I arrived at the Middle Ocoee put in at 10 AM ready Nathan Madlock and his son for a Middle run. However, my crew had not shown by 10:30. About that time I saw David Bazemore and Robert Isley lurking near parking area. Robert asked if I wanted to paddle with them. He said it was to be his first trip down the Upper O. It took me about 15 seconds to respond with a wholehearted, hell yeah!
We met up with Allen Pippen, Michael Allison, and David Hucky, loaded boats on my truck, and we headed to the Upper put in. I drove my truck the parking area outside the gate and caught a ride to the lower parking area. As soon as I paddled out to meet the group we started the trip—no warm up.
It was a bit overcast; however, it was a wonderful day to be on the river. Everyone was having fun paddling through the trees. We saw one raft and no other kayakers. It seemed that we had the river to ourselves.