The Sanborns

Back in July we (Gray, Samantha, Trina, and I) went on a little road trip to Indiana to go to Holiday World for my birthday. I don’t even remember if I blogged about that, oops. Anyways, we were floating along in the lazy river when the conversation popped up about Samantha upcoming birthday in September. A few ideas floated (no pun intended) around in conversation and one of them was white water rafting.

A few weeks later and Trina was once again asking if Sam wanted to go rafting. Yes, but it had to be during the week. Well, it turned out that this was the end of August and the last week day option was labor day. So plans were made to go rafting on Labor Day.

Gray and I called and setup the trip and thanks to the new car, we got to drive.

We left Murfreesboro around 5:40 Monday morning and were in Chattanooga by 9, thanks to the lovely time change. After a quick breakfast at Waffle House, we arrived at our destination, just before our check-in time. It turned out that there were delays so we had to wait for about thirty more minutes and then it was our turn!

If you’ve ever been anywhere that requires signing a waiver, you know that they will tell you every possible scenario. If you’ve ever been with me in those situations, you know I freak out about every possible scenario.

This was no exception. I was mildly nervous the first ten minutes we were on the water, and that’s just because I wasn’t sure exactly how things were going to be.

The first section of the Ocoee River (where we rafted) is called Grumpy, because people who fall out there usually get grumpy. I was determined to not fall out of the raft, it was one of my goals. So, of course, I was nervous that I would fall out in Grumpy, but it was a pretty smooth ride, for about five minutes.

I don’t remember the part of the river we got to, but I do remember that we hit some rapids and our guide yelled to us, “Get down!” I squatted, turned my paddle and frantically tried to get the woman sitting beside of me to lock arms with me… she was not paying attention. I felt the boat turning to the left and felt myself falling and I grabbed at her arm. I’m guessing I grabbed her because I didn’t fall in. However, Sam, Trina, and Gray all fell in and I watched as we moved past them. I’m a control freak and it sucks to not have things in my control. I can’t really describe what happened in those next few moments, but we finally got everyone back in the boat. I only remember looking at Trina, who looked like she was choking. I was thinking, “Put your arms in the air!”

Rafting involves a few spots in the river where they take your picture and have a special seat up front that is called the “bull riding” spot. The woman next to me went first, and eventually so did Sam, and Gray. Sam actually fell off during her ride, in calm water.

We had an opportunity to swim in a part of the river that was smooth and pretty deep. It’s so much fun to swim when you have a life jacket on… you don’t have to worry about sinking!

I’m proud to say that although I had two close calls, I never fell out of the boat. The last fall occurred near the end and we were not ready at all, so I barely remember grabbed at the woman again and I think Trina might have even helped me. She said she thought we were both going over.

After rafting we headed back into Chattanooga and ate a late lunch at the Big River Brewery in town. I had been to the Nashville restaurant several times but thanks to the gluten-free deal, I had a salad. After lunch we walked around a bit, taking pictures around the Tennessee Aquarium area and then headed home.

Overall, I had a blast and I definitely foresee more trips down the river in the future. Also, Romancing the Stones was basically what they told us would happen if we didn’t lay the proper way upon falling out… we’d hit the rock with our “romance” parts. Apparently even the female guides don’t recommend that happening.