Regatta...2016...

I went way too hard this year.  I'm not as young as I used to be and I shouldn't be trying to keep up the pace that I could, years ago.  But let's not bitch about being old, let's get to the recap.

Zig and I hit the road nice and early on Thursday and made good time getting out there.  We got lucky at least once when we zipped by a statie who thankfully had some paperwork to do (I'm guessing) rather than to pull our asses over.

First stop was up to see King and Pat.  Unfortunately Pat wasn't feeling well so she was only able to socialize for a little bit before going back to bed.  We chatted with King for a bit then headed off to visit the graves.  After that, it was over to see Jerry and Barb and we had a great visit with them and had some laughs.  We'd wanted to get down to see Tommy at his restaurant, but we were running out of time, still hadn't gotten to Mark and Mary's, and still needed to hit the V to see the crew (we joked that we're going to need to start coming out a full day earlier, just so we can make all of the rounds).

Eventually we made it to Mark and Mary's and Mike had recently arrived as well, so we settled in for a bit before heading to the V to catch up with everyone else (it makes it so much easier to catch up when everyone is in the same place).  We hung out there for a bit, 'til folks started heading out.  Soon we, too, were headed for the exit and back to Mark and Mary's for the night.  And more libations, and cards, and lots and lots of laughs.  Love those guys!

Friday morning we did our supply run and then met up with Myszka for the crazy, high-speed run over the mountain,  We didn't go quite as quickly this year, since Steve was in the rental truck (last year he was in his truck).  We still made great time and were soon set up at camp and settling in for the evening.  The weather wasn't cooperating and we had a fair amount of rain, but we made do with new friendships made, new drinking games explained, and good conversations and laughter went long into the evening.  (Too long, for this old guy, but for whatever reason, I try to be one of the last ones up.)

Saturday dawned cloudy and cold (it was 42 degrees out and I'm putting shorts on to go kayaking!).  Anyway, after a bit of breakfast, we ambled over and put in to the river.  We managed to stay together for about 15 minutes but then I got separated.  I have no idea how, but one minute I was surrounded with the folks from camp, the next minute I was by myself.  It sounds iimpossible, but when you've got over 2,000 people pressed together, sometimes zipping along currents and smashing into each other and other times floating lazily around and lightly bumping into each other, it's easy to lose track.

The water level this year was one of the lowest its ever been (I confirmed it with the folks that were running the event), which meant there were time and times and times when I had my paddle split and was using them as crutches to inch over the rocky river bed, as there wasn't enough water to float me across (insert fat joke here).

There was one spot, though, where it was rather deep.  Which of course means that's where I dropped my paddle.  I figured "Hey, it's plastic, it'll float."  Nope; sank like a rock, but fortunately the ends are flourescent orange so I could see it on the bottom.  I dragged my boat up onto shore and then waded out to chest-deep water and retrieved it.  Did I mention it was cold?  Yeah, I'd just dropped my core temp by about 10 degrees but there wasn't any warming up to do out of the water except paddle hard and try and warm up a little.

I stopped at a couple of the pit stops along the way and warmed up a bit by the fires, but still never saw anyone else from my group so eventually just went to the end/pull out spot and waited.  Mike and Zig, and then Myszka and a couple other guys eventually showed up and we stowed our boats ino the rental truck and headed back.  Turns out that one of the reasons I hadn't been able to see anyone is that half of the crew had pulled out early.  The cold and wet was giving folks troubles with muscles cramping and a general "this isn't much fun" feeling.  But we all made it back eventually, even Marsha and her friend Kim, who we'd been kinda worried about when we hadn't heard anything for a while, but they did surive and make it back to camp.

The weather was still pretty lousy so some of the folks that live nearby pulled up stakes and headed home.  I didn't blame them at all, I was wishing we lived closer, too.  So instead of packing up and going home to be warm, us out of staters just settled in and made the most of it.  Far too late into the evening again.  (In looking at my texts the next morning, I saw that I'd sent one at 2:00, commenting that everyone else was in bed and I was looking for someone to party with.  WTF...I shoulda gotten some sleep!)

The next morning we loaded up the Jeep and headed for home.  I lasted about an hour before letting Zig take over, and then dozed in and out for the rest of the ride home.  By the time I walked into my living room, I was so exhausted that I left a line of clothes on the floor behind me to the bathroom, where I took a nice long hot shower.

Today is Monday and I feel like I'm just now (1pm) starting to feel better.  I really need to slow things down a bit.

Too bad the coming weekends look like they're going to be just as hectic and wild.

Sleep when I'm dead, right?

Ride Hard, Take Chances