Oh no, more company! For entertainment, I decided a float down the river was in order. Hubby could not find our large sturdy rafts, or our stash of water shoes. He did come up with two inner tubes and borrowed two more from a friend.
Our son drove us to the end of Cox Road and let us out. He was to pick us up at the dock in the neighborhood in an hour and a half. We stumbled down a steep embankment to the river. Dick scratched his arm on some briars but was only bleeding a little. It has been a very long time since I've sat inside an inner tube. After getting nice and snug I heard a little hissing sound. My tube had a small hole. Oh-oh. And there went my son driving off. Okay, I'll just keep my finger over it and hope for the best.
The New River is the oldest river in North America and one of the few that flow north. It isn't very deep and the water is crystal clear. We have floated down it many times without incident. It was one of the hottest days of the season, 95 degrees, and there hadn't been any rain for a while. We had waited until after 4 PM to head out.
That day the river was quite shallow and we kept getting stuck on logs and rocks. My little butt hit countless rocks and sand mounds. My tube held up, but hubby managed to get a hole in his and had to stop several times to blow it up again. It took us two hours to get two miles down the river and we had another two to go. I decided to stop at Zaloo's, a kayak and tube outfitters shop, and beg for a telephone. Although they were closed, it was almost 7:00, one of the fellows let me use his cell phone. I couldn't get hold of our ride, he was still sitting at the rendezvous spot, but managed to call a friend who drove down to let him know where we were.
Finally, at 7:15 the ride from hell was over! We woke up the next morning with sore necks from holding our heads up while squished in the tube and sore backs and butts from getting beat up by the rocks. I am on my way to the hardware store to see if I can replace the borrowed tube.
Our tubes before
And after
An easy to spot rock
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