1 Year Countdown

We are at one year and counting down!  One year left till the start of our non-working dreams!  We are super excited to reach this milestone.  It is awesome when all of your goals are being reached!  That's about it for this post.  Just a notable occasion to get down "on paper."

Post Buffalo Float

The Survival Trip quickly turned into just a long, arduous float trip...mostly.  Upon hitting the buffalo, we learned very quickly that the terrain didn't lend itself to practicing survival techniques.  It was either too steep a grade or bluffs.  Not good.  We did some fire-starting with fllint.  We cooked fish on a stick.  So, really, the first two days were camping-like and decently fun.  By the end of the second day, however, we found the low river, coupled with not making much headway and an unforgiving sun, had taken its toll on us.  We were pretty sun-burned despite using sunblock.  So, by morning on the third day, we'd all decided to hit the last take-out on the Buffalo which I understood to be about half way.  It was not anywhere to be found so obviously Rush was the last pickup and we passed that the day before--way before half way.  At last signal, my iPhone showed us to be less than half way down the 30 miles of the Buffalo.  That was about 13 of 30 miles traveled.  We then decided to spend the remaining day knocking out some miles of paddling to reach the White River.  We eventually did.  You had to be there to know how relieved we were especially since switchback after switchback revealed more and more Buffalo River.  Anyway, the trip did have it's moments of beauty and fun.  Yep, I'd do it again, but NOT in the Summer months and I'd prepare for more of a camping trip meaning meals, mats, more water, etc.  As a matter of fact, Donovan and I have already discussed it for Spring.  I put together this video summary of the trip.  It only documents about half of the trip, but still kind of neat.

The Survival Trip

Ok, remember a few posts back when I asked what the map and the inflatable had in common?  Well, here's the deal with it.  Two years ago, at the very end of July, we floated the Buffalo National River.  We being, me and my 3 children Bryan, Donovan, and Madison.  We really had a great time despite it being drizzly  and overcast.  That day, we had over 4 hours on the river and floated a total of 10 miles or so.  You may ask, "Why the heck in the dead heat of summer in the South?"  Well, it's because my oldest, Bryan, had a college break at that time.  I've always liked the outdoors and so have my two youngest kids.  My oldest can take it or leave it I think.  Anyway, I've been interested in survival-type situations since my first Air Force survival school.  It meshed nicely with my youth hunting and fishing.  After joining, the Air Force sent me to Land, Water, and Arctic schools in Washington State, Florida, and Alaska respectively.  I enjoyed them all.  They were relatively short, but I learned lots of concept.  Also, as part of job, I taught survival continuation training for a few years.

Occasionally, the 2 younger kids and I watch the various survival shows, Man Vs. Wild, Survivorman, Dual Survival, etc.  I think I mentioned something to Donovan about doing something like that during one of the shows and he jumped on the thought of it.  So, the concept turned into a planned trip.  We are going to float the perimeter of the Ozark National Forest first on the Buffalo River, then on the White River for 5 to 6 days.  I've coined it "The Survival Trip."  I plan to demonstrate fire-building techniques, shelter-building techniques, food procurement, etc.  Now, my skills aren't practiced as much as I'd like, so I'm countering that newbie aspect by incorporating some aspects of camping and that includes 2, 2-man tents, some backup food, fishing rods, etc.  This will be used only as needed or if the kids can't stand it anymore.  We are two weeks out from that trip and I'm getting excited like a little kid!  Some shots of the 2009 trip: