Having floated the Current River for more than 10 years, I can write with some authority on riverin’. In fact, my husband and I have floated, meaning canoed, rafted or kayaked on rivers in several states including Michigan, Tennesee, Colorado, Hawaii, Missouri and now, Virginia. Being near to a river was an item on the vast checklist of criteria of places to live, and central Virginia suits that nicely.

Now, typically, and on most of our river experiences, there have been an abundance of hoosiers, and by that I don’t mean the good people of Indiana. In fact, as I previously alluded, we’ve never gone riverin’ in Indiana. What I mean is rednecks on the river, clogging the waterways drinking Natty Light, wearing little more than a sunburn and perhaps a sombrero, and polluting all that surrounds them.

The husband and I recently acquired a tandem kayak from the great Appomatox River Company. It is our retirement plan. Now that we’ve come into the phase of our lives when the children need us for little more than cash handouts and an occasional meal, we’re finding more time with just the two of us; time we intend to spend in increasing amounts on the river.

Our first joint excursion was on the Rivanna. We set out on a beautiful morning for a short tour. As we settled in, finding our paddling stride (read: me going all princess in the front while the husband handled the steering), I breathed the river air, admired the trees and enjoyed the summer quiet.

We were gifted with the sight of eagles soaring overhead, a snake in the water carrying a fish in its mouth and dozens of geese swimming out ahead of us.

I was shocked at the lack of people on the river. On a day like that in Missouri the river would have had a traffic jam a mile long. We went for miles without seeing a soul, then just a few squatters near Woolen Mills. There was a family camping (or living?) in tents a few miles beyond that and a couple of guys fishing later on, but that was it. No hoosiers, I thought, how odd.

And then I realized the truth; the hoosiers were us.  

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 at 8:17 am and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.