You don't always need the "perfect spot", just the perfect company…

Edward sends in a story about what it’s like to re-live the home town paddling spot. His points are perfect. Sometimes you don’t have the money or time for an extravagant weekend away, but whereever you are, the Day Trippers allow you to enjoy time with your family in ways that are hard to beat… Relaxed and enjoying each others company.
Marty Cronin…

I wish I had a dollar for every time I sat and wished I had more time to go to the ‘perfect’ place to paddle with great water, beautiful scenery, a great little place to eat and hang out amid the local color and enjoy the day instead of spending it driving, unloading boats and gear, finding a convenient put-in… you get the picture. You think and think and finally find something else to do because in the back of your mind is ‘what is a day of paddling going to cost me?’ We’ve all done it and regret it.

Just a few days ago I was hanging out with my daughter, Lilli, and we were doing the typical brainstorming of ‘where are we gonna go?’. I bet we discussed five different places but couldn’t justify loading up the old truck, burning up $100.00 worth of gas, driving miles and miles only to spend more time on the road than in the river. With prices of everything going up it’s almost enough to make you retire your boat and just stay at home, isn’t it? No way. Most paddlers I know, at least novice paddlers like me, are always looking at places far from home. It’s more exciting to say you went to North Carolina for the weekend or you just took off to Florida to do some paddling. I don’t know about you but that’s not really an option with $4.00 gas and a hectic schedule.

We had thrown in the towel that day and decided to go shopping instead. Shopping? Shopping instead of paddling? I don’t think so. We threw out our typical way of thinking and started thinking close to home. I’m embarrassed to say we had overlooked one of the most beautiful areas we knew of but had never paddled. The Caney Fork river, 28 miles from home and situated right in front of my restaurant became our alternative to shopping and ended up being one of the best paddling trips we had ever made. We put in at Cottens Marina, right across the river from my restaurant and quickly made our way under the old railbridge; a bridge built in the late 1800’s and had a view many only see in photographs. As we floated under the bridge birds flew in and out almost as if they knew something we didn’t. The beauty we had overlooked for years was right in our backyard. Working our way across the river we kind of melted into another world of simpler times, simpler pleasures and the reality that we made it simpler by staying close to home and focusing on enjoying paddling instead ‘the next new place’.

We finally made it to the island for which Rock Island was named. Along the way we saw fishermen, water skiers, children in tow behind the family pontoon boat and at times were overwhelmed by their screams of laughter (or maybe terror) and realized at that point that they had figured out what it took us years to understand- keep it simple and stay at home. We made time to fall out of our boats and swim and drift while often bobbing in the wakes of passing boats. We had time to talk to our friends Max Bell and Anthony Malone, a couple of the locals enjoying the day on Max’s pontoon boat.

We eventually got hungry and made our way to the Marina. After a long day of paddling we sat on the deck of Cotten’s and had hot sandwiches, cold drinks and good company of the people we had grown to love. All of this because we chose to stay close to home and enjoy what we had instead of missing what we didn’t. The Day Trippers made all of this possible. We paddled into intimate coves with maybe two feet of water separating us from bass and bluegill, beautiful vegetation and overhanging trees full of woodpeckers and squirrels. We paddled among pontoon boats and fishing boats and never felt uneasy in their wake because of the Day Trippers stability and always had drinks and snacks on hand because of the storage room made available in the brilliantly designed Day Tripper.

So, if you want to go paddling and don’t want to spend a bunch of time and money to do it, enjoy your Day Tripper close to home. Even in your own backyard, the Day Tripper will take you places.

Good paddling,

Edward