River Rat Trip 2012

LIFE

Jul 14

I've been in San Marcos with 7 teenagers for 3 nights and 4 days.

Call Me Crazy, maybe, but I had a blast. Tired? Yes. Laundry out the wazoo? Yes. Tons of fun memories? Yes. Everyone should try this at least once.

We started the trip meeting at my best friend's house, Toni. Here's the coup waiting on the last member to finish a golf tournament. We were waiting with all the gear praying it would fit into our 12 passenger van. It did!

And of course, with both Toni and I being photographer's, we had to stop along the way and shoot the pretty scenery. They didn't mind at first. But towards the end of the trip? Well, the tone was a bit whiny when I asked. But they did it just to please me! Thank you RIVER RATS. (We quickly earned that nick-name.)

Gas Station Volleyball Team.

Go Team!

From left to right: Kelcee, Amanda, Summer, Brittany, Caden, Kalyn, and John Michael.

The first night we arrived at our palace by the river, Leisure Camp, and pitched our tents in the dark. I had left a bag of flower seeds on the table near our tent. It's redneck bird feeder in these parts. LOL I wondered why the birds woke me up so early every day. Hello! Where's breakfast? I hope their ankles swelled like mine did.It rained the first day, ALL DAY. But who cares when you are floating?Not this bunch.We kept the food dry though. And the camp owners were kind enough to let us move our tents under their pavilion. Worked great for drying out. Not so great on the eye.Yep. We looked like white trash red necks for sure. But hey, at least we were dry.These little boogers were everywhere! And the locals told us not to touch the spikes as they would sting you. Not fun to sleep with so we kept the zippers zipped.Breakfast was at this humble abode every morning. Take out. If you are near this area, STOP and try the burritos. We did. Great price, good food, excellent service.

Toni and I were soaked for 24 hours. It rushed through the campground so fast and hard the kids could tube the camp. I have video somewhere and I'll see if I can find it.Soaked and having fun. That's a River Rat for you.Shhh...campers sleeping.Day 2.

Bright eyed and bushy tailed and read for the next day of tubing. The sun came out and dried everything up and we got sunburns and fun times!

I look like the Gomer Pyle of the bunch. I'm just glad Toni brought the hat. I didn't burn everywhere.We would stop along the way and try new things out. This is the River Rat version of lumber jack tree rolling.