Hello everyone!
Daniel Robison here. Well, it's been a few weeks since our last trip, and here in Riverbluff we've been throwing around the idea for a completely new sort of trip; one not so much of long distance, but rather actual living. Primitive living, to be precise; a group of us would basically travel to a fairly remote area, and then basically set up camp there for a few days. We would have to build our own shelter, start our own fires, and possibly even catch our own food with nothing but what we find in the woods.
Over the course of the last several trips I've taken, I've found myself really wishing that I could stop and stay at some of the places that I've had to hurry by, as I was on a schedule. With this new kind of trip, staying and exploring and soaking in a place for all it is would be the whole point! Not only that, but it would allow us to take much more high quality pictures so that we could better share our experiences on the River with others. It's at least in the works; no dates, crews or locations set yet.
But never fear; we're certainly not ditching long-distance trips for good! I've heard rumors of someone that might attempt to break my kayaking speed record of the River sometime early this year, and if that's the case, I may be going out again, not to mention possibly a few others from Riverbluff!
14 January, 2010
03 January, 2010
A good way to start the New Year
Hey everyone, this is Stephen. So that you know, I'm a little disappointed that the crew didn't complete the trip. But even though we only made it half way, I still feel like we made a big accomplishment. About 138 miles in 4 days of nearly non-stop paddling at an average speed of 3 miles an hour! But that's not even it. Seeing a side of Florida that I had never known, from the perspective of the St. John's River was not only beautiful everyday, but was a complete learning experience. A struggle with nature(wind,shallow waters,darkness,and the cold) and with my mind gave me a deep respect for those two elements. The struggle has also given me a new appreciation for this world away from the river. May this be the first of many canoe trips! Namaste!
01 January, 2010
A Series of Unfortunate Events...
Hey everyone!
Unfortunately, we've hit some weather concerns. Last night, that 30% chance of rain turned into 100% and really poured for much of the night last night. Our tent was soaked, along with a couple of our sleeping bags. We started packing up at 4am while it was still raining, and decided to take a look at the forecast, which showed between a 70-80% chance of rain--and possibly even thunder storms--until around 2 or 3pm today, accompanied by a drop in tempurature from the 60's to the 30's by tonight. After that, the night lows for the next few days were looking to be in the high 20's/low 30's. Taking all that into account, we finally decided after literally hours of debate that we needed to call of the rest of the trip.
Rest assured we didn't come to this decision lightly. Maybe over the next couple of days we may find that the weather predictions were completely wrong and we could have made the trip. The problem is that, right now, we can't see into the future, and based on what we were seeing for ourselves outside and the forecasts for later, we made a very hard choice to play it safe. As I've said before, doing a trip like this is such a gamble; you go through so many places over such a long distance for so many days that completing the entire thing can never be a complete certainty until your at the end. I think that all four of us understand that, and though we're dissapointed we weren't able to finish the whole River, we were still able to travel around 140 miles of it, which is nothing to sneeze at! We had some fantastic experiences and have some great stories to tell, which I hope we'll get a chance to post here in the days to come. Thanks so much for everyone's prayers and support; you can bet this won't be our last trip!
-Daniel
Unfortunately, we've hit some weather concerns. Last night, that 30% chance of rain turned into 100% and really poured for much of the night last night. Our tent was soaked, along with a couple of our sleeping bags. We started packing up at 4am while it was still raining, and decided to take a look at the forecast, which showed between a 70-80% chance of rain--and possibly even thunder storms--until around 2 or 3pm today, accompanied by a drop in tempurature from the 60's to the 30's by tonight. After that, the night lows for the next few days were looking to be in the high 20's/low 30's. Taking all that into account, we finally decided after literally hours of debate that we needed to call of the rest of the trip.
Rest assured we didn't come to this decision lightly. Maybe over the next couple of days we may find that the weather predictions were completely wrong and we could have made the trip. The problem is that, right now, we can't see into the future, and based on what we were seeing for ourselves outside and the forecasts for later, we made a very hard choice to play it safe. As I've said before, doing a trip like this is such a gamble; you go through so many places over such a long distance for so many days that completing the entire thing can never be a complete certainty until your at the end. I think that all four of us understand that, and though we're dissapointed we weren't able to finish the whole River, we were still able to travel around 140 miles of it, which is nothing to sneeze at! We had some fantastic experiences and have some great stories to tell, which I hope we'll get a chance to post here in the days to come. Thanks so much for everyone's prayers and support; you can bet this won't be our last trip!
-Daniel
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