Day 2

Big day today. We set an alarm to wake ourselves up at 8 am thinking that we would be on the river by 10. Things didn't really go as planned. Camp took much longer than we though to clean up and pack up so we weren't able to get on to the river until around 11. This put us in a tough position as we had to travel 14 miles before 4:30 so that we could be locked through the George Andrews dam before it closed. We had to keep a very consistent pace in order to reach this goal as we had a longer than planned lunch break and an unexpected visit from our two mom's. Even though we had only been gone a day our mothers thoroughly enjoyed seeing our red and tan kayaks come around a bend in the river. They proceeded to give us much love and advice so as to send us on our way again an hour later. This seriously cut our time short. Thankfully we made it to the dam on time and were able to lock through, making friends with the dam worker in the process. After the dam we took a much needed and appreciated brake. Along the river we saw several fisherman on the bank and headed over to talk to them. Each had seen us paddling in our kayaks and formulated the same three questions. "Where are ya'll from?...How long have ya'll been paddling?...Where are ya'll headed?" (Each said with thick but comforting southern accents) As we answered these three questions, the fisherman, and the few other people we saw today, all had the same reaction: wow. They were all amazed and were quick to help in any way they could. We continued paddling another 3 miles in hopes of finding a place to camp with no luck until we found a spot that could work. There was a very steep sand bar with a flat spot on the top where we could camp. Along the bank in a bass fishing boat was a man and (what looked like) his two sons fishing. As we were scouting out the possible camp site with slight distaste but also a hint of desperation, the man in the boat floated over to us. As we talked to him for about five minutes he not only told us that there was a much better place to camp two miles down the river but also offered to give us the fish he had caught so we could have dinner for the night. His kindness blew me away. I can only hope that the rest of the people we meet along this journey are as nice as the ones we've met so far. We skated into our perfect, high set sand bar camp site right as light was starting fade and have since set up camp and eaten a wholesome dinner of black beans and peanut butter bagels (we were a bit tired to do any other cooking). With our alarms now set for 6:30 I'm excited to get an early start on the river tomorrow.

Day 1

Day 1!! An exciting start to an inevitably adventurous trip. We had high expectations for the day and for the most part those expectations were met. On the other hand, we encountered some challenges that we did not foresee. First off we had to get to the drop off point in Fort Gains. We drove around 3 and a half hours from Atlanta to Fort Gains. The entire drive it poured which was unsettling. We didn't want to start our trip off paddling in heavy rain. By somewhat of a miracle the clouds parted and sun burst through just as we arrived at the drop off point. I personally was very releaved. We spent around two hours unloading the truck, packing the kayaks and getting everything we might need in a handy location. We filmed the whole process in hopes of being able to speed up the footage to give an idea about how some of the preparation might have effected our trip. We set off around 2 o'clock, waved goodbye to our parents and said hello to the wilderness. Our day was going to consist of a 13 and a half mile paddle with supposedly no stops along the way. This, of course, did not happen. I am beginning to realize that distractions are going to be our biggest obsticle that will keep us from reaching our paddling goal each day. Today's distractions included 2 huge alligators (one at least 10 ft long if not 12), 2 deers, 4 caught fish and a group of friendly boaters who were kind enough to take a moment and talk to us. As Alex and I continue on this trip it will be interesting to see whether the video we are making will be a documentary about life on the river or if it will be a how to guide showing highschool kids how to survive and thrive while camping down the Chattahoochee. We ate chicken quesadillas for dinner that I cooked (and were pretty dang good if I do say so myself) along with a small striped bass we caught and some carrots. Not a bad meal to start off the trip! With "Day 1" under our belts I'm excited to see what the rest of this trip may hold.