Best of Blog Challenge 2009 – Day 8 – Best Moment of Peace

This year, I discovered what has to be one of my favorite outdoor activities ever – Kayaking.  A couple of friends invited me early in the year to join them along with two co-workers on a kayaking “float” down the Piney River in middle Tennessee.  I had never done anything like this before but I figured that it sounded like a TON of fun. And, my expectations were not only met, but exceeded by more than double.

You see, the kind of kayaking we do is more or less just floating with just a bare minimum of extra effort.  This isn’t white-water kayaking where you wear a “skirt” that seals you into the kayak so that water can’t get into the kayak.  This is simply floating along with the current and using the paddle to keep you headed more or less straight.  Meanwhile, you glide almost silently along, basking in the summer heat and sunshine and meandering past wildlife of all sorts.

And, while I am with friends, we usually end up  strung out along the river, near enough so that  should we require assistance, all is well, but far enough apart that we can be alone with our thoughts.  This leads to the moments of peace I have come to cherish on these excursions.  I float along, the wind softly rustling the leaves in the trees, the flies, dragonflies and other winged creatures buzzing around and various other critters chattering and clattering around me.  The sun invariably shines down, bathing me in the warmth.  Each breath fills my nostrils with the scents of the river: trees, grass, water.  Aside from the sounds just described, it’s quiet.  No engines or traffic noise.  No sounds of modern living.  Its just me and nature.

 I often lean back and close my eyes.  My mind takes me back to the days of the indians or the great explorers.  I imagine what it would be like back then, before ipods and fast food and cars and the internet.  I find myself wishing that I could make these moments last forever.