First Paddle On Big South Fork

The plan was to get going right after lunch. It was taking a bit longer than we'd expected to warm up, so Missy and I wanted to delay departure to ensure warm enough weather that we wouldn't need cold weather gear. Jeremiah was against delay, but then we got a call from Josh and Mom, so we talked with them for a bit. Finally got out of camp around 1:00. We parked the scootie at the takeout and headed for the put-in. It was only about 17 miles, but due to windy roads it took about 45 minutes. There was a great surprise waiting for us at the put-in: a sign that said there's been a spillage from the wastewater treatment plant and that it was not recommended to come in contact with the water. We tried calling the number on the notice for more deets, but there was no answer (prolly cause it's Saturday). There were no other yakkers to ask. So we finally just decided to go for it. There's a ¼ trail down the mountain to the put-in. I actually went ahead and hiked down and back up to make sure this was the put-in. Hiking down with a kayak isn't bad, but if we'd gotten down and discovered the trail wasn't to the put-in….a hike back UP with yaks would have been brutal.

We got down to the river and had a little rest. No more worries about the temp. It was mid-70s and mostly sunny. Very warm. No obvious feces in the water, so we took off. AW gauge said it was 1300, but we can't be sure. There are posts on Boatertalk about the gauges being broken. Gorgeous scenery and perfectly wild. The drops were fun, pool drops that were for the most part boat scoutable. Jeremiah had a blast, per usual, being probe. We got out to scout the class IV rapid. I had read up on it on the AW site. I could see the line, but decided to walk since I wasn't sure I wouldn't get a beat down in my play boat. Although she had the creeker, Missy walked too. After some more fun class III drops, the river changed characteristics and there was a ton more roily-boily rapids to deal with. So tough in a playboat. Jeremiah and I were bracing fools, whereas Missy had no troubles floating through in her creeker.

We got out to look at one other rapid. It was tricky because of a pourover hole at the entrance which kept you from a neat left line to avoid a massive hole slightly downriver on the right. We talked over lines, had some miscommunication on lines, and finally fired it up. Missy was going to watch us go first (and film) before deciding on running or walking. I was nervous, but mostly confident that I would be fine. I cinched in my backband extra tight to give me more control (thus far this trip, I've been cheating with a looser backband so that my legs don't go dead too quickly). I peeled out after Jeremiah, and watched him for further right that I thought we had discussed. And in fact he did have to do some furious paddling to break through and avoid the hole. I lined up perfectly, and was proceeding as planned. I had just burst through a wave jumble and was going to execute my move to carve right, when….disaster! I kicked out of my backband! FUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!! I've never done that before, and the feeling is horrific. Immediate loss of control and no ability to steer. I was flipped by the current and swept over into the sketchy looking eddie (that we'd planned on avoiding). I tried setting up for my roll, but sadly I've never practiced a combat roll where my leg was out. So I panicked and pulled. I got smashed up against rocks under water, scraped my knuckles again, and finally surfaced downstream. Didn't get trapped in the eddy at least. Jeremiah got my paddle and boat, and I headed downstream to meet him. Missy got scared watching me (not knowing it was a backband fail and not a tough rapid), so she walked the rapid. (She screamed when she saw a huge snake in the rocks). I was so disappointed I wanted to cry. I was proud of my scout and line and it is so frustrating to have equipment failure. The rest of the run, I triple checked my backband before every rapid. :-)

We had a long flatwater paddle at the end. According to AW, you can skip the last 2 miles (of the 6 mile run) with an alternative take-out. We'll definitely do that next time. Jeremiah ran the shuttle in about 45 minutes! He must have been flying on the scootie and then the truck ride back. I googled the wastewater spill, and found that it happened about a week ago and all possible contanimants have been long flushed down river. Phew!

Travel to Bandy Creek Campground

A decision is made! We’re packing up and heading to the Bandy Creek Campground, which is in
Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area, Oneida, TN. First, we did some projects before packing up and leaving Deer Run. Missy and Jeremiah used the sawzall to cut a hole in the white shelves in the garage. Somehow this was necessary so the scootie could be driven in frontwards and access the tie-down. They both seemed quite pleased with the end result. Missy cut up the smelly carpet from the bedroom. We thought we’d have to buy some replacement, but luckily we discovered the linoleum continued all the way. I had to back up the truck to the spigot to clean out the antifreeze that Jeremiah spilled. He punctured the jug when tossing in the scootie ramp. We also emptied out the broken gas can and junked it. Jeremiah spent hours trying to figure out a new ROM for his phone. Finally, as noon started to roll around, some storm clouds showed up so we finalized our pack up and pulled out just as it started to rain.

We talked to Josh, and found that Mom was being discharged from the hospital. She is recovering
very quickly. She’ll be in a nursing home in Crystal for a week to recover.

Stopped at Walmart for supplies we needed and stock up on groceries. We made final calls on the
way to Josh and Ed because we read a comment that there was no phone coverage in the campground. We got to Bandy Creek (which was back into Eastern Time…it’s tough going back and forth) at around 4 pm. We parked at the entrance and took the scootie around the 3 loops to look for the best campsite. It was tricky finding one. The campground is open year round, but from April 1-Nov 1, you can reserve sites online. So we are in the strange position of having to go find a site for a first-come-first-served basis for the last 2 nights of March, but then having to go online to make sure no one had it reserved starting April 1st. (No one was manning the office).
Luckily, we had phone service! So we could go online and see what was available. We finally decided on B11, which was one of only 5 sites to have 50amps electric. (All sites have water and 30 amp). $22/night. We are psyched for the extra amperage because it’s sposed to get into the 80s, and this means we can run the air conditioner and have the fridge and water heater going at the same time. The sites aren’t very private, but for now we are the only people in loop B. Hopefully it will stay that way for our week.

We made supper and then got a call from Josh. He was with mom at her new digs. We finally got to talk to Mom! She sounded fantastic! I’m so glad she’s healing quickly. Mom had to go to dinner after about 10 minutes, so we chatted with Josh a bit more. Made plans to try skype on Sunday morning.

Jeremiah and I (and the pooches) drove to the takeout for our next run. Leatherman Ford(?) on
the Cumberland. It’s only about 5 miles from our campsite! I love camping close to the runs! The river is wide, and green, but it’s running fast, so that bodes well for a fun run. The gauge shows that this level is just on the low side of acceptable, so I’m hopeful for a fun run tomorrow. The takeout is very nice, with changing rooms and plenty of parking. This is the start
of a trail for horse riders, so there was plenty of big trailer parking. I took the dogs down river for a bit of a hike. It was getting dark, so I only got about 20 minutes. The dogs sure found lots to sniff and investigate (sometime straight up the mountain, so I had to call Buddy back so he didn’t hurt himself).

Clear Creek Paddle

We took advantage of the water hookup to fill up the black tank completely. It hasn’t been done
yet, and the sensor has clearly been blocked since it always reads ¾ full, even freshly after a dump. It didn’t take very long, and after dumping using the sewer line, we have an empty reading for the sensor. Yay! We spent even more time debating options for camping (it’s tough to complain, since I know I’m on a great trip and all, but this is starting to be stressful!) Maybe
we’ll just pack up tomorrow and take off and let the wind be our guide. Anyway, Missy and Jeremiah loaded up their kayaks to go run Clear Creek. I stayed in camp with the dogs. I wasn’t feeling paddling, and was looking forward to some alone time. I walked the dogs and read in the hammock and may or may not have napped. I finished up the downloads, and got caught up on blog entries whilst sitting outside looking at the pond. Now I just need to get the blog up on the internet.

Missy and Jeremiah returned around 6:30. [Insert Story of Clear Creek Run Here]

Travel Day to RV Park

We went for our traditional leaving day group outing (this being the second time of the new tradition. The first was the trip to the dam when at the eagle river in CO). 4 miles from our campground was the Citico Creek. If there had been a bit more rain, this was one run we were looking at getting on. Sigh. It looked fun and scenic. And it was roadside, so scouting and portaging would have been a breeze. Frickin drought! Oh How I Curse Thee! But the hike was fun and the dogs were happy to not be left behind. (Pix from this hike were mistakenly uploaded to last post. Oh Well)

When we got back to camp, we finished loading up. Then it was time for Missy and I to hook up the rig by ourselves and figure out how to get it out of the spot. Again, it took forever…well, 30 minutes at least. But I think some of the lessons Jeremiah gives about angles and arcs etc are finally sinking in. We got er out and went to the beautiful new dump station. This park is really,
really nice. If we’re in the area again, I would definitely stay here.

We traveled about 2 hours to Crossville TN. Back into Central time. We got to the RV resort. $40/night. Pricey! And especially so since they don’t have the wifi and cable installed yet. But the site is nice and big, and the rv park is only about 10% full. Plus, we get utilities, so we’re making the most of them to get our money’s worth. So not too bad. We were going to get a pull-thru site, but I bucked up and asked for a back-in so we could have practice. The site is off a curved road, so it was certainly tricky for novices. Jeremiah would have parked the rig in 30 seconds on one try. Missy and I had about 20 tries (we tried doing it all on our own with no advice) and ended up completely hugging one side (instead of centered in the parking pad). We called it close enough and started to get unpacked. Jeremiah stepped in and offered to straighten it out. Is it cheating if we let him? I do feel as if I learned out how we messed up by watching him fix it. One small travel disaster: Missy didn’t put our bedroom water jug (2 gallon) on the floor. It toppled and
spilled. It has a bad design whereby we have to unscrew the top to get the necessary air draw, so of course it spilled when it tipped. We got out our electric fans (since we have free electricity) and tried to dry it out, but it seems the rug is going to have a lingering smell. We’ll have to get some baking soda or something. Everyone has great phone reception here, so we’re able to use tethering to get internet.

Missy and Jeremiah used the bathhouse (strong water pressure) and we did some laundry. $1.50/load (2 loads) to wash. $1 to dry. Jeremiah somehow thought it would be a good
idea to cram both loads into one dryer. Of course he had to pay another $1 to get everything completely dry. Twice the time of just starting with 2 dryers in the first place. Good thing he’s
enjoying his ebook. Missy also utilized the electricity to cook her crockpot turkey chili. She used the outside outlet so the smell wouldn’t overwhelm the rig. It was very spicy, but delicious. Spent some more time looking for campgrounds to move to. We’re in a funny position whereby if we move to a cheaper campground, we lose any savings in gas driving the further distance to the river. So we decided to just stay here another night at least.

Update on Mom

We went into town around 9:30ish to see if there was any news about Mom. She was still in the
ICU because there was trouble getting her off the breathing tube. But Josh reported that otherwise, the recovery was going well. Yay Mom! We stayed in town for a couple of hours (had
brunch at an “internet café”…which was an old fashioned café with one booth set up with a tower computer. So quaint!). Jeremiah arranged for his roommate to pick up Lacey from Prairie Lodge. We then spent quite a bit of time trying to find a new campsite. Jeremiah and I were both frustrated by the terrible websites run by the TN state parks/forests. I miss the MN state park online res system already. It’s hard to find places that will fit a rig as long as ours. Unless
places have been remodeled for big rigs, they don’t tend to be big enough. Online data is skimpy, and we have to call a lot of places.

We gave up and went back up the mountain. Missy and I took the dogs on a long hike around the lake. We discussed our options, and decided we would just make the move to a fancy,
expensive RV resort near to the next river we’d be kayaking. This way, we could be in cell range for phone calls and updates on Mom. No more worrying about being out of touch. So we packed up the kayaks and loaded the scooter in the fitty garage in anticipation of leaving the next morning. We watched the amazing race together and called it a night.

Jeremiah woke me up at 11:30 pm screaming for the dogs. Some woodland creature had walked up the ramp into our garage and was foraging for food. (We have dog food and some groceries in there). Apparently it took some time to get the lazy dogs up, but then they took their job seriously and rousted the critter. I guess we need to keep the ramp shut during nights we camp in the woods. :-)

Mom's Brain Surgery (!) and Third trip on Tellico

Poor Mom! When we got into range, I’d had a series of texts from Josh during the night. He ended up bringing Mom to HCMC, where she had an MRI and they found a hematoma. She had emergency brain surgery that night! Thankfully, the surgery was a success and she should heal fine. I feel horrible that I’m so far away. Mom, if you’re reading this: I’m so sorry that you got
injured, and I’m so glad that you’re going to be okay! We couldn’t talk to Mom because she was
still in ICU. Josh said he’d give us her number once she was moved to a room. So we’ll be going back into range tomorrow to try to connect with her.

Since there was nothing more we could do to help Mom or Josh, we went for another run on the Tellico. I was still reeling a bit from the awful news and feeling a bit guilty for kayaking when my Mom was in the ICU, but since there really was nothing I could do, I put on with the others. Missy had brought her creek boat to dust the cobwebs out. At the last minute, she changed her mind to her 4Fun. But then we discovered that the locks were accidentally left with the scootie. So I said the 4Fun would fit in the truck cab. BOTH Missy and Jeremiah scoffed at me and said no way it would fit. But it did! HAH! Those people who know me know that I am horrible at estimating distances and measurements, so this was quite the moment for me!

The river was a bit lower this time. Each level gives the river new character and challenges. Luckily, we had perfect weather! Sunny and mid 70s. No names, but the person in the blue Villian
S had a bit of an issue on the first drop and ended up going down a drop sideways. The person in the Monstar said the aforementioned person had a chance to decide to take the correct line backwards, or the wrong line forwards. But the person in the VillianS dilly-dallied, and the river made the choice for her: broaching on 2 rocks. Pull and a swim. The Villian got lodged right above the last little drop in the line, so I pushed it when I passed by and it came free. No injuries
to boat or boater, so we continued on. I was having a blast in my Allstar. I was a little nervous at the start to be doing a beginners creek run in my playboat, but it was a blast. There was just one other tiny incident where the person in the VillainS got screwed by the lower water and couldn’t make a sharp left curve between rocks. She pitoned and failed her first roll attempt. Whilst upside down, she slammed into another rock and dropped her paddle. Pull and a swim. Too bad, these
drops are super-friendly pool drops, so she totally could have gone for a T-rescue from the guy in the Monstar. We had a lovely float in the nice weather.

Afterwards, we headed back to camp. Missy and Jeremiah indulged in showers, and we are having another fire tonight (where I am currently composing this entry). Tomorrow we’ll check up on Mom, hopefully get to talk to her, and then make decisions on whether to stay at this campsite (which is private and wonderful for non-paddling activities) or seek out a new
campground closer to running rivers. (BTW- I finally remembered to take the camera to the river
today…and as I was about to take a picture of a group of 15-20 yellow monarch butterflies, the camera turned on only long enough to say “batter dead” and then it shut off. Grr.)

Mom's Accident

Missy got a nice present from Cassie this morning… Up until last night, we’ve had the campground to ourselves. Since someone had the spot next to us, Missy walked the dogs to the other side of the grounds after the dogs ate. Apparently Cassie ran off and rolled in some Grade A Disgusting Shit. Cassie’s been known to roll in gross stuff, but this time I guess it was supremely offensive. So Missy got to wash Cassie. Good thing I slept in!

The plan for today was that Jeremiah was going to go to an outfitter to get a new neck gasket for his dry top. Since it happened to be by the Ocoee River on a release weekend, he was going to go boat it by himself. Missy and I we’re happy to have another lazy day at camp. It was a cool and breezy day. So we went ahead and indulged in an all-day fire. We “pilfered” some logs from the main campground. A tree had clearly fallen into a campsite, and someone had chainsawed it up and left the wood there in a pile. Jeremiah came back around 3:30. He had some tale of having to go to another outfitter 40 minutes away to get the right part, and then that store didn’t open until 1:30 (I think in the south, you always need to check what hours, if any, an establishment is open on a Sunday). So he didn’t make it to the river before the release was over.

Missy and I had dinner and then went down the Mntn to do internets (parking in the library lot).
We were just wrapping up after about 2 hours (I finished setting up Facebook), when I got an incoming call from an unknown number. Normally I wouldn’t answer an unknown, but I
decided to take this because I thought it might be my mom calling on someone else’s line. But, it turned out to be a nurse from Prairie Lodge (where my mom is a resident). She said my mom had fallen and hit her head, and they tried to get ahold of Josh (older brother) but couldn’t. She wanted me to tell her if we’d take Mom to Urgent Care, or if an ambulance should be called. I let her know I was in TN, and couldn’t come. I said I’d try to get ahold of Josh, and if not, call her back. Missy and I we’re worried about Mom, and it’s tough being so far away in an emergency. Luckily, I was able to get ahold of Josh, and he said he’d call Prairie Lodge back and take care of things. I offered to stick around in range in case he needed something, but Josh was gracious and said we could go back to camp. I told him we’d come back down the mntn tomorrow at 11 am to talk and get an update.