I cannot believe its all over. Two months of travel, over 10,000 Miles driven, Im not even sure how many rivers paddled and waves surfed. More fast food stops than is probably healthy, lots of coffee and now I am back on the banks of the Ottawa river, Truck Life Tour’s last stop.
We spent our last week of #TruckLifeTour paddling at the Ruins wave in Ottawa for the final time this season as the levels finally dropped too low for this high water wave. Spring flood on the Ottawa was ridiculously high this year, some news outlets were saying a one in hundred year flood, some were reporting more. Ruins wave is usually one of the waves that comes in earlier and it is so unusual that we are able to surf it in not only nice weather (one of the days last week was 28C). Personally my paddling has had to take a bit of back seat as I have a minor shoulder injury at the moment that I am babying until it is better. But I was able to shoot plenty of photos. To be honest we have such an unusually high number of Ruins days this year I would be pretty content not shooting any more airscrew photos there but thats just me, they do still look cool.
The last two months has been high highs and some lows, but hardly. Sleeping in the back of the truck as snow fell in Utah (or one of the joining states), anytime it rained whilst we were in the back, the realisation that the leaks were continuously getting worse and that most of the stuff in the back would be getting wet if we didn't put our gear into drybags, banging my head on the truck topper three times a night whilst getting into bed and two times per morning everytime I got out of bed. All in all a small price to pay.
Really the story here is to say THANK YOU to a bunch of people who were main helpers along the journey of this tour. Clay Wright who's idea it was for this blog story in the first place (we were doing the trip anyway) and also his hospitality for hosting us in the South-East, letting me borrow a boat(s) whilst in the area, The Jackson family for their southern hospitality whilst we were there, Nick and Emily Troutman for letting us crash in their house, NOC rafting centre who at least didn't complain about us posting up in their staff parking lot (whether they were OK with it or not was never clear), Stephen Wright for looking out for us in Columbus, GA, The SEND lads who went above and beyond to create the amazing UNLEASHED event which was absolutely the highlight for me of our two month tour, New World Rafting for housing us during the Boater-X event, Emrick Blanchette who hosted like 30 people at his house in the pouring rain after the Giant Slalom, Wally at Quebec Raft/Wallys Photos for letting all of us sleep at the rafting base before the event and afterwards in the build up to Defi des grande Riviere (which is another epic event that I am excited to return too), the lads from Quebec Connection that mastermind Neilson race (which was a lot more satisfying this year as I finished the race without a swim, and on the podium).
And finally biggest thanks most of all to my tour partner Brooke Hess for putting up with me for the last two and a bit months, I am sure it hasn't all been plain sailing, but through all the long drives, long conversations, long arguments, it has been a lot of fun. Brooke is now on her way to USA team trials in Buena Vista, Colorado so good Luck Brooke!
And that is it. Done. There won’t be anymore #TruckLifeTour updates for a bit, although I have a few supplementary blogs I may get around to eventually but its not happening today. I have one more week before stuff starts getting really busy with my real job as Director of Ottawa Kayak School, so I plan to enjoy some more kayaking time, catch up on other blogs and video editing projects and get ready to work hard because as fun as summer on the Ottawa always is, it is ALWAYS a lot of work.
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