SCHMOOZIN' ON THE RIVER

THOMAS J. HILLEGASS

Save this trip for the "dog days" of summer, when the prospect of another day with the temperature and humidity racing each other for the 100 mark is wilting your spirits. Get up early on a Saturday or Sunday and get out in the country before the "big hot" sets in.

Head for your nearby lazy river, for a day on the water with family or friends. It will be a day of communing with the river, with the mountains and, most important, with each other. End the day with a fine meal and a twilight drive home with the sun setting over the mountains.

The main options are tubing or canoeing. I'll recommend you take to the tubes for this trip. On a really hot day, you will enjoy being as close to the water as possible, preferably in it most of the time. Also, for schmoozing, tubes are perfect. Latch your feet up on one another's tubes, drag a bota of wine or a small cooler of beverages in the water behind you, and share it all. Of course, in an inner tube on a slow-moving summertime river, you won't actually get anywhere (figure 1 mile per hour), but this is a trip for the soul, not a race for the goal.

You can run your own tubing trip or use an outfitter. Getting the tubes, knowing where to "put in" and "take out" as well as "shuttling" yourself back to where you left your car are all barriers to doing it yourself. I'd recommend using an outfitter, at least the first time, then consider if you want to "outfit" yourself later. Look in your newspaper or yellow pages for ads by outfitters who run tube trips near you.

Call and make reservations before you go. It will cost maybe $10-15 per person. The outfitter will provide the tubes and make all the arrangements for a safe and fun trip. About 3-4 hours of tubing is plenty, ask the outfitter about the length and don't go if it will be longer than this. A trip that begins in the afternoon would be perfect, you can have a picnic lunch before you start.

Your outfitter will care for your safety but here are a few cautions that deserve emphasis:

Sun burn is your biggest danger so wear a T-shirt and hat and keep sunblock on your arms and legs.

Wear old sneakers or "reef runners" to protect your feet.

Go easy on the wine or beer, safety on the water requires that you keep your head.

Don't try to stand up in the river where there is any current. Float on your back with your feet well up and forward when you are not in the tube.

Be prepared for those afternoon summer thunderstorms (with lightning) that can come up quickly. The temperature can drop fast, so take a nylon wind breaker tied inside a couple of plastic shopping bags and use a bit of string to secure it to your tube. Get off the river at the first sign of lightning. Don't get out in an open field or under a solitary tall tree, get under a bunch of trees of similar height.

Things to take with you are:

A picnic lunch

A bota of wine or a small cooler of beverages with a handle (It is a myth that drinks dragged in the river will stay refreshingly cool. They won't.)

Sunscreen, tee shirt, old sneakers, bathing suit, hat, sunglasses and wind breaker in a bag

Something to tie your glasses on with (string will do)

Some string or rope to tie things to tubes or to tie tubes together

A complete set of dry clothes (and shoes) for afterwards

A single-use waterproof camera (by Kodak, about $12 at discount stores)

Several water guns for river combat

After tubing, change clothes at the outfitters and have a nice supper at a nearby restaurant before starting home. Now head for home, happy and satiated with river fun, good friends and great food. And don't forget to enjoy that sunset over the mountains!