Floating the Collins River

To kick off June we got together with the Simmons crew for a day of floating the river.  Since it was our kids first time -except for Liam- we decided it would be best to do a river that is easy.   We met up with them at the Collins River in McMinnville. 

Sometime when I write my blog about places we go I like to look up information about it on Wikipedia.  Here is what Wiki says about the Collins River - 

"The Collins River is a 67-mile-long (108 km)stream in the east-central portion of Middle Tennessee in the United States. It is a tributary of the Caney Fork, and is part of the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi watersheds. The river drains the scenic Savage Gulf area, located just below the river's source, and empties into Great Falls Lake at Rock Island State Park.

The Collins River passes through Grundy and Warren counties. McMinnville, Altamont, Gruetli-Laager and Beersheba Springs are among the communities located within its watershed. The Savage Gulf section of the Collins River has been designated a "scenic river" by the State of Tennessee."

While the adults got everything situated and cars moved around the kiddos played around in the water. 

And we're off!

We took Liam for his first time kayaking back in 2016 and I don't think he has been back since.  I found a couple pictures of us back then!

This time he was able to paddle the whole way all by himself!

We put in right at the dam. Such a cool picture!

Marcus had the set up.  He bought a paddle board and used his cooler as a seat. 

Made a pitstop for some snacks!  The first of many - haha!

Boys took a quick dip to burn up some energy....

....While some of us reserved our energy!

The nets were a perfect addition by the Simmon's crew.  

Another stop with more adventure!  The boys searched for the perfect rocks to learn how to skip.  

 We searched for and found crawdads, too!

Enjoying all the wildlife along the way!

That includes this wild thing!

Cows cooling off in the water. 

Baby turtle!!!!

Liam living on the wild side. 

Coach struggled in the beginning.  Once he figured it out he didn't move a muscle!

At first these two fought about who was going to be the one to paddle.  By the end of the day they fought about who wasn't going to be the one to paddle!  They took turns but realized in the end they were thankful they had each other to trade off!

Finishing up the last little bit!  

It took us about 6 hours or so to complete it.  After, we went home and took a quick shower and then went over to their house for a dinner!  We can't wait to plan our next float!