackson slept in the hammocks. It was pretty hot during our stay so this helped them stay cool. At night, the temps were good.

We lowered the back door on the camper at night as we slept. The first night, I was paranoid a bear was going to join us, I woke up every little bit. The funny thing is, I have slept in hammocks many nights there and rested peacefully. I kept laughing at myself, but the thoughts still persisted. No bear joined us, thankfully!

One day, we journeyed over to Blue Ridge, Georgia. It was a really neat town with lots of character. I am sure we will return there on occasion. John offered Jackson some kindness at one point as we walked and explored.

Trash to Treasure...the boys salvaged this float from being taken to the dump from the campground. They had SO MUCH FUN using it at their favorite swimming spot.

As always, I "have" to do this. They kill me--why they want me to do everything they do, I have no clue. But I wouldn't trade these memories for anything.

They even made fun of me as I struggled climbing back up to the top. John cheered when I finally accomplished it! Gosh, I have no clue how they do it over and over for hours.

And I had to do it with each of them as well. How Johnny gets a pass on all of this, I am not sure!

It is probably because he doesn't scream and do things like that when he participates. I was sure I was going to drown here. John had a death grip on me with his legs.

Of course, there were lots of exciting times. Like when I found this katydid in the camper. I yelled for Jackson to come get it out!

This picture...John got my camera one night and made selfies in his hammock.

We finally let Jackson make a fire one evening. He loves to do it, and normally it wasn't that big of a deal. But when it is 90 during the day, the thought of a fire isn't that exciting!

John got really interested in rocks on this trip. He bought a rock kit. He enjoyed splitting rocks and investigating the different kinds. And get this, right behind our camper, he found a small sledge hammer that someone left on a rock. I think Johnny was a little jealous! Our picnic table stayed full of rock specimens.

One day we traveled over and paddled the Hiwassee River. Blaze joined us on the journey.

I have the best river guide in the world. He sets me up and the end of each rapid so I can snap pictures of our boys as they come through. When I paddle, he says things like, "What are you doing? Are you just wanting to exercise?"

And then this. Yes, that is my crew and Blaze on top of a railroad bridge. Can you imagine what they do next?

Yep...they jumped. You see those teen boys up there? It took them a while to get their courage up. Jack showed them a thing or two. I was sure John would be back down with me.