San Juan - April 1999 (continued)
The trip is 84 miles from
Sand Island to Clay Hills. It can take as little as 4 days
(perhaps less) and as many as 7 - we did it in 6.
At one point, I was so
pissed off at the wind (I, for one, was not above cursing the wind) and
the lack of progress we were making, I got out of the boat and pulled it
behind me. The river was shallow but it makes these sand bars that
have pretty sudden drop offs - well we made good time but more than once
Tom or Angie had to pull me back aboard the boat.
I remember too, one afternoon of paddling where we made perhaps 200 yards of headway against this evil wind in an hour of continuous paddling. Ugh!!!
The kayakers were nice people and tried to help out. But I kept thinking that they thought me or my crew not up for the job and, well, that made me mad as you can expect - not for myself but for this crew of two paddlers who paddled hard day in and day out into the teeth of that wind with this ugly pile of gear pushing us back upstream. Lessons of life? Perhaps again. Pride goeth before the fall.
Angie and I often have this discussion - which way is "better" to enjoy the river - going light and simple or going for all the gear and luxuries. Our choice is always toward light and simple. So how does this apply to life? Maybe it has something to do with baggage of our past? Maybe it just has to do with not accumulating too much stuff? But, of course, that's just our choice.
What's funny about that is that Tom thinks that Angie and I have too many luxuries and that rafting is in its nature not a minimalist sport/activity. I think the only luxury that Angie and I allow is the cooler of fresh food. Tom says we should have granola bars and pop tarts for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and raman for dinner - everyday! Funny how we all have these different perspectives on the world!!
