Such a wonderful thing to have my family. I miss my father, and I miss my nephew John. I am however grateful to have my sister Kathy with us victorious after her battle with cancer, and all of my other siblings, especially my sister Marilyn. My three brothers, Frank, Sam, and Rick, will be playing music at my mom's party and I expect to be up for a song or two myself. I dunno how goofy I'll look playing bass or guitar in a nice dress but it'll have to work. ;-)
And - July 4th - after BBQ at my brother's house - it is the start of Week of Rivers, a Carolina Canoe Club event that takes place at Smoky Mtn. Meadows campground near the Nantahala river every year. Last year I paddled 5 different rivers during WOR, including 2 that were my personal first descents- the Pigeon and the French Broad. We have creekside sites and set up a little 'tarp city' because it always rains some during WOR. Being paddlers, we don't mind getting wet on the river, but it's a little tough trying to cook and eat our dinner in the rain...
Still working on my roll, yes I have been hitting my combat rolls when I follow Craig's advice, but the old bad form creeps up once in awhile. I did a stern squirt on the Hiwassee at Thread the Needle and carped coming up. I also slid around in the boat so after I crashed back down I put my hands on the cockpit rim to readjust my position and felt a 'bump!' from Ryland who saw my hands and thought I was eskimo rescuing. So I thought, what the heck, why not? and eskimo rescued. I can't believe, after all the foam and padding and discomfort I've added to the EZ, that I can still slide around in the outfitting. We had a good time at that eddyline, at the 360 hole on Three Bears, and at the ender spot at Three Chutes.
This weekend, since I have to stay local, I am going to take the triple X to the lake and see if I can get a bit further on initiating my bow. Craig gave me an aha! moment when he showed me that my posture made a big difference when driving down the bow. I've been trying to get a bow stall, or even close to a bow stall, in flatwater for years. Maybe it's futile. But at the least working on flatwater bow initiations has got to make a big difference in my eddyline wheel attempts.
So far, a great summer - my plum tree went off btw and I am now sick of plums ;-) and if I'm lucky, I'll get to paddle again with Spicy Pablo.
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