When Weariness is Sacred

I want to come right out and say something that typically I just hope for silently. This post isn’t about me looking for someone to pick me up. My desire to reveal personal struggles and frustrations comes in part from a desire to push myself to be open and vulnerable, but it is also in hopes that my struggles will connect with yours, the reader.

My real hope and intention is to highlight our common experience. I’m often weighed down with the (false) belief that I’m the only one dealing with something - my prayer is that through these confessions you will be freed from that same fear.

End of disclaimer...

In Galatians 6 the apostle Paul tells us to not grow weary (or lose heart, or give up) in doing good. But that is sometimes much easier said than done, isn’t it?

There are certainly times when doing good is energizing and there are plenty of times when doing good is exhausting and depressing. When everything you do seems to amount to nothing, its hard not to grow weary. When everything you TRY to do seems to fall apart it is hard not to give up.

I’m feeling that way a little today. Over the past couple weeks we’ve had several things planned that I was excited about participating in; things that were meant to be a benefit to others or to connect to community. First the Chick-Fil-A trip last week was postponed since they decided not to open until this week. Several people had taken off work in order to participate - which meant that not only was their plan to use a day off to serve others thwarted, it also meant they probably wouldn’t be able to turn around and get a day off again the next week.

Then our concert at Relay for Life was rained out. After a 4 hour practice session and high hopes for connecting with folks through this great event...nothing.

Then this week, as many of you know, 5 of us loaded up and left Burleson at 6:30 to drive down to the Austin area for the actual Chick-Fil-A event. We arrived at 9 am hoping to be one of the first 100 people in line and discovered that there were already 150 people in line. We cleared our schedules (which was not easy to do) and then drove to Austin so that we could donate half the tickets to Harvest House...only to turn around and drive home empty handed.

These are just the failed attempts to do good which are appropriate to share in public. Trying to do good is making me weary.

I was talking to a friend recently who is dealing with weariness and actually felt worse after reading the Galatians 6 passage.

The comment was made to the effect that perhaps the weariness felt was an indicator of guilt and God’s judgement; perhaps the inability to receive comfort from God means that God is angry or absent or something.

...we are directed to 2 Peter 1:3-4. ‘His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness…’ And then to 2 Cor 9:8: God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” That’s supposed to make me feel better, too. But it doesn’t. What if God isn’t really in me? He is able to make grace abound…apparently he hasn’t done so in me. Because I’m tired. And I certainly don’t feel like I’ve abounded in every good work.

While reflecting on these comments it struck me - this weariness and these wounds are sacred. They are sacred and they are Holy because they have come as a result of seeking to live under the reign of God right under Caesar’s nose.

If you aren’t familiar with that reference, the phrase “Jesus is Lord” was a rebellious statement for Christians living under the Roman empire which had a well known and often used slogan of “Caesar is Lord.” So in effect the Christians were saying, “Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not.” This was dangerous for them...and my point is that its dangerous for us too.

Its dangerous for us to reject the accepted cultures of entitlement. It is dangerous to live in the Way of Jesus who said it is better to lay down your life than to seek ways to keep the cycle of violence and retribution going. It is better to pour oneself out in order to serve the poor and oppressed than it is to pour oneself out to get ahead. It is better to turn the other cheek; to also give your shirt to the person stealing your coat; to love your enemies. It is better to consider others better than yourself. It is better to risk it all in order to do what you know God is calling you to do than to choose the safe path.

But so long as we live in a world that is still groaning in anticipation of God’s restoration and reconciliation; so long as Caesar is still able oppose the Lord; so long as God’s Kingdom is already here but not yet fully here then practicing life in the Kingdom will be risky and painful and exhausting. And the weariness we feel, the wounds we nurse, the scars we bear are holy and sacred because they share in the weariness, wounds and scars experienced by Jesus, God Incarnate.

That may not make bearing these burdens easier in the moment. But, when Jesus was praying in the garden on the night he was arrested it says “An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:43-44). Even after the angel appeared to strengthen him Jesus was in anguish.

I realize that some will say, “our situation is not nearly as serious as that of Jesus.” Maybe, but our connection to the source of hope isn’t as clear as his was either. The process of restoring broken relationships is difficult. The cost is high.

So back to Paul’s words:

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers (Galatians 6:9-10).

Not becoming weary here is not meant as an accusation against those who are tired - it is an encouragement not to give up, to hang in there, to resist the temptation to throw in the towel. It is hard, but what we say and do does matter...even if the results are not what we’d initially hoped.

Don’t give up on the call to be God’s people - that call is radical and risky and should never be sold out for something safe and watered down. And know that even if you return from Austin empty-handed that you have invested something in the new heavens and new earth. We are joining with God in reforming and reconciling his good creation.

So hang in there! Don’t give up!

Grace and Peace to you.

A Quick Thought On Fasting

get it? quick...fast...

sorry couldn't resist.


I saw Scott McKnight's twitter update regarding fasting and found this short post. In it, Scott raises the question of what fasting is and why one does it.

You should follow the link and read the post...go ahead, its short, I'll wait.

...


......



See, that was worth it, huh?

This captured my attention because for the first time in my life, I've been experiencing the value of fasting lately. I've fasted before: given stuff up for lent, participated in the 30 Hour Famine and similar awareness events while in college and as a youth minister. However, its always been an oddity with (to be totally honest here) very little value to me in any way I could see beyond the specific awareness for hunger or reminder to pray.

However, when we and the Chappotins entered into a time of discernment recently we decided to include fasting in that process. For some reason, it clicked.

Since then I've engaged in the discipline several times and have continued to encounter a profound richness. I have found that fasting does indeed seem to heighten my awareness of God's presence and is very valuable for any process of discernment. And Scott's post caught my attention by helping me look at the issue from yet another angle.

You see, I've been approaching fasting as the practice of giving something up (food) in order to tune my ears to the voice of God. For me this has primarily been through acknowledging that it is on God that I depend for nourishment, not food; that only God can truly satisfy my cravings.

After reading this post I still find this perspective to be helpful and valid. Yet as I read his words about fasting being a response I realized something which is very true. Fasting isn't merely something I do in order to listen to God: it is my response to the realization that I don't hear very well. I was created to listen to my Creator. My inability to do so should be something that I lament. In that lament, I fast and I cry out to God to speak loud enough for my untrained ears to hear.

And he does.

Awesome.

Community Is Hard

But Life is Harder

I'm taking a break in my Arkansas recap to put up this post that I wrote for the Christ Journey page on Thursday. If you read it there, don't expect much to have changed in this version. 

For some time now Chris and I have been in conversations regarding the difficulty of cultivating authentic community - where people are actually invested in one another's lives and attempting to live beyond merely transactional relationships. This is a fundamental part of our vision for church planting.

And yet we've sat around the table with other church planter friends listening to their stories of community starting to form and then violently breaking up. We've talked together about just how counter-cultural and difficult this approach really is. 

It is difficult for people who come from traditional church backgrounds and it is difficult for those who come from no church background. Why is that?

The German minister and martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer once talked about our desire for community; he noted that many people love the IDEA of community more than the experience itself. Seriously, why is that?

To speak simply about a complex matter: Actual community is messy.

When we think about community we begin to realize how great it would be to have others to walk through the trials of life with. It would be wonderful to have someone(s) to join us in those things that stoke our passion and vision. It would be great to have the synergy that comes from people sharing talents and resources. We know that it is not good for people to be alone and community seems to be part of God’s answer to the dark and oppressive prison of isolation.

And the great thing is that all of this is true.

But...

Community doesn’t happen in a vacuum, it happens in the context of life with real, actual human people...all of whom carry around their wounds, flaws and smelly baggage. So, getting close to others (an unavoidable requirement to cultivate community) means that we can see their flaws and smell their baggage.

And they can see ours.

So there are lots of people who know they need community; people who realize that they can’t deal with all of life’s curve balls alone. Many of those people are seeking to fill that hole of loneliness.

For many young people the desire to join gangs is a desire to find a family that will accept them and be loyal to them. This is the pull of the drug and party culture...as long as you’re partying you’re usually accepted. And for a while this seems like community.

Until you get arrested and no one from the party shows up at your hearing.

...Or until you run out of money and no one who you smoke with helps you pay the electric bill - even though you can’t pay the electric bill because they smoked most of your weed or drank most of your beer.

...Or until you try to leave the life of violence and that same gang that welcomed you in refuses to let you get out.

But these aren’t the only folks who find it difficult to cultivate authentic community. Many of us have sought community in very healthy ways. There are lots of larger churches that hire a Community Connections Minister - people whose sole responsibility is finding ways for their congregation to connect with their community and for visitors and new members to connect to the congregation.

Christ Journey is very dedicated to the cultivation of real, deep and true community. And guess what we’ve found? It is hard. It is messy. Sometimes, it is dangerous.

People let us down. People who we love hurt us. People we love are hurt by us and we let them down.

We try to reach out and our efforts are not reciprocated. We invest in someone and love them and then they move.

We trust someone enough to let our guard down and be vulnerable and they betray our trust in one way or another.

Or we do one or all of these to others. Sometimes unwittingly and sometimes because our sin and selfishness are just a little too deeply ingrained.

Community is hard because of all of this. Its also hard because we begin taking on the hurts of those we love. Our friends go through a separation or divorce and we feel a bit of that pain. A home is foreclosed on and it feels like it was our own house. We see a young single mother struggling to keep all the plates spinning and also go back to school so that she won’t be stuck in poverty and continue this cycle for another generation...and we want to pick up all the plates, but we don’t know how.

We can’t make the marriage work, we can’t pay the mortgage, we can only help so much. And we begin to think, “It was easier when the answer to ‘how ya doing?’ was a simple, ‘fine, and you?’”

We begin to think, it was easier when I just occupied a pew and there was no expectation that I would be vulnerable around these people. We begin to say, “things were better in Egypt...” (check out the story of Israel in Exodus and also read Numbers chapter 11).

I understand this fear. Rachel and I have lived with the fear that comes from trusting church after being let down in a major way by church. But, like the prophet Hosea (whose life was meant as a metaphor for God and us) we are called to commit to our community even if we have good reason to suspect we will be betrayed again.

We have to because, as Andy Lancaster commented to me today, “Community is hard, but life is harder.” If we continue to try life without community we will find ourselves constantly retreating from both.

I know that community is hard, but life without it is not easier - unless we hide behind sports, alcohol, addictions, gossip, or any number of other escapist activities and fantasy worlds.

I am so glad to be a part of a church that is trying to cultivate real community. It doesn’t happen overnight and it will never happen (during this leg of the journey) in a complete or perfect way, but at least we don’t have to continue retreating.

Someone once said, “Its not as if we really think we can say anything, but in light of what we’ve seen we can’t say nothing.” Perhaps its the same with community. We may not have much hope for cultivating a perfect community, but in light of what we’ve seen and experienced we can’t sit by and do nothing.

I am grateful for community, even if it is a bit scary.

Arkansas Day 3, part 2

From the Rapids to Big Creek

We got back in the river pretty quickly and knew we had several miles to get to Middle Creek. I wasn't worried about the rain that was coming, but I wasn't excited about it either. In between us and Middle Creek was Big Creek. Initially this had been a stop on our itinerary but we'd decided to leave it off so that we could have an entire day for waterfall hunting.

The rain came before we even got to Big Creek. 

And ahead of the rain was thunder. And with thunder comes lightening.

As the clouds started moving in we started paddling pretty hard trying to make some time. As the thunder started moving in I started looking for a place to beach these kayaks and find shelter. That isn't easy to do on this river. Lots of stretches are impassable - 100 foot tall cliffs rising out of the water or steep hillside with thick brush.

Not everyone was real keen on stopping when we did - I was already starting to feel like an overprotecting parent, but I also wasn't interested in taking chances. 

We got out of the river, grabbed a few things and moved up the hillside to find a place to put up our rain fly. As we were doing so the rain started. And then the lightening strikes began.

Our first shelter was not put up very well, but it kept us mostly dry. We sat under that tarp until the storm passed and we hadn't heard any thunder for half an hour. 

Then it was back in the river for about 100 yards before navigating more rapids. I think we were a little more cautious this time - I was definitely more nervous. But these ended up just being pretty fast, no real craziness.

(Ira was taking these pictures...that's why there isn't one of him)

After maybe a quarter of a mile we heard more thunder. awesome.

So...back to the beach...gather some gear...head up the hill...set up the tarp a little more carefully this time...and sit.

The rain was really coming down and the lightening was striking a lot closer than I would've liked. And we were sitting under a tarp hoping that it didn't start hailing for the second time in an hour. Nobody looked like they were having much fun...

So we broke out something tasty to drink and played poker! After all, this was our vacation!

Eventually the rain stopped and we were able to get going for real. After all these setbacks we decided to go ahead and make camp at Big Creek. And rarely have I been more happy to see a creek!

This place was awesome. You can sorta tell in this picture, but there were several terraces here. Each level was covered with mud and decaying driftwood from previous floods, but also a bright green carpet grass. We had to climb up to the level we where we camped and then there was another level about 10 feet above us. It was a pretty awesome campsite.

Once the fire was going we began drying our backpacks...

And Chris started trying to dry all of his clothes! 

We learned a few things while camped here. 

After a rain in the Ozark Mountains, the stars are about 10 times brighter than any you've ever seen.

Small backpacking stools that you are trying to dry by a fire will begin to melt if you aren't careful.

So will the new pants that Chris had bought specifically for this trip.

Zatarains Red Beans and Rice and instant mashed potatoes are among the most delicious foods in the world when prepared at a campsite after a day like we had.

Clothes hung out to dry actually end up wetter if you leave them over night and a heavy fog sets in just before dawn.

Wet clothes are heavy.

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Day 3 was a long day, but Ira was right, its already been filed away as a good memory. There were lots of other things that happened on this day, but its the nearly drowning and getting electrocuted parts that I remember most clearly.

The last thing I thought before drifting off to sleep was, "I wonder how much the river is going to rise tonight?"

Facebook, Twitter and Other Forms of "Community"

A while back my friend Matt wrote a blog post about the internet being "real" community. In this post he noted the way in which virtual community can at times serve as community when face-to-face interaction is impossible. (you should read the post)

He also came back with the other side of the issue by noting how maintaining long-distance relationships through facebook can give us an excuse to avoid the hard work of making new friends where we live. (its short, you should read it too!)

Both sides of this issue have been noted in our little community lately. Ron Myers made a great comment today about the need to actually sit in each other's homes instead of always calling or emailing. I completely agree.

And yet we have also been realizing the value of tools like blogs, facebook and even twitter recently. We've noted before that it seems that we have made friends more quickly here 

than we have at other times and places (even though there were folks in those places who eventually became very close friends). One theory for how we're connecting so quickly is the wellsbrothers blog - people have had a chance to get to know Rach through her writing - which is made possible by her very personal writing style. People come up and start conversations as though they are old friends...which leads us to work that much harder to get to know them in return.

Similarly, Rachel has pointed out that while facebook isn't the same as a face-to-face conversation, it can certainly aid those conversations. There are some people that you just don't see everyday - keeping up with them on facebook allows Rachel to be more specific when she does have a chance to see them. Instead of, "how ya' been?" She says, "hey, your status update said that the kids were sick, how's everyone doing?"

The most recent update of facebook included some interesting changes to pages, which are now basically a profile for non-humans. Christ Journey's page is becoming quite helpful - blog posts are noted, discussions and questions can be posted on the wall, picture albums are put up and advertised, events can not only be posted on the calendar, but invitations can be sent to "fans" of Christ Journey. Its a quite helpful tool for connecting.

I'm still a bit on the fence regarding twitter - even though I'm tweeting now. Presently I think it can be good. Before becoming a blogger I used to hear people talk how self-absorbed blogging was: who cares that you brushed your teeth twice today? But then I realized that more than merely an online diary, blogging provides free publishing for those who like to write, an online discussion forum for processing through difficult issues, and a chance to help family keep in touch when an evil son/son-in-law loads up the grandbabies and moves them to New Orleans....hypothetically.

Twitter can also start conversations, as I recently discovered when my twitter update mentioned the possibility of a community garden (consequently Andy Lancaster says that his father's garden can be expanded if we would like to use that space!). Plus, since I can send in twitter updates from my phone, which facebook then posts as a status update, its handy. Again, this can be a source of self-absorption or it can be a tool for remaining connected.

So with all that said, I invite you to connect with us on facebook and twitter if you haven't already. And if you are on facebook and haven't done so, become a "fan" of Christ Journey - it'll help us keep you up to speed on the goings-on in our little community and provide an opportunity for you to engage in one more way. Just search for Christ Journey.

I can definitely still see both pro's and con's in these virtual communities. As always I urge you to take the via media (middle way) recognizing that extreme responses are often the most dangerous, destructive and flawed. Recognize the difficulties and short-comings of virtual community. Do not allow blogs and status updates to replace real life conversations...but also don't miss the opportunities for blogs and status updates to help you take some of those conversations to the next level.

Just a thought.

Arkansas Day 3 part 1

From Rush Landing...

Most of the people reading this know that the Arkansas Kayaking/Camping/Hiking trip is the result of many hours and months of planning by me and my brother's-in-law on Rachel's side. For those that don't know, this refers to Rachel's brother Ira (yellow kayak), Rachel's sister Lydia's husband, Chris (red sit-on-top kayak) and Rachel's sister Jodi's husband, Robert (red sit-in kayak).

The four of us haven't had the opportunity to do much as a group - which isn't that surprising since Rachel and I just moved back home 6 months ago and Lydia and Chris have only been married for about a year. Since we survived the trip, we're probably going to make something like this an annual adventure (we may or may not be able to do a whole week in Arkansas...but still).

I know that Robert took some pictures and video on the trip and I'll likely give some links to his stuff if he publishes it. A few of the pics on these posts are from the little disposable camera I took along, but most are from Ira's fancy-schmancy camera... I'm glad he took the risk of bringing it because he got some great shots.

Okay, enough house keeping, today's post is where the story starts getting good!

Tuesday morning we awoke at our camp high above the Buffalo River at Rush Landing. There were no animal attacks during the night, no rainstorms drenching our gear and even though we were a little nervous when the winds started howling a little after midnight, no one's tent blew away.

We were anticipating a little rain later in the day and the clouds were already building, but our plan was to hike up the trails along Clabber Creek and Rush. There were some abandoned mines, a scenic lookout over the river, trails along the mountain ridge and ghost town. 

Hopefully there wouldn't be any murderous hillbillies living in the abandoned ruins of the old zinc mining town...

Our first minor obstacle was figuring out how to get across the creek for our hike without getting wet - wet shoes and before setting out on a several mile hike didn't sound appealing.

I'm not naming any names but there were a few alpha male types on this trip - and these alpha male types all like to choose their own path. So, we pretty much all took different routes to get across the creek and up the steep hillside. 

We all made it. Some of us were dry. 

But meanwhile, the scenery was already pretty astounding - even down in this hollow. One of the things that struck me, which Ira did a good job of catching in pictures, was the contrast of colors. Being early spring, there were still lots of trees that were bare and yet everywhere we looked there were astounding colors breaking out as well.

And that trend only continued as we hiked up the trails to higher elevations..

We didn't have a very good map of these trails, which didn't really matter that much, because alpha males always know where they are...we were in Arkansas on the side of a mountain. Duh.

It wasn't long before we began to find abandoned homes and structures. We noticed that it looked a similar to a few movies which rarely end well...

But, no boogy men tried to get us, so we pressed on. At this point we started being able to see Clabber Creek and the abandoned mines. It was a pretty cool hike.

We continued following the trail around until we finally came to the ghost town. It was a little underwhelming, but still pretty cool.

We REALLY wanted to get moving down river before the rains started so we hit it pretty quick back to camp and prepared to set off. This was a significant launch for us. Up to this point we'd still been somewhat close to civilization. We were definitely in "the woods" and didn't have electricity or anything like that, but the campsites were managed (and had the most impressive portapotties ever...we could've taken shelter in those things, seriously) and there were roads within easy hiking distance.

But leaving Rush Landing meant entering the Wilderness Area - no cell phone signal, no ranger stations, no roads...the real trip we'd been preparing for was about to begin and I think we were all pretty ready to get started.

Arkansas had already tried to get us with milky poison water and as we were hiking we caught a glimpse of the next hurdle (really the first legitimate one!) Just down stream from where we'd camped for the night were rapids (probably about class 2). So what, right? 

Well our sit-on-top kayaks are rigged out for fishing, not white water and this stretch of river had been chosen because it was perfect for the gear we were bringing...it wasn't supposed to have rapids.

We scouted them out and decided that if we stayed to the left we could make it through.

Well Chris went first and for some reason he didn't stay to the left. Robert didn't stay to the left either. When I headed into the rapids I realized why. The flow through this little stretch was unbelievably fast and as I tried to make it to the left side (we had to start toward the middle because of debris) I discovered that trying to make it to the left side was going to mean that I'd hit the first rapids sideways...that would not be good.

Let me back up and say that my kayak is a great starter boat. It has a good set-up for fishing and decent storage space. But it isn't designed to hold a lot of weight and while it did a LOT better than I anticipated with all my gear loaded on, I was still pretty nervous at this point in the week.

Since going around the rapids wasn't an option, I was going to have to just tackle them head on. So I straightened up and started paddling hard. 

When the first wave went over my head I felt that I may have made a strategic error.

However, I didn't sink, so I figured I'd be okay. After that it was totally awesome - biggest adrenaline rush I've had in a long time!

But as I came out of the rapids I realized two things that were immediate buzz kills.

First of all I still had my skupper-stoppers in. Sit-on-top kayaks have holes in the bottom that allow the water to self bail. You get pretty wet in these kayaks and this makes it so that you don't have to constantly bail water out. When the water is calm you can stop up these holes (skuppers) so that you stay a little more dry. Well the water was not calm. And my boat was completely full and was sitting VERY low in the water...in other words I was sinking.

The other thing was that the current was moving very fast away from where I needed to be and my boat had zero maneuverability (thanks to being nearly submerged in the river). 

As I tried to sludge my way out of the current, my kayak started turning sideways (not good) and soon I flipped.

Luckily the water wasn't deep and I got the boat turned right side up pretty quickly. Everything was lashed down so all I lost was my hat and sunglasses.

Only Ira (whose kayak has a rudder system) avoided the rapids. We all decided a rudder system is a worthwhile investment.

As we stood on the bank of the river draining the water from our boats and backpacks, I think the realization set in that we were now committed - there was no turning back.

Surviving the rapids was just the first time we avoided disaster that day.

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Arkansas Day 2

From Buffalo Point to Rush Landing

So, luckily the Monday morning rain was really just a few sprinkles which passed pretty quickly. My new sleeping bag was warm in my new tent...both of which had so far served more as a staging ground for my global war on terrorist raccoons than a humble home away from home.

Eventually I decided to begin the process of waking up and rearranging my gear so that it would fit on my kayak without sinking me in the river (I was a little concerned about that...).

The water from the pump looked even worse this morning than it had the night before. We boiled some more and had our first (of many) breakfast of instant oatmeal with powdered milk...actually pretty tasty.

When the park ranger drove up a few minutes later we asked him about the water - assuming he’d say, “Yeah, that happens from time to time...just let it run for a minute.” Instead he said, “Uh...no, its never done that before.”

Of course, special milky poison water for the Texans...
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We finished packing up our gear and loaded stuff in the truck for the short drive down to the river. Poisonous or not, this place was unbelievably beautiful.

So here we were at Buffalo Point, Arkansas preparing for our 30ish mile, 6 day kayak trip down to Buffalo City. Our plan was to paddle to Rush Landing (about 7 miles) and camp for the night. Tuesday morning we would hike the Rush trails which climbed up the side of the mountain, along Clabber Creek and around abandoned mines and a mining ghost town. From there we’d float down to Middle Creek to make camp.

On Wednesday we would spend the entire day waterfall hunting. Robey had found a book which described how to get to several 80 foot waterfalls around the lower Middle Creek.

Thursday we’d paddle a few more miles down to Cow Creek. Friday we would hike the Cow Creek Loop and then probably camp a second night at Cow Creek. Then we’d get up Saturday morning and finish the trip with a short jump to Buffalo City, get the other vehicle and head home. Before we any of this could happen we had to drop off one of the vehicles at Buffalo City.

A 30 mile float. So the drive from Buffalo Point to Buffalo City should take 30 minutes? 45? Yeah, that would work if there were any roads in this place...but there were no roads, only milky poison water.

So the drive was going to take about an hour and a half each way.

We unloaded the kayaks at the river. Got our gear mostly ready to go, snapped a couple pictures... 

Then Ira and Chris headed off with the vehicles while Robert and I stayed with the yaks.

Sounds like fun.

We took the kayaks down to the waters edge...

we filled everyone’s water bottles up...tested out the kayaks...

we tried a little fishing (no luck)...we ate some food...we took pictures with our phones and emailed them...

called our wives (probably our last chance to have contact until we got Buffalo City)...sat on the ground...got sand blasted by the 40 mile/hour winds...and then we waited.

Sometime after lunch Ira and Chris got back and we headed out for Rush Landing. The first leg of the float was filled marked by unbelievable cliff faces butting up to the river and occasional waterfalls coming down the hillside.

It took a little while to find the campsite at Rush Landing which is the entry point to the Lower Buffalo and Leatherwood wilderness areas. But in the end there wasn’t much drama...we secured the kayaks, set up camp, fixed dinner and went to bed.

Pretty boring...surely the raccoons would show up and liven things up, eh?

Nope. Sorry. But the wind was crazy. That’s exciting right??

Well, maybe the excitement was over and the rest of the week would nice and relaxing...