Our daughter and two oldest grandchildren, Raina (10), and Darrin (9), came for a short visit and had our undivided attention. On the first day we hung around the house, made the mandatory Dolly's Dairy Bar trip, and stayed up watching movies. Second day, had a nice late breakfast, and went up into Pisgah National Forest for a nice hike along the Pink Beds Loop...a loop I thought was 2.3 miles; yeah, it turned out to be a little over 5 miles. On no lunch. But hey, we had fun, ate some great BBQ at Hawg Wild, and were excited about the next day. On Monday, we all went back up into the forest and had a great time playing in the water at Coon Creek Recreation Area--lots of water and rocks and kids jumping off boulders into deep, 55 degree (translation: butt-freezing, chest numbing, cold) water. My brother David took a lot of coaxing, and finally he relented when little Darrin went and grabbed his hand and walked him through the shallow creek. Went home and ate a great dinner by Chef Alex, aka "Pappy," and enjoyed playing chess, eating ice cream cake, and falling asleep to an Indiana Jones movie. And David talked about how much fun he had. We woke up the next morning, and while Alex is making waffles for the kids and omelettes for me and Nicole, I hear, "What's the plan for today?" Hmmm...
"Let's go tubing!" they said.
"It will be fun!" they said.
So, after breakfast and dishes were done, and dogs were walked, with David safely at his life skills program, we all donned bathing suits and headed down to the Davidson River tube rental shack. Outside temperature was over 80 degrees, and we were all raring to go! Our first red flag--the normally bustling tube shack was full of tubes--and there were no customers there. Next, they no longer did shuttle service up to the putting in point, thereby necessitating a trip back home to get another vehicle to to ferry tubes and people upstream, then leave another vehicle at the debarkation point. We ignored both. We were totally on board for this adventure. Weather was good, we already knew the water was ice cold, and we were used to Davidson River's kind, shallow current, and figured the worst thing we would experience would be getting stuck and having to walk through a real shallow or slow moving area. I had my Chacos on, the kids were ready, Alex had on his long sleeve shirt, and Nicole had her keys tied to her flip flops. What could go wrong? (Side note: Over the last three weeks, our county has received nearly 20 inches of rain, and most of the rivers and creeks were at flood stage.) The previous day I had noted the water was a lot deeper than normal, and the current was a bit strong, but seriously? How hard could it be to ride in a lazy river tube down our shallow little Davidson River?
This is how we pictured tubing...
And this is what it felt like about halfway down the river...
We got to the embarkation area--two sets of steps, one on either side of a small footbridge--and started to go into the water. Old folks were fishing on both sides, and scowled as our noisy crew of five made its way into the water. One old lady even demanded we "not splash at all, or make any noise, because I'm tryin' to catch some fish over here and I was here first." I tried to deal with that passive aggressiveness while maneuvering a double tube into ice-cold water with a 10-year old girl sitting in it--we managed to make light of it, and shoved off into water, with high hopes of having a relaxing, refreshing ride down the Davidson River. My first indication of a problem? I could not stay in a holding pattern and wait for the other two tubes to catch up. I was already past the bridge before Alex even got into his tube. Within three minutes, I was floating backwards, towards the bank (and a large grove of trees), and seriously wondering if this was a good idea. A minute later, as Raina and I ricocheted from one bank to the other, I was regretting my decision to not be wearing a helmet, and I was genuinely concerned for my granddaughter's safety. For her sake, I stayed calm, nonchalant, and did the best I could to paddle us with my hands. When a big spider fell on her from an overhanging branch, I quickly brushed it off before she saw it, and we finally began to settle in to the fun (albeit freezing fun) of tubing down the river. Nicole and Darrin caught up eventually, and Darrin tied our two tubes together. With a knot. That proved to be both ill-conceived and a lifesaver...
With Alex still about 2 minutes behind us, the four of us were hurtling downstream, picking up speed, backwards and sideways, still tied together. Darrin was laughing, Raina was hyperventilating, and Nicole and I were just trying to avoid trees. Alex was hollering something unintelligible at us that we could not understand over the sound of the water (and the kids laughter/screams), and I was just wondering how we would know when, where, and how we would know when to get out. We finally figured out Alex was telling us to prepare to portage "right after the bridge," and even though Nicole insisted our exit point was farther down, we believed him when he said, "Okay, here, get out here, start heading to shore, and if you can, get out of the tube and just walk over to the steps." Silly me. I listened to him. Got out of the tube, in the middle of the river, the deepest and fastest part, and promptly (unceremoniously) fell on my ass. Tried as I might, I could not stand up. The current was so fast my butt was getting dragged along the rocks as I frantically held on to the tube. Alex kept hollering to stand up, Nicole was out of her tube and holding on to both tubes with all her might, all the while telling Darrin, under no circumstances, should he let go of her flip flops (and car key). Raina is sitting in the tube with a panicked look on her face, amazed that her nana is losing it. And I could do nothing. Except panic myself.
Well, the story ends happily...Alex came over and got me to the shore, then went back and got the kids, then Nicole. I somewhat reluctantly walked out part way to grab a tube. And we happily (and unanimously) decided we were done with tubing for the day. And promptly went bowling.
And while "nana almost drowning" was the best and worst thing for both kids that day, and my butt and legs are bruised and painful, this visit, and especially the tubing adventure, has burned indelible memories for us all.
Let me tell you...it is very humbling when you realize you are finally too old, or too out of shape, or both, to bounce out of a tube midstream and swim ashore. Even more humbling when your youngest daughter remained cool and calm and composed while you panicked. But then, at that moment, when you realize your children are grown and capable, you know you did a great job.
Feeling my age, yes, but feeling oh so proud and fulfilled.
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