Extra nice folks

I could write a novelette about today. First off we spent 14 hrs in our tent last night where we realized that if we paddled 25 miles today we could camp at Colleton state park where there would be lots of perks. 

On the way we paddled trough lots of high, swift water. At several points there were trees the size of telephone poles bouncing up and down in the water several feet making waves to bounce our boats even from a distance. We caculated we were moving 4 miles an hour, our overall record. 

At one point I realized the bird houses I was seeing along the side of the river had numbers on them that corresponded to the countdown to the ocean. This was both a fun mystery and a great way to mark progress. 

Over the past few days we devised  a plan in the event of separation. 1. no one passes a road without the whole group 2. if you choose between two routes u leave a small piece of TP. This is obvious because new, dry TP looks way different than anything hanging over a river overnight. And the folks at the back get free TP as they paddle by. So far it is working brilliantly. 

We passed I95 and 100 miles today (we completed 25% of the 7 day trip today). We arrived Colloton state park at 3 PM. The improvement in mosquitos has been enormous. We spent a indigestion causing lunch walking in circles with a face net and full cover on and in the end just gave up and paddled on.  

Colleton park is the main start point of the Edisto river trail and we were informed that it is considered not reasonably passable more than 10 miles above here in normal conditions. We were also informed the mosquitos are extreme beyond summer peak numbers due to flooding. 

This is the biggest wasp nest I've ever seen. 3 feet tall? 

The folks at the park have been uncommonly kind and generous. The main ranger, Larry Bonds is a true good natured and interesting man. 14 yrs at this park, he is a catcher and relocater of rattle snakes and has been bitten 5 times but more impressive are his stories of being struck by lightening 6 times. He personally deliverd firewood to our campsite and then later when he saw us drying our clothes by fire (which was not going well) he volunteered to take our laundry to his house and dry it there. I was giddy with joy over clean, dry clothes. On top of that the camp hosts drove us to the store to get dinner. That and hot showers, pick nick tables, bathrooms... It has been a wonderful stop.