Canoeing Down Missouri River


A couple of weeks ago, some American friends of mine, Bob and Carol, invited me and another Filipino Fulbrighter named Gil to join their family on a float trip down a portion of the Missouri River. Being the geographical moron that I am, I cannot remember exactly where this river was. All I can recall is that we drove some 4 hours to get there, with a stop-over for dinner at a town which boasted a total of two stoplights. We went there Friday evening, set up tents, and turned in early.

The next day was beautiful, with the sun shining and not a single cloud to break the blue overhead. We started canoeing, 2 to a boat, at 10 am, stopped at a shady area to have lunch, then continued paddling on. Floating along the river was very relaxing, though we had some problems paddling when the water became too shallow. We pulled our canoes to the banks to go inside a cave, which was an interesting experience. I had never gone quite so deep inside a cave before, and the stalactites and stalagmites were beautiful. At first I was stepping gingerly on the ground, avoiding the water, but after squishing my shoes into thick red mud, I decided it was easier to just submerge my shoes and wash the mud off right there instead of removing dry mud when I got back home. We got back to our campsite around 3, washed up and had a huge dinner round a bonfire. The highlight of the meal for me was s'mores (fire-roasted marshmallows and milk chocolate squeezed between graham crackers). Then again, dessert is the highlight of any meal, as far as I'm concerned.

We headed back to Columbia after a huge breakfast on Sunday. When I got home, I was so thankful to Bob and Carol for bringing me along on the trip. The break came at the perfect time, smack in the middle of the semester when I was on the verge of burning out from dealing with academic demands. The respite was brief, but seeing the natural treasures of Missouri up close recharged my spirit enough to make me a little more enthusiastic about school work... or so I thought. When I woke up for a brand new school week on Monday, I decided I needed time to get down from the high of my mini-vacation, so I slept in, and all my teachers missed me that day.