Voice of the Rivers 2008

May 24. Jenna Pace. Light barely showed through the tents this morning at 5:00, as John Wargo, the leader for the day, walked around and woke everybody up. As we stepped out of our tents we could see the moon high up coming through the tall pines. Everyone’s headlights flicked on as we sluggishly packed up our bags, and headed up the hill to the picnic table for a granola breakfast. It was going to be a long 21 mile day across Lake Strom Thurmond.

Once breakfast was over, we packed our kayaks and had a group session. John Wargo led the stretching exercises and we talked about how the day would go, thinking that it was going to be a long one.
We left land by 7 a.m., with Brian (the navigator) and Ken in the tandem leading the way. It was already warm, even with the fog covering parts of the lake, while the sun came up to our left. However, we were paddling strong. By 9, we had made it 11 miles, and if it were not for me, then we would have made more, because by 11:30 we had only made 3 more miles, giving us a total of 14. What I found to be so great about this time lost was that I realized how much of a great team we really are. My back was giving me major pain issues, but everybody was very understanding as we created a pod in the middle of the lake and hitched me to the back of Ken and Brian’s kayak. I was amazed to see such an early group come together to help one of their teammates and keep them going strong and support them, when they were already doing so well. It was especially awesome to see Clyde step across the back of the kayaks in order to hitch my boat up to the back of Ken’s and Brian’s! Very tricky footwork I might add.
So, by 11:30, we had made it to the Plumb Branch Yacht Club on the South Carolina side of the lake. Here we had a relaxing 2 hours where we chilled, laid in the sun, learned rope tricks from Clyde, and met the people that occupied this community. Each person was kind and invited us to a cookout but we couldn’t stay. A woman who worked in the campground store took a Voice of the Rivers picture of the gang in order to post there. It was one of the best midday breaks that we have had.
At 2:00, we headed off to kayak to our campsite at Fairview Presbyterian Church campgrounds. This time I was with the navigator in the tandem. The stretch that laid out before us was definitely our toughest for the day. The winds started shifting us to the right, while the waves tossed us, and power boats dodged us. Our group had a really hard time with this part of our day because it was very tiring and time consuming because we were shifting which was causing us to paddle more mileage than necessary. However, the group was really good through this, and even though our pod got broken at times, we were still able to work through it.
We had a break before we made it to the campsite, because many of us had to relieve ourselves even though we were only a mile away from camp. James came by boat and met us up there at the island, courtesy of Steve Ogden (a gentleman whose family was going to be camping beside us), and directed us where we needed to go. Even though he did this, we still had trouble finding camp. There were different canals, and Brian and Clyde were not sure which one led where, but Brian was correct on where he thought it was and led the way to our campsite.
When we got there, Billy Royster was helping James set up tents, which was extremely generous of him. Bernadette Clayton, James’ mother, and Ashleigh Davisson, James’ sister, brought M&M cookie ice cream bars and sodas for everyone to enjoy. We were so thankful to have such a refreshing treat! And once we had enjoyed them, Margaret Ann and Graham started to make dinner--macaroni and cheese with tuna in it, while everyone else began to alternate turns taking showers in the bath house, which was absolutely amazing!
It was a nice end to a long day, and it was very rewarding