We’d been planning the construction of our raft for weeks. Planning, mind you, not actually building or even collecting supplies. As the date of the James River Raft Race and Summer Festival drew closer and closer, we accepted the fact that Dwayne’s floating fortress of truck-tire inner tubes and shipping pallets was never going to get built in time. Instead we resigned ourselves to whatever flotation devices we could scrounge up at Target.
We were suspicious when Mauricio told us about the Hospitality 5/Red Bull river race planned on the James the week prior, but decided that two river races in Richmond on consecutive weekends might not be so unusual after all. That’s when Clay stopped us in the hall.
 
“You do realize that the James River Raft Race is two hours away from here, right?”
 
“Wait… what?”
 
“Yeah, the James River State Park is in Gladstone, Va. which is 90 miles down route 60.”
 
“Well damn. Heaven forbid there be a James River State park somewhere else in the state. Looks like we’ll be making a roadtrip on Saturday.” 
 
It was a beautiful sunny day as we piled into our cars and headed out of the relative comfort of the city. We stopped at the Cumberland Country Store and bought some novelty beer coozies which would have been put to good use until we saw the “No alcoholic beverages” sign on the ranger’s station as we pulled into the park.
 
We parked our cars in the grass lot and used Dwayne’s air compressor to inflate our floaties. Dwayne’s giant blue lounger and Mauricio’s two person raft outclassed the $3.00 plastic tubes that Isabel and I had purchased. We met Mandy at the registration table, got signed up for the race and went down to the shady edge of the river where we posed for some pictures.
 
We passed by a tent where a rock band called “Lost in Rotation” had amassed a small crowd by playing “Just like Heaven” by the Cure and Skynard’s “Sweet Home Alabama.” Beyond them, vendors sold hot-dogs and sno-cones next to the inflatable obstacle course and tie-dye station.
 
We settled under a tree and were preparing for the race when a cluster of contestants on tubes went floating by. We scrambled down to the dock to get launched, but were in no danger of winning a trophy. The canoe and kayak division surpassed us and the home-made boat division - complete with a pirate ship, a rickety row boat and a floundering yellow submarine - blew us out of the water as well.
 
But really, what’s the rush. It was immensely relaxing floating down two miles of river in just over 2 hours. Dragonflies kept trying to have sex on our legs and the back and forth splashy-splashing culminated with Mauricio accidentally hitting Isabel in the face with his oar.
 
We were the last ones out of the river, aside from a phalanx of numbered rubber duckies from the duck raffle. We dried off and caught the shuttle back to the canoe landing where the race winners were being announced:Charlie Whalen and Mark Nicholes won the raft race,  and Crystal Heiden and Jenny Garnett won Most Creative Entry for their pirate ship.
 
We deflated our rafts, packed up our cars and headed back to civilization, excited to go tubing again, but hoping to do it a little closer to home next time.   

WEB | http://dcr.state.va.us/state_parks/jam.shtml