February 16, 2024
I woke up at 5:30 a.m. I had slept through most of the night except for a few potty breaks for the puppy. I was excited to go on a kayaking adventure today. I wrote my blog until 7:00 a.m. I was really into what I was writing and lost track of time. Suddenly I realized that I had to be ready to leave in an hour. I got up, made my bed and did 100 rebounder jumps. Angel was still asleep in the trundle bed when I went over to Christopher’s. Christopher was up and about, I greeted him, made lime tea and got ready to go.
I arrived at our meeting place right on time. Alan was already there and Rosie arrived shortly after I did. Alan already had everything ready to go. Rosie and I would be in kayaks and Alan had a canoe for himself. I had brought my wetsuit in case it was cold. The weather was in the low 60’s and the water temperature was 49 degrees. I did not want this to be a cold and miserable trip so I came prepared. I bought my wetsuit online and it had arrived yesterday. I wasn’t sure if it would fit but I was about to find out. I squeezed into it and Rosie helped me zip it up. I felt like a robot walking around in it but it fit perfectly. Rosie and I put our food and extra clothes in Alan’s truck and we headed out. Alan’s wife and son went with us, they would drop us off and pick us up. His son drove to our drop off point at a bridge going over Mussel Run Creek. This was a maiden voyage, none of us had done it before. Alan and his son had scoped it out but hadn’t ever gone down the creek before. We would be going 3 miles down Mussel Run Creek into the Brazos River and would go 3 more miles down the Brazos to a bridge where Alan’s wife and son would pick us up. The Brazos was high and we didn’t know how fast and turbulent the water would be once we got there. We also didn’t know what we would encounter along Mussel Run Creek, there could be downed trees or low water places making it impassable. If we ran into that, our plan was to paddle back upstream to the bridge we put in at. The not knowing was part of the fun and all three of us were excited about our exploration adventure.
We got down to the creek without any problems and we were off. About 5 minutes in, I was way too hot in my wetsuit. I struggled out of the top half which took a while and I kept running into things with the kayak as I wrestled to get out of my wetsuit. Finally I got my arms and torso out of it and I caught up with the others. I felt perfectly warm in my short sleeve shirt and my bottom half still in the wetsuit. It was a peaceful trip down the creek. The water level was perfect for kayaking. The canoe bottomed out a few times and Alan had to walk it out of the shallow spots but the kayaks made it the whole way down only getting mildly caught up on the bottom a couple of times but we easily be pushed off without having to get out. We saw some wildlife out and about; otters, a beaver, an owl, hogs, lots of turtles and lots of great blue herons. At our first bathroom stop we collected some mussels. There were a lot of those, hence the name Mussel Run Creek.
At one point we went through a tiny bit of small rapids when we went over a little road that the creek ran over the top of. When we came to an old bridge going over the creek we decided to stop, have lunch and do some exploring. We sat on the bridge and ate. I was hungrier than I realized, I had been drinking my smoothie while in the kayak but all the paddling had burned more calories than I expected. I ate a big salad that I had brought, then a couple of apples and a couple of oranges, plus some almonds. Then I drank more of my smoothie. It was a big 15 banana smoothie that I brought in a huge thermos. Finally I felt full and chatted happily with Alan and Rosie. While we were hanging out of the bridge we heard a helicopter fly over and then gunshots. They were shooting hogs from the helicopter and it went on for a while. So much for having peace and quiet 😂 but we made the best of it and enjoyed ourselves anyway. I went to find a spot to go pee and did some exploring in the woods next to the creek. I found an old Marlin brick that I kept as a souvenir and climbed up a deer blind that was next to the bridge and enjoyed the view from up there.
Satisfied and ready to head out, we got back in our boats and headed out. Shortly after we started going I had to go poop. I thought about holding it but I knew we would be at the Brazos soon and it might be hard to find a place there. I told Alan and Rosie that I needed to stop to poop. They said they would wait for me a little ways upstream. I couldn’t see a good place to get out where it wasn’t too muddy. I went down a side channel where I saw a bunch of logs but when I put my hand on the logs they crumbled. So I went downstream a little ways more to a big tree that had roots sticking out into the water. That didn’t work either since I couldn’t get a solid enough grip on the roots to pull myself up. I went down another channel next to that and there was a tree low across the water. I was able to grab onto it enough to pull myself up and after a lot of struggle I got the kayak secured. I fought with the mud and shrubs before I found a hole to poop in. Well, after that big workout I wasn’t able to go. I squatted and focused on relaxing but nothing was happening. Alan called up the channel to see if I was ok. I said I was and I would be done shortly. I sat there a while longer before calling it quits and struggling my way back into the kayak. As soon as I got settled in, of course I felt like I was ready to poop. I decided that it would have to wait and paddled out to meet the others.
The creek turned into more of a lake as we got closer to the Brazos. There was no current and we paddled and paddled and paddled. When we reached the Brazos, it was calmer than we expected. The water was high but not turbulent at all. Happily we glided onto the river and we were extremely grateful to have a current. The wind was to our backs most of the last 3 miles to the bridge and we coasted along at a good 10 to 15 miles per hour.
We reached the bridge without any problems and easily pulled into our take out spot despite the fast current. The total trip took about 4 hours. Alan’s wife and son arrived shortly and we unloaded the boats. Alan and his son did most of the work hauling up the boats and getting them strapped onto the rack in the back of the pickup. I wrestled the rest of the way out of my wetsuit and it felt good to have that thing off. Alan’s wife, Rosie and I chatted while we waited on the men to finish up. Then we all piled in the truck and headed back to our meeting place. We had fun conversations on the drive and I was grateful to be among a group of people that weren’t complainers but instead had a positive focus. We talked about planning a future trip and I got to thinking that I could plan out our next adventure. I’m thinking of doing the San Gabriel river above Granger Lake. Rosie and I talked about just us two doing some kayaking farther away on the Frio River and some other clear water rivers. We arrived back to our meeting place, said our goodbyes and drove home.
At home, Christopher had started a bath for me. I greeted him and Angel and went to get in the bath. The propane for the on-demand hot water heater had ran out and the water was cold. I switched propane tanks and turned it on high to warm the water up. When it was warm enough, I got in and fully relaxed my body. It felt great to have gotten in a good workout. I love exercising in nature much more than at a gym. I still haven’t convinced myself to join a gym because of that. Looking at walls while I exercise is not fun to me, though I do like doing yoga classes and plan on doing those more often.
Christopher came out to the bath and said dinner was ready. I got out and ate with the family. I ate a whole big bunch of steamed broccoli with my salad. I ate and ate until I was fully satisfied. It’s crazy how hungry I was. We all shared what we were grateful for around the table and when dinner was over we got ready for bed. We all met in the banana hut for family reading time. I read 2 chapters from Hank The Cowdog book 9 then we said our good nights and went to bed. Angel slept on the trundle bed next to me and we fell asleep around 8 p.m. listening to a Bobbsey Twin book.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I dearly appreciate you.
Love,
Victoria