Let me admit it now. When you return from a seven-day paddle trip on a beautiful Georgia river, your family is expecting you to recount stories of breathtaking encounters with nature, but those are not the first stories I told to my wife after more than 100 miles on the Flint River.
No. On this scaled-down, more intimate pandemic edition of Georgia River Network’s Paddle Georgia with just 36 total participants, I came back with stories of the people with whom I travelled. In recent memory I cannot remember laughing as hard as I did on this trip.
Throughout the week, we shared “little known facts” about ourselves during our evening program. We learned that as a teenager, Jim Potter performed on stage with a famous Italian ballet troupe. Now decidedly not of the ballet physique, Jim recounted passing the prima ballerina overhead and remembered, “For a prima ballerina, she had a surprisingly mushy tush.”
This hilarity was followed by Bonny Putney revealing that when she was a teenager and part of an exchange program visiting the Soviet Union, she was severely disciplined by a red soldier when she cracked a laugh during a tour of Vladamir Lenin’s tomb. Imagine, Bonny cracking a laugh…hard to believe.
And, then there were the “Oh, son, I don’t know if I would have told that” stories. Stacy Dounias recalled her first experience peeing in the wilderness–an affair that saw her rolling head over heels down a steep hill. And, then there was Charles Lewis, the Navy pilot veteran who, despite successfully launching and landing his jet on aircraft carriers dozens of times, nevertheless, “shot” down his own experimental paraplane–a story that involved a large American flag and a brick. He safely landed in a cornfield. Next time you see him, request the story. It’s a hoot and Charles can spin a tale…and a joke or two.
Speaking of jokes…the Paddle Georgia animal joke tradition continued. Started in 2007 on the Ocmulgee when we adopted the robust redhorse fish as our trip mascot and proceeded to tell jokes and puns about the rare creature (What do you call a redhorse that was arrested? A robusted redhorse), Paddle Georgia animal jokes have been told for more than 13 years with varying degrees of success. Most of the jokes are so lame they rarely even rise to the level of “dad jokes.”
This year, the federally protected gopher tortoise–a keystone reptile of the southeast–was the subject of our humor, and Mike McCarthy supplied at least one knee-slapper that belongs in the Paddle Georgia animal joke hall of fame. The survival of the gopher tortoise hinges on the survival of the long-leaf pine habitat–a habitat that has been decimated during the past 200 years–but they are further hampered because it is difficult for them to reproduce. They simply aren’t terribly successful and few of their offspring survive to maturity. Mike explained that scientists have closely studied the gopher tortoises’ reproductive efforts and, in fact, have ferreted out the problem: “e-reptile dysfunction.”
On the river, the fun continued. A few highlights…
Aviva Peiken, daughter of Georgia River Network water trails and outreach director, Gwyneth Moody, made fast friends with frogs of all kinds–more than one of which found a perch on the six-year-old’s nose.
The aforemention Charles Lewis defied his 70-plus years, performing an almost flawless back flip off a limestone bluff.
Leslie Raymer, a professional archaeologist, pointed us to shards of flint, potsherds and fossils on a sandbar–a reminder of just how much history flows along the Flint.
At the Jones Center at Ichauway, aquatic biologist Steve Golloday welcomed us to the 30,000-acre ecological research facility by showing off a infant gar fish seined from the river that morning–a beautiful creature not two inches long that may some day grow into a 3-foot-long, long-nosed, sharp-toothed, armor-scaled predator.
Out of our boats, our small group enjoyed the pleasures of riverside camping. The call of the bobwhite quail–Georgia’s state game bird–echoed through the open forest at Red Oak Plantation as we broke camp.
The haunting howls of coyotes and hoots of barred owls stirred us through the night at Covey Rise Plantation while the full moon arched across the sky.
At Mitchell County Landing, the clouds broke long enough to reveal Venus, bright behind the pink-red sunset, shining in the western sky.
At Reynolds Sandbar, a magical sunset prompted a photographic feeding frenzy.
These delightful sights and sounds were a welcomed counterpoint to the swarming gnats and almost daily rain. But, truth be told we didn’t rough it too much.
Stays at Rocky Bend Flint River Retreat with its riverfront cabins and Covey Rise Plantation with its luxury lodge rooms were a welcomed respite. Rocky Bend was so civilized many of us caught a thrilling game seven of the Atlanta Hawks-Philadephia 76ers series on TV, and at Covey Rise we dined sumptuously, feasting on fried quail and homemade pecan pie among other delights.
We finished the trip in Bainbridge with a traditional fish fry meal hosted by Flint Riverkeeper Gordon Rogers and his staff. Their involvement was a reminder of why Georgia River Network organizes these journeys–to connect people with the rivers we are trying to protect.
Together, the 36 Paddle Georgia participants raised more than $44,000 for river protection and water trail development through our Canoe-a-thon, and along the way discovered–or rediscovered–the beautiful Flint River.
That said, if you encounter a Paddle Georgia 2021 participant, don’t be surprised if they recall an anecdote about a fellow traveler before they tell you about the river itself. As we learned on this journey, the Paddle Georgia family is a cast with many a tall tale to be told.
Joe Cook, Paddle Georgia Coordinator
June 2021
P.S. Here’s a few more worthy images from the journey…
Paddle Georgia, A Project of Georgia River Network - Weblog 