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...

Arkansas Day 1

From Here to There

Our trip began on Sunday afternoon. Chris couldn’t get out of teaching class so the rest of us decided to attend early worship and class at Granbury CofC and then we could pretty much leave from there.

So...this was my first Sunday in a “real” church building in 6 months. I guess I’ve already forgotten just how different our church life is these days -  just walking in the building was a strange and surreal experience. 

When Christ Journey recently made the move in our Sunday worship gathering from the coffee shop to the slightly larger room at the Nashville, Texas Antique Shop, it felt like we were inhabiting an empty castle...

I grew up in traditional churches, some pretty large, some not much larger than one of Christ Journey’s gatherings. And yet 6 short months have been enough to make me feel a little out of place in a more “settled” church. (And for those that are wondering, the difference in “worship styles” wasn’t really what made it so strange...though it certainly added to it!)

After worship and class we gathered in the parking lot, began consolidating gear and then headed to the Robey’s to get the other kayaks.

There isn’t a whole lot to say about the trip to Arkansas. We drove...there were roads...

However, I would like to point out that this twitter update from 8pm Sunday night said a lot: “So, we're in Pickle Gap, AR...which is fairly close to Toad Suck Park...”

We got to the campground pretty late and saw signs of the already infamous “Ice Storm of 09”. Driving into the park there were lots of limbs and even trees scattered around. Even in the middle of the night we could tell that this must have been an unbelievable storm - apparently the ice was so thick and heavy that trees were practically exploding under the weight. We didn’t realize it, but this storm was going to play a pretty big role in our decision to head home Friday morning...

We made camp there at the park. It was a nice facility but the water looked like milk and tasted like...not milk. We boiled some for breakfast and some tea and went to bed. The skies were clear and there was no call for rain so Robert, Ira and I took advantage of being able to know the weather report and left the rain flies off of our tents. A pleasant evening under the stars...

Ahhh...good night Arkansas, see you in the morning.

...”What was that???”

About an hour after I went to sleep - somewhere around 1:30 am - I woke up to the sound of Satan locked in eternal battle with...another Satan. We had already made too many jokes about Deliverance and what strange threats would emerge from the Arkansas wilderness and here it was actually happening. I couldn’t hear anybody so whatever the beast was, it must have already eaten Ira, Robert and Chris...that was the only possible reason that they wouldn’t be making any noise because surely this thing was loud enough to wake them up.

Well, apparently the bag of food didn’t get put in the truck or hung from a tree and the raccoons were killing each other to get into it. I chased them off with my machete (yes, it was in the tent with me...I was going to be prepared if I heard banjo music...). 

The raccoons had eaten some hot chocolate mix and a package of pita bread...not a huge loss considering what they could’ve gotten. Luckily we were all so vigilant and quickly arose from our slumber...

And by “we” I mean me and that stupid machete. My precious brothers-in-law were peacefully getting their beauty sleep and none of them woke up even once!!!

I put the food in the truck and went back to bed...and then woke up about 45 minutes later when they were back trying to get into our backpacks...

I guess some of the guys had some food in their packs (mine was in my kayak). 

I chased the coons off again...and again 30 minutes later - Still not a one of those guys heard the commotion!!! At this point I knew that surviving a hillbilly attack once we got in the wilderness was not going to be much of a team effort. Yeah, Ira, Robert and Chris, I’m calling you out!

I eventually discovered that I could put a pile of rocks in my tent and just throw one towards the table whenever I heard the raccoons. I got a lot of sleep that night. 

But everything looks better in the light of day, right? 

I think that light of day pretty much got to us before the rain started...apparently weather reports in Arkansas aren’t any more dependable than they are in Texas...

Yeah, we put the rain flies on pretty quickly. 

Awesome. Good morning Arkansas...

Living with The Tension

I'm working on a few posts right now. At Rachel's encouragement I'm going to put up a series of posts on our Arkansas trip - basically one for each day. She thinks that will help keep them from being too long...

But I'm also writing another post, a nerd post. These days most of the people who read this blog are Christ Journey folks who don't necessarily understand or care about a lot of the nerdy stuff I wrestle with. So...if that's you, feel free to simply reread the Arkansas stuff!

When I wrote recently on the "Wrath of God" issue, some were concerned that I was getting worked up about stuff that didn't really matter. 

There are a couple important notes to make here. First of all, I'm a bit of a freak. (Surprise!) I don't fit neatly in many categories. For instance, I grew up on a ranch but I absolutely love the DFW metroplex. To be more precise, while I'm learning to love the Fort Worth side (and Burleson in particular); though this is where I was born and spent my first decade (Benbrook) and where I have several family members (grandparents and uncle in Benbrook, other relatives in Aledo, uncle in Burleson...), I still miss Dallas. 

But I'm not supposed to. 

Country boys aren't supposed to like the big city, but I love it. I love all the little coffee shops and bookstores, the libraries, the postmodern young adult crowd in the Village, Deep Ellum and lower Greenville area...even the "uppity rich folks" in Highland Park...well, some of them. 

And yet, I still love cattle, hunting, fishing, camping, kayaking and generally being out in the woods. I wear camo, under armour, express jeans and polos from Banana Republic - often at the same time.

I love playing sports and going to sporting events, but I only watch ESPN occasionally to get updates...trying to follow stats, trades and the drama is tiresome. And I just can't get into Nascar at all. Sorry.

On the overtly spiritual side, I really like sitting in someone's living room and talking about the ways that God is moving in our lives, hanging out around the barbecue pit being neighbors, telling the big picture Story of God to someone who has never heard it before, spending 24 hours in the Chick-Fil-A parking lot so that we can donate a bunch of meals to Harvest House, finding ways to help a struggling young single mom climb out of the clutches of poverty. 

But I also like to read books written by the Fathers and Mothers of the early church - like Maximus the Confessor and the Cappadocians - and discuss the significance of concepts like theosis, the limits of certain atonement theories and the tension between a bounded-set or open-system approach to ecclesiology. 

So my country friends and family think I'm too city, my city friends think I'm too country. My ESPN watching friends find my level of commitment suspect and my book loving friends find my desire to get out and do something physical are equally suspicious. Some people assume that because I'm a nerd, I must need to focus on people more. Others think that because I'm missional/postmodern/post-denominational I probably don't have a well-developed, thought out or robust theology of anything. 

I've had people complain because my preaching is too narrative - they want more exposition of the text. Others have expressed hope that I'll stop worrying about background, history and exegesis and focus on telling stories... alluding to a passage or retelling it in contemporary terms is sufficient. 

Sorry, I like both and see the value of both. I may not be great at either...but not many are. I'm trying.

That brings me to the other issue: while I'm trying to make my blog more personal these days, that has never been my first compulsion for writing. Blogging has always been my setting for working through theological and pastoral stuff in writing. In the past it served as a forum for other students and ministers to struggle in community.

Actually, the theological conundrums I work through are pretty personal - it just happens that personal for me is often found in the struggle to develop more sustainable and consistent theologies - just ask Rachel. 

If you want personal then you're going to get a good dose of this stuff because this is me. 

You are welcome to do the same thing that Rachel does: just smile and nod, then go back to what you were doing before I started babbling. :)

I've written enough of these posts to know that folks often misread my tone - one of the drawbacks of having a dry and sarcastic sense of humor is that sometimes it gets lost in translation. So, let me say explicitly that this isn't an angry or accusatory post at all. More than anything else I'm just revealing the internal struggle I have with not really fitting in anywhere. I'm okay with all that about myself, I'm just trying to help clear up any confusion. 

...and its a heads-up on some nerdy stuff coming down the pipe!