- 2000 - Thursday, May 25, 2000 Not much happened around camp on Thursday. Tim, Shelby, Sonny and I had arrived at Slink Shoals on Wednesday evening. We had brought a couple of extra tents to set up to help reserve our spots. We were alone most of the day, some other people started showing up later in the evening. We built a nice fire and watched the lightening and storms roll by to the north that evening. We saw lots of storms go by this weekend, we were lucky to miss most of them. Nashville and the middle Tennessee area got hit pretty hard, I think the bad weather was why the shoal was not as crowded this year. People stayed home, thinking the weather was going to be bad. When we got home Monday afternoon, a tree had fallen on our house. There wasn't much damage, just torn shingles, but the tree was lost and had to be cut down. Friday, May 26, 2000 Friday got a little more interesting. Early in the afternoon a farmer drove a team of horses down the dirt road, he said it was their first time in harness. Darlene showed up early in the afternoon, she brought April with her. Doug and Helen pulled in a little while later and set up their place right next to us. Chris brought several of his friends down this year. They are musicians and they played and sang for us all weekend. David skinned his back going off the rope swing at Slink Shoals, the water was really not deep enough for it. I got an interesting picture of two of Chris' buds shooting me a big fat moon. We had a little excitement Friday evening, the sheriff pulled down to Slink Shoals and warned us that there was a bad storm coming fast. I went down to the river to get Shelby and Samantha and suddenly a huge black cloud rolled over us and the wind began to blow very hard. It scared me, I was not looking forward to riding out a storm under a bunch of trees inside a tent or little camper. We ran back up to our campsite and dropped the tents (lest we have to retrieve them from the trees) then did our best to tie everything down and get everything covered. After about 10 minutes of fierce wind, the storm just blew over, skirting us to the north. We could see the rain and dark black clouds in the distance. We got lucky. Keith and Samantha pulled in Friday evening, followed closely by Eric. Saturday, May 27, 2000 Our group hit the water about 10 am or so. Some of us stayed behind in camp. The group started off at Slink Shoals instead of the Bell bidge, trying to avoid some of the crowded conditions that we have seen for the past couple of years. The boys at the canoe rental office forgot about them and they ended up waiting a couple hours for the pick up. It was raining and chilly so they tried to huddle under the canoes (which they had lifted onto the boat trailers that were waiting at the takeout) to try to stay warmer and keep our of the cold rain. Finally, Tim and Keith decided to walk up the road and try to find a phone to call the office. They found one and finally got picked up. We built a roaring fire for them back at our campsite and they all huddled around it trying to warm up. It was raining a little then, so we were all pretty wet. At least after this rain, we got a rainbow. Sunday, May 28, 2000 Sunday turned out to be much nicer, weather wise. It was sunny and warm, couldn't have asked for more perfect weather. Some of our group went canoeing some more and some stayed in camp to relax and tip a few beers. Later in the afternoon a few of us rode over to Crazy Horse Canoe Rental to check out the layout over there. We have heard a lot about it, but have never camped there. About 15-20 trail riders on horses came down later in the afternoon for a picnic; the kids really enjoyed checking out the horses. We went fishing in the evening at the back of the shoal, but didn't have much luck. Monday, May 29, 2000 Monday was time to clean it up, pack it up and head on home. Some of our group had left Sunday evening but there were still a few of us still in camp on Monday. Home | Search | Gallery |