Josh Slaughter

Well, I hope you all aren't disappointed in me. As some of you know, my wife had already planned on picking me up today because of an appointment I have tomorrow. The plan was to bring me back tomorrow afternoon to finish the trip. Well, during the day today I decided that I would end the trip here in Lebanon. There are several reasons for this, let me explain

1. My butt is killing me.... As I mentioned before, this seat is fine for short trips, but as the days have progressed it has been cumulatively getting worse. I'm going to have to find a new seat that doesn't kill my seat quite so bad.

2. My wife having to make this journey again tomorrow. She doesn't like interstate driving and it will save her from having to make another 2 trips down and back.

3. Repairs to the kayak. I had no idea how many logs and branches would be scattered in the river. From several boaters that I talked to, this is how it is all the time. When I left the lock Monday morning, I had to push my way through almost 2 miles of driftwood and trash. This did a number on the hull of my kayak. There are several duct taped gashes on the underside that need to be properly repaired. I really do not relish the thought of having to repeat this after going through Old Hickory lock.

4. No more solitude. As I get closer to Nashville, camp sites are harder to find and all you can hear at night are dogs, cars, blaring music, and people.

To sum it up, I will not be bringing my handmade kayak back to this river. I hit way more logs in one day than I have in the entire 7 years since I made it. Add to that the trash that is ever present and I do not know if I'll ever return to this river. I'm going to try to find a cleaner river to kayak. Again, I hope I didn't let you all down to much.

Btw, total mileage for the trip was 132 miles.Read more