Trip '06

After re-enrolling in college i picked up an internship at Firestone Tube Company, the last manufacturer of inner tubes in the U.S.! I met a few dudes (Todd and Jeff) who said they paddled, we paddled for a few months together and decided to venture to TN, GA, and NC all in one hit.

We drove and had absolutely no plans for a place to stay. We arrived in NC at around 1 am and drove into the town we wanted to stay near. After finding a dirt road we looked for a place to set up a tent. Along the way we saw several other tents along with people who were either heavily intoxicated or staring at the stars. One guy passed out in his vehicle with the door open and the car running!.... PERFECT we said. We awoke to several pissed off raft guides asking why we stayed ON their takeout pad. Whoooops. After some convincing we got to crash on their land a little down stream. Below is a picture of camp: coors and tuna in a bag... paddler's dream meal @ 9 am.


The Pigeon offered up some fun surfing and some huge wave trains. We met up with some locals and had a blast.
The next day we headed over to the French Lady to shake the goods out of her tree.

I was fairly certain this man was sketchy. I was right.


Todd overcoming his, "but i've never jumped before fear."

On the way out we hit the ocoee up and surfed until we were blue in the face. A great trip and we all hated to get back to the grind.