Cheoah Weekend Trip report
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 2:11 pm
James, Jessica and myself wanted to take off Friday afternoon and head to the Cheoah for 2 days of boating fun. With a scheduled departure time of 4:15pm, I was disheartened when Jessica called around 4pm to say she had over slept (she works nights as a nurse) and had left almost 2 hours later then planned from her house near Fort Smith. Surprisingly, we were loaded and on the road by 4:45. I am not sure how many laws she broke to get to my house in something like 2 hours, but her poor little Jeep was actually smoking and bleeding fluids all over my driveway when we said “we’ll deal with it when we get back” and we hit the road.
This was my first road trip with either of these folks and my first time traveling with a girl (besides my wife). We instantly started picking on each other and having a few laughs, and Jessica ended up hanging well with the male humor and antics throughout the weekend.
15 minutes on the road, not even out of Little Rock I get a call from my lovely wife, Renee, who is in Nashville for 2 weeks with work. Our plan is to sleep at her hotel and then the 4 of us head to the river Saturday morning. She has just wiped out on her rollerblades, causing some major body damage. We arrive, I inspect Renee, we sleep, and 3 of us head to the river Saturday morning. Maybe next trip Renee.
So that is twice now I have had to instigated Rule #1 of Kayak Roadtripping – No matter what happens, go paddle and deal with it when you get back.
We arrive at the Cheoah put-in around 12:30 and are surprised to find that Druse, Kaylan, Cathy, Chris, Jason and Sabrina have waited for us to launch. We gear out and start down the river with Jessica and James looking a little nervous. See they had broken rule #2 of Kayak Roadtripping – never go out to the internet and read all the hype about a river or watch too many YouTube videos right before you go on a roadtrip to that river for the first time.
Less than a mile into our first run, I go for a boof on the right side of this rock that several other’s had gone to the left of. Mid-boof I look over to see Kaylan pinned. She is between a rock and a ledge; head up with water covering most of her boat. I eddy out right behind the rock she is pinned on and assess the situation. I have to yell several times at her NOT to pull her skirt. I keep eye contact and remind her she is stable and breathing and pulling the skirt will change everything, maybe for the good, maybe for the bad. Chris (regional badass and friend of Cathy’s) pulls up beside me and we execute a textbook “grab that bi**h”. No, no offense or insult to Kaylan, if you watch LVM, they have a segment called 87 seconds where they demonstrate safety techniques and that is just what they named it. “We quickly and assertively acted without hesitation”. Basically Chris hopped out of his boat and pulled her off of the pin. I kept up with his loose boat and paddle and then tossed my paddle to Kaylan when she needed it. I guess she was pinned for 2.5-3minutes.
Not much excitement after that. Just solid lines and great fun. Ran a second lap on the bottom section with James, Jason, Chris and Cathy. Then, hunted for hours for a camp spot. Finally paid a high dollar amount to sleep in my car 30+ miles from the river.
Sunday, just as dawn was about to break, it started raining. We hung out in our individual quarters till about 8:30 then got to pack up wet gear in the rain. The group fragmented at that point so it ended up being just Jessica, James, Jason and myself running from top to bottom on the Cheoah in quick fashion so we could get on the road for the long drive home.
At the takeout Jessica springs on me that her and James were considering jumping ship over to Jason and Sabrina to get a second lap on the Cheoah and then run the Ocoee on Monday. Meaning I would be driving 9+ hours home by myself. I did not even flinch cause I know rule number #3 of roadtripping – maximize every opportunity and don’t go home till you have to (James is unemployed and Jessica did not have to be back to work till Wednesday). Ended up James felt sorry for me so he rode home instead of paddling more.
I spent a couple of hours examining and adding fluids to Jessica’s Jeep on Monday evening. My guess is the front seal on the transmission. I added 3 qts before she got there and hopped in it and limped it home in the darkness.
Another great trip with some great folks on a fun river. James is editing some video that will be coming soon for your viewing pleasure. Now, where to go next…
Also I am going to Rockport today for the first time this year. Usually I have 10+ days by this point but have been boating many other places. Look for my next few post reviewing my new camcorder and the 2010 Jackson Allstar. The Demo just came in to OOO today!
Scott
This was my first road trip with either of these folks and my first time traveling with a girl (besides my wife). We instantly started picking on each other and having a few laughs, and Jessica ended up hanging well with the male humor and antics throughout the weekend.
15 minutes on the road, not even out of Little Rock I get a call from my lovely wife, Renee, who is in Nashville for 2 weeks with work. Our plan is to sleep at her hotel and then the 4 of us head to the river Saturday morning. She has just wiped out on her rollerblades, causing some major body damage. We arrive, I inspect Renee, we sleep, and 3 of us head to the river Saturday morning. Maybe next trip Renee.
So that is twice now I have had to instigated Rule #1 of Kayak Roadtripping – No matter what happens, go paddle and deal with it when you get back.
We arrive at the Cheoah put-in around 12:30 and are surprised to find that Druse, Kaylan, Cathy, Chris, Jason and Sabrina have waited for us to launch. We gear out and start down the river with Jessica and James looking a little nervous. See they had broken rule #2 of Kayak Roadtripping – never go out to the internet and read all the hype about a river or watch too many YouTube videos right before you go on a roadtrip to that river for the first time.
Less than a mile into our first run, I go for a boof on the right side of this rock that several other’s had gone to the left of. Mid-boof I look over to see Kaylan pinned. She is between a rock and a ledge; head up with water covering most of her boat. I eddy out right behind the rock she is pinned on and assess the situation. I have to yell several times at her NOT to pull her skirt. I keep eye contact and remind her she is stable and breathing and pulling the skirt will change everything, maybe for the good, maybe for the bad. Chris (regional badass and friend of Cathy’s) pulls up beside me and we execute a textbook “grab that bi**h”. No, no offense or insult to Kaylan, if you watch LVM, they have a segment called 87 seconds where they demonstrate safety techniques and that is just what they named it. “We quickly and assertively acted without hesitation”. Basically Chris hopped out of his boat and pulled her off of the pin. I kept up with his loose boat and paddle and then tossed my paddle to Kaylan when she needed it. I guess she was pinned for 2.5-3minutes.
Not much excitement after that. Just solid lines and great fun. Ran a second lap on the bottom section with James, Jason, Chris and Cathy. Then, hunted for hours for a camp spot. Finally paid a high dollar amount to sleep in my car 30+ miles from the river.
Sunday, just as dawn was about to break, it started raining. We hung out in our individual quarters till about 8:30 then got to pack up wet gear in the rain. The group fragmented at that point so it ended up being just Jessica, James, Jason and myself running from top to bottom on the Cheoah in quick fashion so we could get on the road for the long drive home.
At the takeout Jessica springs on me that her and James were considering jumping ship over to Jason and Sabrina to get a second lap on the Cheoah and then run the Ocoee on Monday. Meaning I would be driving 9+ hours home by myself. I did not even flinch cause I know rule number #3 of roadtripping – maximize every opportunity and don’t go home till you have to (James is unemployed and Jessica did not have to be back to work till Wednesday). Ended up James felt sorry for me so he rode home instead of paddling more.
I spent a couple of hours examining and adding fluids to Jessica’s Jeep on Monday evening. My guess is the front seal on the transmission. I added 3 qts before she got there and hopped in it and limped it home in the darkness.
Another great trip with some great folks on a fun river. James is editing some video that will be coming soon for your viewing pleasure. Now, where to go next…
Also I am going to Rockport today for the first time this year. Usually I have 10+ days by this point but have been boating many other places. Look for my next few post reviewing my new camcorder and the 2010 Jackson Allstar. The Demo just came in to OOO today!
Scott
Lance Jones Top 2000 worst songs iPod jam(thanks to Scott) my ears a still hurting. 
I was there too. 
I only ran down through the Falls but did run the falls several times to get some video. It is posted on YouTube but 
Sabrina
... hope every one injoys maybe some day I will get to together. :roll: