Well, the river run is in the history books at this time.
While at Buck Lake days and decided on the Ocklawaha as the river of choice and they left it up to me to set up the trip.
After I got home from that shocking experience, I made two phone calls to see if anyone wanted to go and had 8 guys signed up ... WOW ... That was quick and easy. Anymore then that and we would be in each others way, so this is a Florida Boys River trip.
Harry (the Commodore) , Harry, Jr., Gary, Van, Ray, Mac, Joe Fennell and Joe ( Lazyriverguy ) along with myself would make the river run.
We meet at the Ocklawaha River Outpost and secured two of the cabins for the 1st night which turned into a pizza party and BS contest, something normal for us.
Up in the morning and since Joe (Lazyriverguy) managed to get a few days off from running the outpost (his lovely wife, Val. got stuck with the job) he had Val. shuttle us to the river for the drop off.
Van
Joe
Mac
Harry an Ray
Joe ( Lazyriverguy)
Gary an Harry Jr.
On the water and off for some fun days the weather was perfect, clear skies, warm, if not hot and in the mid 80's during the day with the mid 60's during the nights and plenty of clear skies chocked full of stars, even a few shooting ones.
Before dark I cooked up a (heaping, very full) large cast iron pot of shrimp and scallops with spices and garlic for the gang along with some baked beans on the side and Harry had a loaf of bread so we had a good supper.
Sitting around the campfire enjoying life,
continuing the BS contest (We never did decide on a winner) and then off to the tents and hammocks. During the night we had the pleasure of listing to water droplets hitting the rain flys. The fog would roll in and get the leaves on the trees wet, then that would rain down on us without any rain anywhere around. The sound of rain without any rain.
2nd day we stayed in the same camp, had to recover from the two or three hours of paddling the day before. Actually we sort of drifted along with the current and did very little actual paddling, the river was very willing to move us down stream. We were more then willing to let the river have it's way, why fight success.
During the lay over, resting up day, Mac managed to catch some bream , using dough balls from some bread we had left over , fun fishing to pass the time.
and a couple of bass while goofing off around camp and Joe ( lazyriverguy ) showed Mac how to get the big fish, he got a mudfish ( bowfin) about twice the size of Mac's bass.
Up river view from camp #1...
The guy's gathered firewood for the evening and most of the day we had a fire going with coffee cooking or something by the fire , it was used.
That evening back to the BS after supper and even the Owls sat up in the trees laughing at all of the tall stories that were flowing as fast as the water in the river.
Up in the morning and after a leisurely breakfast on the water, another strenuous day of paddling, about 3 hours of drifting we were at our next campsite.
We could get one more boat in there since Joe (lazyriverguy ) had to leave.
Camp #2 from the river
Boy this paddling is really tiring, we had to sit back and have a cold one to recover from all that exertion to get there. Set up camp and was ready for the evening at about 2 in the afternoon. Did I say we never get in a rush ?????
Joe ( lazyriverguy ) had to leave, he had a group of paddlers coming in, early the next morning and needed to be at the Outpost to get them on the river so he left a little while after we got everything set for the day. He paddled on down river to the outpost, talk about a busman's holiday.
Another relaxing evening and night with a grand fire and the silence of the woods to enjoy before getting on the water in the morning and paddling to the outpost.
The river from our camp #2.
While gathering firewood Van stuck a tip of a palm frond in his eye and it scratched it really bad so the gang was up early in the morning and off to the vehicles at the outpost so they could get Van to his doctor, he just had two lens implants before the trip. They needed to get that eye checked out and all of them were in the same vehicle.
Joe and I hung around the camp and did not hit the river till about 10:30 since we had a cabin saved, there was no rush on our part to get anywhere.
Except for looking forward to that hot shower, some cold beer and a pizza when we got to the outpost.
Everyone had a good time (anyway I think they did) and as Gary said, If I would just of meet you guys 10 years sooner.
Between our camp#2 and the outpost , Joe and I while drifting along saw a ton of Gators , big and small with all sorts of bird life , if you are quiet it is a wild river.
Chuck.
While at Buck Lake days and decided on the Ocklawaha as the river of choice and they left it up to me to set up the trip.
After I got home from that shocking experience, I made two phone calls to see if anyone wanted to go and had 8 guys signed up ... WOW ... That was quick and easy. Anymore then that and we would be in each others way, so this is a Florida Boys River trip.
Harry (the Commodore) , Harry, Jr., Gary, Van, Ray, Mac, Joe Fennell and Joe ( Lazyriverguy ) along with myself would make the river run.
We meet at the Ocklawaha River Outpost and secured two of the cabins for the 1st night which turned into a pizza party and BS contest, something normal for us.
Up in the morning and since Joe (Lazyriverguy) managed to get a few days off from running the outpost (his lovely wife, Val. got stuck with the job) he had Val. shuttle us to the river for the drop off.
Van
Joe
Mac
Harry an Ray
Joe ( Lazyriverguy)
Gary an Harry Jr.
On the water and off for some fun days the weather was perfect, clear skies, warm, if not hot and in the mid 80's during the day with the mid 60's during the nights and plenty of clear skies chocked full of stars, even a few shooting ones.
Before dark I cooked up a (heaping, very full) large cast iron pot of shrimp and scallops with spices and garlic for the gang along with some baked beans on the side and Harry had a loaf of bread so we had a good supper.
Sitting around the campfire enjoying life,
continuing the BS contest (We never did decide on a winner) and then off to the tents and hammocks. During the night we had the pleasure of listing to water droplets hitting the rain flys. The fog would roll in and get the leaves on the trees wet, then that would rain down on us without any rain anywhere around. The sound of rain without any rain.
2nd day we stayed in the same camp, had to recover from the two or three hours of paddling the day before. Actually we sort of drifted along with the current and did very little actual paddling, the river was very willing to move us down stream. We were more then willing to let the river have it's way, why fight success.
During the lay over, resting up day, Mac managed to catch some bream , using dough balls from some bread we had left over , fun fishing to pass the time.
and a couple of bass while goofing off around camp and Joe ( lazyriverguy ) showed Mac how to get the big fish, he got a mudfish ( bowfin) about twice the size of Mac's bass.
Up river view from camp #1...
The guy's gathered firewood for the evening and most of the day we had a fire going with coffee cooking or something by the fire , it was used.
That evening back to the BS after supper and even the Owls sat up in the trees laughing at all of the tall stories that were flowing as fast as the water in the river.
Up in the morning and after a leisurely breakfast on the water, another strenuous day of paddling, about 3 hours of drifting we were at our next campsite.
We could get one more boat in there since Joe (lazyriverguy ) had to leave.
Camp #2 from the river
Boy this paddling is really tiring, we had to sit back and have a cold one to recover from all that exertion to get there. Set up camp and was ready for the evening at about 2 in the afternoon. Did I say we never get in a rush ?????
Joe ( lazyriverguy ) had to leave, he had a group of paddlers coming in, early the next morning and needed to be at the Outpost to get them on the river so he left a little while after we got everything set for the day. He paddled on down river to the outpost, talk about a busman's holiday.
Another relaxing evening and night with a grand fire and the silence of the woods to enjoy before getting on the water in the morning and paddling to the outpost.
The river from our camp #2.
While gathering firewood Van stuck a tip of a palm frond in his eye and it scratched it really bad so the gang was up early in the morning and off to the vehicles at the outpost so they could get Van to his doctor, he just had two lens implants before the trip. They needed to get that eye checked out and all of them were in the same vehicle.
Joe and I hung around the camp and did not hit the river till about 10:30 since we had a cabin saved, there was no rush on our part to get anywhere.
Except for looking forward to that hot shower, some cold beer and a pizza when we got to the outpost.
Everyone had a good time (anyway I think they did) and as Gary said, If I would just of meet you guys 10 years sooner.
Between our camp#2 and the outpost , Joe and I while drifting along saw a ton of Gators , big and small with all sorts of bird life , if you are quiet it is a wild river.
Chuck.
