This past Sunday Carol and I joined our friends Tom and Linda and their friend Mike on a trip down the Rainbow and Withlacoochee rivers. We rented Kayaks in the town of Dunnellon and were dropped off on the Rainbow river at KP Hole. Nine miles and about 4 hours later we were picked up at Forest Float on the Withlacoochee.

At the beginning I wondered what we were in for because things didnt get off to a great start. There was some confusion about what do with our car. The girls that we rented the canoes from told us that we didnt need to drive our car anywhere because they would come and pick us up. But when we got into the company van and headed toward the dropoff point the driver seemed somewhat irritated to find out that we had not dropped our car off at the end of the route. Finally he agreed that someone would come and pick us up and take us back to our car when they picked up the Kayaks.

The other frustration was that you couldn’t take anything on the Kayak with you that was in disposable containers. Everything was supposed to be in plastic reuseable containers. We didnt realize how strict this was until we saw a sign saying there was a $250 fine for each item found in your possession through random searches on the river. So much our lunch was opened and dumped in the cooler so it wasnt in bags anymore. Kind of messed up the Cheese Puffs a little. My biggest frustration with this was that I had just bought a nice cold Gatorade for the trip and couldn’t take it with me on the river because it was in a disposable container. So it sat in the car and was hot by the time we got back to it. And we never got stopped and searched!

Once we got going on the trip the frustration of how it started was forgotten. The river was beautiful. Parts of it were so clear you could see the bottom. There were all kinds of turtles and birds on the river. I have a fear of water which has resulted in me never learning to swim, but with my life jacket on I felt safe and really enjoyed the trip. It was very relaxing. And I didn’t even feel real tired or sore when I was done with the 9 miles. Waking up Monday morning was a different story though. The soreness continues today in my back and shoulders. Thank goodness for Icy Hot! ND