The River Wild

Whitewater rafting with the youth group. We went on the upper Ocoee. Before I had always done the lower (sometimes called the middle) Ocoee. After experiencing both, I can tell you the lower is much better. The lower has alot of rapids and less dead space. Whereas the upper has alot of dead space where not much is happening. Still, it was a good trip.
I went with Don Spires, Jeremy Spires, Jeremy’s girlfriend, and a father and his 2 sons from Atlanta. Don picked the lead raft so that we could go ahead of all of them and get good pictures of the rest of the church group. And I think it worked. Don had a decent underwater camera. I’m interested in seeing what kind of pictures it took.
Interesting facts about the Ocoee. I asked how often someone dies on the river. Our guide said not very often. Maybe once every 5 years. And it is usually because someone did something stupid. Darwin’s Law. For instance one time someone drowned because they were on a flooded river. Another man had a heartattack on the “Grumpy” rapid because they had just had heart surgery.
Also apprently TVA isn’t making any money on the Ocoee. They seem to be getting electic power at a loss, for the amount of equipment spent on it.
On the way back we stopped at Sticky Fingers, a barbeque place. None in Nashville. Nearest one is Chattanooga. Great barbeque. The unusual thing was that many of the kids didn’t want to eat there. “No” to barbeque. Many of them got chicken fingers for no reason at all. My pork barbeque sandwich was good. My only complaint was that it didn’t fill me up.
And when did the youth of America start liking “Good Charlotte” ? I am completely lost on this one. Can’t even name one of their songs. Yet for the kids in the church van, this band is the flavor of the moment. I’m going to make a prediction. One year from now, Good Charlotte’s 15 minutes of fame would have ended and the kids of America will move on to other things. The next big hit if you will. Its just a fad. Time to move on. Then again, I guess it is better than your average boyband.