Voice of the Rivers 2008

June 2. Elizabeth Thompson. Today was quite an eventful day. This morning, sometime around 1:00 a.m., we were awoken to the lightning from an oncoming storm. We all acted quickly: putting rain flies on our tents, flipping boats, securing gear and assuming the lightning drill position. We all retreated to the trees where we would not be the tallest thing around and then crouched on our sleeping pads, watching the beautiful show. There were flashes of light coming from all directions, bolts that lit up the whole campsite and some bolts went all the way across the sky. Although it was a wonderful show, by three o’clock we were more than ready to get back to bed.

Due to the exciting events of the early morning, we changed our wake up time from four to six. Six still seemed early but we had places to be and we wanted to get our paddling done before it got too hot. We had heard about 400 year old cypress trees and the oldest building in Georgia so we really wanted to go check them out. They were located on Ebenezer Creek only seven miles down river from our campsite. The trees were amazing! Some of them had to have been at least 17 feet in diameter! We were surprised when we found the church because it wasn’t just a church, it was a small community, all of which was founded in the early 1700s. We wanted to stay longer but we had to make it to the landing by three.
We made it to the landing by two but as always James had beat us there! We ate some ice cream and then quickly loaded the trailer with our gear and kayaks so we could shower. We have been showering fairly frequently but with all of the paddling we have been doing, we can use all of the showers we can get. Before we got to shower we went to Trustees Garden to unload our gear and meet our hosts, the Morris’s. Before we could do too much looking around, Mr. Morris took us to the Downtown Athletic Club in Savannah. It was a great facility and the owner was so helpful. Not only did he provide us with more than wonderful facilities but he even washed a load of our presentation clothes that were less than presentable at that point. I had just gotten out of the shower when Kelsey came running into the dressing room to tell me that we had to leave ASAP because we were going to be on the news in twenty minutes! So we were whisked away yet again. When we arrived back at Trustees Garden WOTC-TV was there waiting for us. Merek, Brian, Clyde and Ken were all interviewed. Once that was all over it was finally time for dinner. We had missed lunch because of all of our running around and were starving.
There was so much wonderful food but the company was even better. The whole VOR team was there, Mr. and Mrs. Morris and even the President of Brevard College Dr. Drew Van Horn. We started the dinner off with toasts to our trip, the people we have met and just all of the wonderful memories we have made. Over dinner we shared our story with them and Mr. Morris told us about Trustees Garden. His plans for this garden are to create a place that brought people to respect and enjoy a “liberal arts community”. His vision is a blend of fine arts, children activities, live music, great food, and encouragement of local agricultural and economical growth.
After a tour, we gave a practice run presentation. We gave a power point detailing the day by day progression of our journey, with each person talking about a day. It was very helpful to have the practice run because we were able to decide what we liked about our presentation and what we could do differently to improve it. Later on in the evening some people made some changes to the presentation while others went out to explore Savannah. By eleven we were all tucked away in our sleeping bags enjoying one of the recently renovated and air conditioned brick buildings at Trustees Garden.Thank you again to Allen from Downtown Athletics Club for the use of your wonderful facilities, Dr. Drew Van Horn for coming to see us, WOTC-TV for helping us be the voice and get our story out there and an especially huge thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Morris for taking us in, feeding us and making our stay in Savannah so special!