Rugby, Tennessee, a thriving Utopia?

So, fall break was full of exciting adventures, relaxing afternoons, hilarious evenings, and well... fun.

Amazingly, I can't remember much of what we did Friday night and Saturday, except that it was relaxing. Saturday was full of rain, so there was much reading, talking, games, munching on food, etc. Saturday night gave place to Pa(w)Pa(w)'s Tacos, which is always a delightful event, especially with the addition of Ma(w)Ma(w)'s cheese dip. I'm glad we made friends with Michael.

Sunday, though, is when the real fun began. If that what you want to call nearly dying in a very sterotypical college way and living to tell about it.

Okay, I must admit from the start that we really didn't "nearly" die, as Michael is so prompt to point out whenever we bring it up, but I think it's important not to diminish the intense adrenaline rush we all experienced during the event- so much so that Michael was probably shaking for a good 5 minutes once we were all safe on dry land again- and isn't wasn't just from the freezing water.

So, it was a lovely Sunday in Rugby, Tennessee- a quaint "historic" town that was once meant to be a Utopia, but things didn't exactly work out. So now it's just a lovely place to go relax and hike and enjoy fellowship and nature and life- or is that what a Utopia is?

Anyway, there is a Gentleman's swimming hole down the trail behind Alan's family's house which we always walk down to. I love that the signs still say "Gentleman's swimming hole." Anyway... last time I went to Rugby the "river" was really a pathetic stream due to the intense drought all of the southeast was in. However, as we all know, this past month has been anything but a drought in the southeast. Which means the pathetic stream from last time was actually a bonified river. Apparently Alan and his brothers have often tubed down it before when the water is up, and why waste a perfect opportunity for fun?

Some people were hesitant at first, due to the initially chilly water, but in the end, a group of 6 of us set off downstream- Alan, Michael (thankfully he decided not to back out!), the lovely Annas, Shannon, and myself. Two girls to each huge tube, and the guys with the smaller tubes. Anna Elizabeth and myself set off first, and got a little ahead of the group, and while enjoying some lovely rapids, were briefly concerned about how we were going to stop once the time came. Once Alan caught up with us, he assured us that the water slows down near our stop, so there was no need to worry.

So off we went, enjoying our lovely float down the river, which turned out to really not be that cold once you got into it. We kicked, we splashed, Michael pushed us around, we frantically kicked to avoid rocks or bushes. Fun abounded.

And then Alan calls out- we need to take a right up here! Anna and I look up to realize that up here was readily upon us, and we both begin kicking as hard as we can to the other side of the creek. Alan swims over to help us. Michael, who was gallivanting with Anna Marie and Shannon looks up to see Alan frantically trying to push us towards the side stream, and starts to do the same. We are all kicking, swimming, flailing. And we're moving... backwards.

See, normally the float down the river takes about 40ish minutes, Alan said. Our float took about 15 or 20. And the little side stream that usually flows in gently to the other stream at the "meeting of the waters"- yeah, it wasn't so gentle. It was a bonified river in itself, too. And the combined currents weren't joking. They wanted us to continue downstream to no man's land. When Michael called out, "Alan, what's farther down this way?" Alan replied, "I don't know, we've never gone farther than this!" Probably not a good sign.

Anyway, back to the kicking, swimming, and flailing. Alan, Anna Elizabeth and I focused all our energy on getting to the side bank as best we could, hoping that the other trio was doing the same. We finally were able to pull over maybe 100 or 200 yards below the entrance of the other stream. Not too bad, but not where we were supposed to be. The other trio pulled over another couple hundred yards down, and pulled themselves up to where were, and we all climbed onto the bank.

From here, it was time to put our wilderness skills to the test. Michael led the group out, literally trailblazing through the overgrown trees. Wearing a wet t-shirt and soffies, my legs didn't really have much protection from the overgrown vines and branches, but press on we must! Luckily I had gone out before the weekend to buy some "water shoes". Anna Elizabeth and Michael were going it barefoot. But we didn't feel the pain, we pushed through, adrenaline coursing through our veins, fighting to survive.

After about 10 or 15 minutes breaking our way through the woods, we got to the bank of the other river. Our new problem- the trail we needed to take to get back was on the opposite bank. And that current was not playing games. Try to cross too soon, and we'd end up back where we started, or worse.

So we began our journey upstream. Luckily there were rocks along the edge of the river, providing shallow water we could wade through. Michael again led the way, testing the waters for us, warning us when it got deeper, and leading our creep along the rocky wall farther up stream. It was quite an adventure.

Finally, we got as far upstream as we could go- the shallow waters were ended, and it was now or never- time to cross the stream. Michael examined the current. We determined that we just needed to get halfway across the river and there was a side current moving slower to the other edge, and we would be okay. However, if we failed to kick fast and hard enough to the other side, we might continue to be swept downstream.

Alan braved the waters first with his smallest tube. Success! Next, Anna Marie and Shannon took off with their tube. Screaming encouragements and instructions to keep kicking! they safely made it across. Next Anna Elizabeth and I took off. we pushed off the rocks we were standing on and then started kicked for our lives. I was convinced we weren't kicking hard enough, we weren't going to clear the tree in the middle of the river marking the midway point. And then, suddenly, thankfully, we were on the other side of the tree, we were in safer waters. We had made it! We turned to anxiously watch Michael cross. And we turned back to see that Alan had taken off downstream again! We screamed, we yelled, we called him crazy. He had gone after Anna Marie's runaway shoe. There was a moment when we couldn't see him, the womenfolk were sure he was surely gone forever. And then there he was, safe on the bank, lamenting the loss of the $4 shoe. He climbed back upstream and crossed again.

We were making camp near some trees and rocks that normally would have been the shore, but were all underwater, but we still had to make our way through some waters to the new river bank. I tested my balancing skills walking along a log. Two random people on the edge watched awkwardly. We jumped, we swam, we made it back to dry land.

And then, we made our way back up the trail to meet up with Valerie and Jordan, who I was sure must be worrying for our lives at this point, after the 30+ minute detour we had taken. The adrenaline continued to pulse through our bodies, and we were all shaking, laughing, crying. Okay, not really crying.

As it turns out, given the speed of our trip down the river, we actually arrived precisely when we meant to back to the other girls, who were completely unaware or concerned that their friends had nearly been lost downstream left to who knows what fate- drowning, starvation, animal attacks, waterfalls cascading down to our death.


So, we might not have really almost died. But there was definitely a moment where you had to wonder "what the heck were we thinking?!" What a stereotypical way to go as a college student- doing something stupid and reckless without even thinking about it and ending up dead.

Personally, I enjoyed the adrenaline rush, the journey through the woods, back upstream, and across the rushing river. Anyone else wanna go sign up for Survivor now? It was definitely a story to remember.


That was Sunday....

Monday brought forth another hike down to Colditz Cove and the Northrup Falls (I looked up the name! haha!) which was much more than a little trickle, like it had been the last time. We had a jolly time wading in the water and fishing, and a select few jumping in.

Tuesday we packed, we cleaned, most of us threw around a football, only some with any actual skill.


There were fun games all around- Wise and Otherwise, Unclean Uno, Battle Checkers, Chess, Charades, Confused Moose, Compatibility, word-by-word story (propitiation bone!), Dutch Blitz, Bohnanza! And I played some fun spider solitaire with real cards for the first time. Games are fun.

There were trips to the little grocery, Shur Fine goods, campfire stew, meals provided by Ryan's mom, cookies, chocolate, chips, cheese and crackers, muffins, goldfish. And a severe lack of grapes.

There was laughter, sometimes when I'd rather there wasn't (falling asleep and waking up proved to be difficult when laughter was echoing up to the bedrooms.

Overall it was a wonderful trip. I am an advocate for making Rugby trips an annual event. Even if we have to complete a checklist when we leave that includes "dusting the sideboards"...