Tubing

Yesterday, I went tubing with some folks from the REU, out on the Comel River half way between San Antonio and Austin. This is deffinately something to try when you are in Texas. It captures the spirit of Texas so well. The scene is a cross between trashy, toursity, Mexican beach and a ranchy/Texas feel. There are numerous little shops from which you can rent tubes and coolers. We rented some tubes and proceeded to float on.

The Hill Country of Texas is full of mid sized spring fed rivers. It is as though these rivers were created solely to have people tube. As with everything Texas you have your beer. More specifically, you have a tube for your cooler full of beer, because what goes better with a sun burn than cold beer?

After several painful hours of only evangelical and country radio stations, we arrived.

Most of the property along the river is privately owned with only a few public access points. So we floated down through a public tube schute (like a waterslide built into the river), and then missed the next schute and ended up all getting tipped over in a mini waterfall. I bet we looked pretty goofy trying to stand up while holding onto our tubes, hats, shoes, and beer. I was surprised at the swimmers that just waited to pick up lost items for themselves (including our beer!).

After the brief excitment, it was a lazy float for the next hour down the river until the exit. The most surprising thing to me was the group that brought a boombox to float down the river with!

In the end, it felt excessively comercialized, but quite the experience. I'd recomend bringing your own tubes and plenty of water to drink. Also, I'd recomend dinner at the nearby restaraunt, "the Grismill." Its a great place in a really quaint historic town.

Other than a bit of slacklining, that about captures all the excitment of the weekend.