Things we learned in the South

 The Ocoee river rocks. But only two days a week, because the TVA shuts off the dam that controls the flow of the Ocoee river. The rest of the week, the Ocoee is rocks. In honor of all the awesome people we met on our trip, Shaun and I have compiled some key quotes from the week. 

"The creation of the self-bailing raft marked the end of the true raft guide." -from a guide on the Ocoee, when asked what kind of raft he preferred

"We smoke 120lbs on Fridays. It is usually gone by Saturday afternoon." -from the Hiwassee river, discussing the amount of pork that is smoked and BBQ'ed on a normal weekend 

"These boats are 12 years old. Why would we buy new ones?" -an outfitter on the Ocoee, discussing his method of fleet rotation. This outfitter runs about 12,000 people down the Ocoee each year

"Raft guides are like prostitutes. First they do it for fun, then they do it for friends, then they do it for money." -outfitter on the Ocoee, on the character of a raft guide

Boat Renter on the Nanahala: "Hey man, how do you do this? We can't get it to go strait."

Shaun to the Boat Renter: "It works better if you put two people on each side instead of 3 and 1 like you are doing." 

"Look at how fun the rafting signs are in Tennessee. Not like the lame boat ramp signs we get in Idaho." -comment about the USFS signs at the take out for the Ocoee

Big thanks to our outfitters all for the hospitality they showed us. Especially Lamar at Outland Expeditions who put us up in one of his luxurious cabins. Unfortunately we did not get to boat the Ocoee on our trip, but we will should have a full "balanced+fair" report for you sometime in August.

Ya'll go out and paddle now, ya hear?  

Eric 

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