Floating down the river

Floating means different things in different places. In Missouri floating means renting a canoe and drifting down a stream or creek without using a paddle. I was told that here, anything that floats goes.

Labor Day is one of a handful of official holidays so I wanted to make it good. Carol, the special sections editor, and I planned to float a little on the Platte River yesterday. After checking the direction of the riverflow at least three times, we parked my car upriver and drove a few miles west to another entry point. We walked our tubes past a family and a group of guys inflating their giant party rafts. Our tubes were questionable from the start — car tire inner tubes patched with hose tape — but we were determined to make it work and set off on our adventure.

Pictures taken with my new waterproof/drop-proof/party-proof camera.

We started with two small tubes and one large one. The cooler got its own tube.

Carol let me have the big tube and made the two tubes work. And we’re off!

The water was cold, but the sun felt nice. There was a good stretch where we didn’t have to worry about hitting rocks.

But then I noticed bubbles coming from my tube and I flipped over into the rocks and the float trip ended. I pulled the dead tube through the rockiest part yet to the edge. We walked through someone’s backyard and through a subdivision until we found the bike/jogging path that runs along the river.

We walked the last 1.5 miles to my car in our suits and sandals, but we didn’t scare these deer away.

I’d do it again — with warmer weather and a more reliable flotation device.