Alamo Rolling Roadshow Deliverance Pt3

Southeastern Expeditions on the Chattooga River, GA. Rafting on the river where Deliverance was filmed.



Oh yeah, and the movie. I don't have any good images of Deliverance to post but it was gorgeous in the Georgia night sky. I don't think I'd seen it since it first came out. Disturbing. Fantastic. I know I was way too young to appreciate Burt Reynolds in the 70s. That is no longer the case. Jon Voight too. God, what a great actor. Beautiful night. Beautiful screening. Several of the river guides pulled out a couch out of nowhere and made themselves comfortable in the field. Others used river rafts as a perch. The rest of us all around.

The next morning John and I rejoined the Alamo crew who'd camped out in the field, the rafting guides nursing a bonfire nearby til the wee hours. We waffled in our decision to raft on the Chattooga, until finally Karrie said, "C'mon, it'll be fun." And it was! Having signed up late, John and I had to raft solo, tagging along with other groups. But it was fine, great in fact. I landed with a friendly family from Florida: Dad, mom, and 13-year-old son. Halfway down the river I discovered that the dad, who seemed like one of the nicest, mellowest guys I'd ever come across, was a Police Lieutenant. He'd spent many years on a Swat team, then as an undercover narc, now in charge of a canine unit. He and the guide talked gun gauges and how much they loved movies. I'd felt comfortable before I knew this, even better after. We paddled hard, we laughed, and I was the only one who never fell out of the raft (um..well until the Dad literally fell on me and pushed me into a rock - but it wasn't a full spill like the others enjoyed. I got major props for holding my ground.) John also landed well with his crew. So we spent hours together, separately, on the gorgeous Chattooga River. The weather was lovely and surprisingly manageable. A group of strangers on the river, relaxing and working hard, the guides all hilarious and competent and showing us a great time.

UPDATE: Tim posted all the photos from the rafting on his Flickr. You can recognize John by his glasses, I'm wearing the dark visor and sunglasses, Karrie has the straw hat on some of the time.