Rivanna Sojourn!

I'm a little slow getting these posts out, but it's been a busy week and weekend with RCS!  It's Earth week, so there was a lot going on in Charlottesville.
On Saturday morning was the Rivanna River Sojourn, sponsered by RCS.  We had about 20 people come out for the sojourn, even though the weather was a bit iffy!  It was cold and overcast the whole morning, with some sprinkles and then rain in the afternoon.  Not the perfect day to be out on the water, but it sounds like every weekend has been rainy down here lately, so it was about as good as it gets!

some of the boats RCS provided!

Marcy enjoying a donut as people arrive

some sojourn participants filling out waivers!

Robbi led an intro about RCS and the sponsors of the sojourn and included a little shout-out to Patagonia for lending me out to help for 6 weeks this year!  We had a lot of beginners (including me) on kayaks and canoes, and a few very experienced paddlers.  Ethan, from Blue Ridge Mountain Sports gave us a little safety clinic, but we spent the morning on the Rivanna Reservoir, so there were no rapids or difficulties to deal with.  Very good pace for beginners!

After the UVA crew team had cleared out of the reservoir, we were ready to go!

view from the river as everyone boards their boats!

on the Rivanna!

We all brought a trash bag and gloves, to keep an eye out for any trash we spotted along the way.  RCS joined 1% for the Planet in the fall after I shared the website with them, and now they have a new partner through the program, Plow and Hearth!  Plow and Hearth came out on Friday and did a big river clean up, so we didn't find too much on our trip up the river.  NBC 29 News came out and took a little video of us, you can see the back of me on a canoe for a second!!!  29 News short on RCS  They seemed to think that our event was a clean up rather than a paddle trip, but it was good advertisement! 

I shared a canoe with Marcy, the Deputy Director of RCS.  We had so much fun trying to stay in a straight line as we rowed up the river!  My arms were sore the next day!  On our trip, we saw a heron, another weird bird that we didn't know the name of, and then a cute little beaver swimming along next to us with some long grass!  It was so quick, I didn't get a picture, but he was a cute little guy.  Why don't people go for canoe trips on the Rivanna all the time?  It was wonderful.  

check out my official hat!