21 Aug 2005, 23:32

Niangua River Float Trip



Our tent

Originally uploaded by willgorman.

There’s something magical about mornings when you’re camping. That moment when you first open your eyes and think “Oh crap, I’m still in the woods. What was I thinking? I need a shower and an internet connection.” Jolayne and I went on a float trip on the Niangua River this weekend with some friends from work, and despite the horrors of “roughing it” (ok, we did have an air mattress but that’s more of a necessity than a luxury in my opinion) we had a good time. For those that don’t know, a float trip seems to be something of a Missouri summertime tradition that involves a bunch of people drifting down a river in canoes or rafts. In our case we went with the raft option and bungee corded together 4 rafts in a massive, river traffic blocking, bottom dragging, sunken log hitting, impossible to steer flotilla. However, the point is really to get down the river in the most leisurely manner possible usually while flinging nerf balls around and pushing people out of the boat so the lack of steering and glacial pace wasn’t really a problem. Well, it wasn’t until we realized that we still had quite a way to go and it was almost time for the last pick up at the take out point. That’s when we all de-bungeed and began to paddle in a not so leisurely manner, but we managed to make it on time. Afterward we camped out overnight before heading home. Even though it was fun, I definitely can only handle nature in small amounts at a time. When it was time to leave I was more than ready to come home and fall in love with indoor plumbing all over again.


Comments

Comment by Nathan Hessler on 2005-08-22 14:54:57 +0000

I don’t know how you did it. No internet, did you get the shakes? Anyway, Sounds like tons of fun.

Comment by Nathan Hessler on 2005-08-22 20:27:21 +0000

another post, but I just thought of this. if you plan on going camping alot you should try to get this.

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how2/article/0,20967,1076525,00.html

Comment by Will on 2005-08-22 21:58:55 +0000

Wow, that’s pretty cool but where we were I couldn’t even get any cellphone signal, much less EV-DO. We were living like savages I tell you, savages!

Comment by Sarah on 2005-08-23 09:43:09 +0000

Guess what? I am sleeping on an air mattress for the next two weeks. It is like camping inside! Did your mattress lose as much air during the night as mine did?

Comment by Will on 2005-08-23 21:41:58 +0000

I don’t know how much yours lost, but ours stayed inflated pretty well.