First Tellico Lake paddle.

We managed to get our kayaks home from Todd without incident and on Thursday, we took them to the Clear Creek ramp a couple of miles from home for their "Home Waters Christening".

Tellico village is a beautiful place but many of its most appealing features must be viewed from the water.  Going low and slow in our kayaks was the perfect way to look around and see the sights.

From the Clear Creek ramp, we went West and under the Tellico Parkway bridge to explore the coves away from the main body of the lake.  Mary & I really enjoyed the paddling on still water: very different from our river experience a couple of weeks ago. 

We were able to launch and board without getting wet and found that the paddling was easy but we had to stroke for all the distance instead of letting the river push us along.  A gentle breeze pushed us along for part of the journey but had to be overcome on the way back to the ramp.

Paddlin' on the New



Quiet trip down river.

 Todd wouldn't be Todd without the South fork of the New River.  It kisses the edge of town at its junction with Elk Creek before heading East to Fleetwood and beyond.

On Friday, Mary & I picked up our newly acquired kayaks from the River Girl Fishing Company and headed upriver about 3 miles for our inaugural voyage.  No fishing tackle this trip just a laid back trip on a very low river.  The normally 2 hour trip took almost 3 due to slow current and multiple "Walking" places without enough water to move a kayak along.  Funny how it floated fine when either of us got out - must be a cosmic thing.


Mary enjoying the trip.


Floating slowly downstream reminded us how important it is to just slow down and enjoy the journey.  All too often we get caught in the rush to get to a destination rather than taking time to enjoy the sites along the way.  We saw a heron, numerous other birds and lots of fish.  We were bombed by falling buckeyes and pushed along by gentle breezes.  It was easy to believe, if only for a few hours, that we were travelling far from civilization in a long ago time.