Sunday, June 10, 2012

Row, Row, Row Your Raft

Here they are, the few, the proud, the brave. The group from Troop 555 ready to take on the adventure they planned for a year ago. The first stages of planning, the building of rafts and tons more planning on how to get it all to the Ohio River was finally being realized. The weather was pretty good..only one thunderstorm to contend with. The flow of the river and the wind were the trouble spots. They all had to do alot of rowing to get the rafts where they were suppose to be headed. The current was not flowing strong at all and the wind was trying to send them the opposite direction. But they kept at it and made the trip. It will be something they will talk about and relive for a long time. Good campfire stories!
OOPPSSS...As with all good plans a snafu usually happens. It happened in the form of a fan belt. But an hour later all was sort of OK..The trip home had a few oops too.
Once they arrived at the river's edge the real work began. All had to be assembled and loaded up with 3 days supplies.
The leader raft is all ready to start loading..it looks so innocent doesn't it? So....Tom Sawyerish..
Assembling the boys raft.
Boys raft almost all loaded and ready to head out.
Momma Mia that's alot of stuff! Honestly, it really did float!
Well, they didn't sink! Let the rowing begin!
Along the river all sorts of boats were spotted. From the tiny...
To the large!...
This little honey of a paddle boat looked really cute...I'm sure the rafts looked kind of cute to them!
There was a close encounter of the scary kind with a barge...but rowing saved the day!
The experience of going through the locks....learning about the way it's done was one of the goals they wanted to accomplish.
There's a process getting ready to go through the locks. I should have had Jack do the post because he knows all about the effort it took to do it.
But they did it!
For some reason I just love this shot of the boys raft, taken from behind them...
The sunrise on Saturday morning started the last leg of this trip. Jack made it home by around 4pm...very sunburned, very tired, very happy that he and guys all made it safe and sound...very happy they did it...very happy to take a real shower! Good job boys and leaders. It's great to work so hard for so long and accomplish a task, and learn a lot too!

17 comments:

Kim said...

That looks like so much FUN!

Unknown said...

Fabulous adventure!1

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

Wow! This was great! They must have felt so small going through those locks.
How did you get the photo of the raft from behind..it looked so neat!

Christina said...

How awesome! Kyle has been telling us about this trip for quite some time now. I'm glad they were finally able to do it!

Hilary said...

Wow.. what a fine adventure. They must have had a blast. I love that rear view of the raft, also. Very cool shot.

Mrs Catch said...

What an adventure! Locks are fascinating. When we holidayed in Europe a few years ago, the boys so enjoyed watching them work. Must feel a litle unnerving to be in the boat when it's going up and down though. Kind of like sinking, I imagine.

Sweet Tea said...

Very impressive. Actually, EXTRA, very impressive. What an accomplishment and an adventure. Loved the photos. And, loved the fact that you were so calm about it all. It always made me crazy nervous when my kids did anything on the water.

acorn hollow said...

that looks like such fun! Glad they had a great day to go.
Cathy

Stacy said...

I'm so glad to have the boys home. Kyle was so glad to have that shower too.

Running out of gas was just part of the story. Wish Jack got a picture of that. :)

We should have asked you to go on the girls night with us. Sorry about that!

Well alls well that ends well.

PoetessWug said...

WOW! A rafting trip that was like a blast from the past. :-)) I liked the photo of the raft from behind too...with the letters on it. :-))

Bonnie said...

I think I would die if I ever had to row anywhere. I can't even swim. They deserve high praise for doing all of that work!

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Susan Anderson said...

What a totally cool (and memorable!) experience.

=)

karen said...

What a great adventure, sunburns and all! What boy (or man-boy) wouldn't want to float down a river like Huck Finn?

Grandma Yellow Hair said...

Give a hubby a big congrats from me for making it without any major problems and they all made it home safe.
I prayed for them while they were sailing or rafting I should say down the rive.
Like you I love that picture of the boys raft taken from behind. So cool as this trip had to have been to the troop.
How I would of loved doing something like that growing up heck I would love it now. hahaha
YEP there are dwarfs in this Snow White too and let me know when you see the movie what you think of them. lol
We have the black hair in common and I too loved that Snow White had black hair. Like you mentioned most were blondes. My son Clint is only one that got my black hair. Hard to believe the color of it now.
Never would of guessed it in my young age. lol
Hope all is well and thanks honey for coming by
Love ya
Maggie

selvageedge said...

Looks like they had a great time!

PoetessWug said...

Hello Again!!!....You're not obligated to follow the rules, but I just wanted to let you know that I did a blog post today, nominating you for the Sunshine Blogger Award! :-)

Judi said...

Well, YOUR vessel was certainly more seaworthy then ours!! (Don't tell Donna!!)
I am impressed with their beautiful results. I, too, loved the shot of the guys shadowed in the tent of raft.
Makes me want to be a boy scott!