6:30 A.M. wake up call but there’s little movement. Ice sickles hang from the tents and the occupants’ teeth chatter. A yellow school bus pulls up and alerts the straggling students to get up and quickly pack the dwindling lunch supplies. We all assemble in the bus and head to the Current River for our Halloween canoeing adventures. After winding through the hills of southern Missouri we arrived at the Current River with the breaks nearly on fire from the steep decent. Teams were assorted by experienced, medium, and none; after a brief instruction we were off. A few run ins with the river bank and a couple 360s later, we got our river legs and began our 18 mile trek down the river. Not far down the river, we broke for a snack and the first of three sketches. While sketching, people passed us and let us know that two canoes had already tipped, only an hour into our trip. Our next stop was an old spring with a cave that was also home to the endangered grey bat. We wanted to adventure inside but none of us had a spare $20,000 to cover the fine. Lunch was sort lived because of the bees that apparently live year round in missoura. Paddling and eating proved to be a challenge but worth it in trade for no bees. 3/4s of the way down, we began to get tired and slowed the pace to a crawl. Finally our group of four canoes could see the finish line and the race was on. The underdog canoe, Tony and Neal, pulled off a miraculous, come from behind victory that will go down in the Current River history books. Upon arrival, another race for the showers ensued. Everyone scurried into the showers only to be greeted with the coldest water on the planet. After cautiously washing off, the Halloween festivities began. There was a pumpkin carving contest and best-dressed award. The pumpkin-carving contest ended in much heart-breaking for team Luigi, Mason, Neal whose pumpkin was unrivaled but not appreciated. Luigi put his heart and soul into the flawlessly crafted pumpkin, but it was to no avail as they were snuffed for lesser, more generic jackolanterns.
Neal and Jeff
MAC ISSUES MORE PHOTOS HOPEFULLY TO COME! :)
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