Asheville, North Carolina Day 3: Painting on the French Broad River

At one point in time during the drive(s) around Asheville I pulled up to a stoplight and while hitting the brakes the roof racks on my car with a rooftop storage container attached slid off their track and cascaded down my windsheild. That's not suppose to happen. Fortunately it couldnt have happened in a better place as their was a little pull off right next to the stop light. Balancing the cargo crate on my roof I slowly pull off the road and exit the vehicle, as does the car that pulled off to allow me the space to exit the roadway. A young guy gets out and we analyze the situation before he helps me lift the container off the car and place it on the ground. He wishes me the best of luck and off he goes. Situation is now unloading the container, taking the racks off, reattaching them, reload the container, and reattach to top of car. One hell of an interruption in the day. Eventually everything is reattached and Im soaking in sweat. Being next to the river I decide to climb through some brush and take a quick swim. Once at the shore I find myself in a shanty town of forest people sharing a beer with them as they tell me why there are so many people cruising down the river on kayaks and giant inflatable flamingos. Long story short, I havent kayaked in a couple months, thats my itinerary the day before I leave.

Pretty easy to find a kayak rental in Asheville. It was around 11am and I was on the water. I was planning for a 6 hour journey even though the instructor informed me the average duration is between 2 -4 hours. May have made it in that amount of time if it werent for the playground that appeared riverside. For someone who brings cans of paint on a kayak in hopes that there may be a suitable bridge to paint under to see a huge abandoned building growing into the hill on the edge of the river was like a potato chip buffet this is exactly what I was hoping for!

No more words, only pictures