Date: 2007-04-27
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: -0.5
Weather: light rain

Man was today a BLAST! I ended up volunteering to help clean up the FrenchBroad River. Gadget, Scribe and I walked down to Huck Finn's Rafting. Persistent made the wise decision to stay put and rest.We all walked in, and there were 15 other people volunteering. They hadmuffins, fresh fruit, coffee, and juice for us! SCORE! I had eaten a SnickersBar and was going to make that due till the free lunch the rafting place wasoffering us. As we waited for them to get everything in order, I sat down andstruck up a conversation with Meg one of the women who work at the raftingstore. I could see she was an interesting and intelligent woman, so I startedasking her about how she got "here."She said she actually has a degree in Biology, but circumstances (like how faraway colleges were and raising her son) often dictated her next move. Iunderstod that. We ended up having a really great conversation about losing(and how you regain and maintain) faith in humanity. We totally "got eachother" when we discussed how overwhelming and difficult it can be to be part ofsomething that seems to be so full of negativity and hatred. I also know that we have to realize that our perspectives are filtered. Filtered by our own experiences and opinions and knowledge, so it isn't fair toassume the way you see it is the way it is (at least everywhere).It was a delightful 20 minutes spent, and then they started gathering us aroundfor some pre-rafting information.It was then I realized I'd forgotten to put my camera battery back in my camera! Doh!! LOL I told them not to leave w\out me and ran back to my room to get it.They basically told us not to pick up anything we'd hurt ourselves with (brokenglass, sharp metal, etc). Then we were off. We all walked down the AT to theriver, and Gadget, Scribe, me, and a local woman named Arlayne all piled into araft armed with paddles and trash bags.Arlayne is this very cool woman who just a month ago started her training as avoluteer fire fighter. She has hiked the 480 miles of the AT from Vermont toMt. Katahdin.It was SO much fun! There were 6 rafts, so we all randomly chose differentparts of the shore to pull up to and walk around to clean. Man, it was almostdepressing how much trash there was. My tendencies towards OCD started kickingin, and I was having a really difficult time leaving things behind that you justcouldn't lift or unbury enough to take.You could unload your trash anywhere next to the road, where the forest rangerswould come by and pick it up. We filled both the front and the back spaces ofour raft until they were heaping with bags and bags of bottles, clothing, 5tires, 6 tire tubes, metal poles, drainage duct, gutter tubing (from a house),and more stuff than I can remember. Our raft was so full, it felt like tryingto steer a freakin barge down the river! LOL We found a drop-off point and unloaded everything up the hill (of course,everything has to be up a hill! LOL)We then started off for round 2. We were all only going 5 miles, and other raftspulled out a propane tank, ironing board, a trapping cage, and several chairs. Pretty insane really, and to think we all really weren't scratching the surface.Arlayne asked us all what we miss the most. I said flushing toilets, being warmwithout working for it, and most of all my family (which besides Rachael who isa given includes my friends like Heather, Xinyan, and the awesome women from theVagina Monologues that I performed with last year) and of course my kitties. Itold her as for food, Persistent and I had been craving Sushi since the firstweek. Well, next thing you know, Arlayne offered to come back after we all gotcleaned up, and take us all to a nearby town for Sushi!! She was excited to beable to give trail magic, and so we all decided to surprise Persistent and tellher we were going somewhere, but not tell her where. And Arlayne is in themiddle of a 10 day fast, so she won't be eating! Now how generous is that ofher?About 2:00 p.m., we got to our docking area with more trash. In the course ofour voyage, we got our raft stuck on a few rocks, once I hopped out to pull usto the shore, and I sank in the mud up to my thighs, lost my crock (whichthankfully floated to the top), I found out Gadget can't swim, so I told him I'dsave him but that Scribe would have to do the mouth to mouth part, and we bravedthe Class 2 rapids (about as big as when a small child splashes in a bathtub!LOL). Once we got our raft pulled out, they had a great lunch of sandwiches, chips,fruit, cookies, lemonade, beer, and water. We were the next to the last raftin. It was truly a blast, and despite the abundance of trash that is still outthere, it was a beautiful 5 mile ride down this river. I'm so glad I did thistoday.On my way back to the motel a woman came running up to me and goes, "Are youCertain?" I said yup. (it is almost embarassing how many people recognize mebecause I've been writing in my journal since March 2006, but it also kind ofcool that people run up to you and know what you're about). It was Kokopelli!! She had signed my guestbook way back and she has a kitty (Tator Tot) whoresembles my little man Henry. We took pics together and it was so col to meether. I could tell we'd have a great time together if circumstances allow us tohang out at all. She had a ton of enthusiasm and positive energy, which feltreally good to be around.So it was showers, laudry to clean my one (now river soaked) outfit, and waitingor Arlayne to come pick us up for Sushi. She got there around 5:30 p.m., and shedrove us o Waynesville. She even called aead to make sure they were servingSushi!She was a really interesting woman. It was obvious that her faith in God washer priority, and I'll admit, that has not always been a positive attribute tome due to all of the preachy hypocrits I'v encountered in my life. She was agood person for me to meet however. I realized that we both had very similarapproaches to life, embracing the unknown and exercising blind faith that thingswork out the way they need to. She has her belief system and I have mine. Whereas some of the finer points of the ideologies that we believe in are verydifferent, we still have many beliefs in common, which is practicing kindness,being open to unknown opportunities, and I didn't get the feeling at all thatshe was judging me, nor was I judging her for her beliefs. It was one of thevery things I came out here to experience. So if you are reading my journalArlayne, thank you.Our time together served a purpose bigger than filling my stomach with wonderfulChinese food. It brought me a bit closer to the place I want to be.We got back to the motel @ 10:15 p.m. I was going to camp down by the river, butit was a bit of a walk(I was exhausted), and there seemed to be a lot of drunkpeople wandering around. I asked the motel manager if I could hang my hammockout front and he said yes. I was about to, and then some drunk guy startedyelling and cussing outside, the cops showed up, and then I thought better ofbeing out there with drunk mad people all around. God, get me out of town andback in the woods where it is safe! LOLToday was an unexpected day full of conversations and encounters that I needed. All things happen for a reason. I've always believed that. I am experiencing many intense emotions and cycling thru many intense thoughtprocesses, and meeting people like Meg and Alayne help me feel as if I'm not theonly one who feels some of the things I do.~Certain