Rivers and Recitations

My husband and I took the kids rafting on the Watauga River on Saturday. Well, we paid a guide service and joined a couple of busloads of people starting in our outfitter's retail location in Banner Elk, NC and traveling to our putting-in place on the river, just below the TVA-built Wilbur Dam somewhere near Elizabethton, TN.

It's a 45-minute bus ride from the store to the river and so, to make the trip fun and memorable, the guides provide non-stop entertainment. Highlights of their act include mention of a Jack Nicholson designed golf course, derision of a (sheet metal) fabrication company as dishonest, jibes at Floridians in the mountains, and a visit from Elvis.

Apparently there are some regulars on the trips including a few folks sitting in front of us on the bus who were sharing stories and jokes; one was an older man who was invited to recite "The Cremation of Sam McGee" on the return trip. He stood in front of a river-wet, slightly weary captive audience, and didn't miss a beat or rhyme and, according to my husband (who was familiar with the poem) perhaps only a word or two.

As he returned to his seat, he said that though he couldn't remember the events of a couple days ago, he still remembered this poem, which he had memorized in 1951.

Throwing my lot in with strangers, even for just a day river trip, is something that I still need to consider before committing; yesterday, thankfully, was a great ride.