Canoe Trip

Wow, the canoe trip was so much fun! It was about a half hour drive up there to the Tuscarawas River I'd say. We stopped at the Canal Fulton canoe stop, signed in, got our oars, and then jumped into a van and headed upstream to where the voyage begun. We all divided up into groups, which were: Me and Emily; Audrey and Jimmy; Beckie and Brittany; Kristen K. and Tylesha; Katie, Kristen A., and Vicki; James and Timmy; Carl and DJ; Clint and Cuyler; and Bobby, Andy, and Michael. Emily and I did a pretty good job. We didn't really run into anything after we got used to it. We just kept going over big logs which were a delay, but not too bad. At one point, we, along with Audrey and Carl's boats were far ahead of everyone else so we pulled over to wait for them. Me and Em pulled over by a muddy bank and made mud balls. We surprised those coming around the bend with a shower of mud. Then, as we were about to go off again, I lost my oar and it was too far away for me to reach so I jumped in to get it (I was already soaked to the bone so it didn't matter that much). I then couldn't get into the canoe. Luckily James was just passing then so he attempted to help me get back in. Finally I got in, only to fall right out again. I tried two more times before totally submurging the canoe in water. All of out stuff was floating on the brown, stinky, murky water. The Clint and Cuyler showed up helped us get out boat to shore. On the bank, the muck was discustingly thick. You would put your foot down and sink like 2 feet under. We lost a flip-flop of Emily's in that stuff. Finally, our canoe was floatable and we were off. Of course, just then James' boat went under. We gave our thanks and left (sorry guys). We then were absolutlly sopping wet and stunk. Flies were flying all around our heads. Emily was like "Hey, just 'cause I smell like poop doesn't mean that you have to fly all around me head." I was cracking up as she tried to rid herself of those nasty little flies. We then began singing. A few of our numbers were: Phantom of the Opera, YG songs, Tomorrow, You Raise Me Up, Peter, James, and John in a Sailboat (which we mixed the words up to sing about ourselves), Newsies, and other songs. Soon, we were in the rough part. Our canoe was going crazy and turning all over the place. The water was very shallow and the bottom was all rocks so we just jumped out and steered the canoe out of the rocks. Soon after that, we were all done and went to rinse ourselves off with the freezing cold, yet refreshing hose. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait for next year and the other youth events the leaders have in store for us!