Jennifer Plesko

This weekend, we participated in a popular Texas summertime ritual: the river trip. For those who aren’t familiar, this involves gathering 20 of your closest friends (or in our case - twelve) and spending the weekend floating the Guadalupe and/or Comal River.

River trips often require an amazing amount of planning and logistics because coordinating a large group is like herding cats - even under the best circumstances. Add to that the lodging, sleeping arrangements, who is bringing what, how many coolers to bring, which float has what regulations, who’s paying for parking, what to do each night, etc … and soon your brain will melt and ooze out of your ear.

Then there are the cooler logistics. All I have to say is that I’m glad I went to the river with three finance associates, two accountants, and a former mathlete. If I were left alone to figure out all the cooler-related equations I would have leapt off the balcony. Let’s see…if there are twelve people on a four-hour float, how many beers do you bring, how many mixed drinks do you make, how many snacks do you pack, how many water bottles do you take, whose stuff goes in which cooler, which knife should I use to stab myself in the eye…

In the end, it’s worth it. We always have a good time. And we always make sure to have some chicken fried steak at Grist Mill and maybe catch a concert at Gruene Hall or River Road Ice House if we can last that late after a day of floating and drinking (flinking?).

And if you’re a people watcher, I don’t know that there is a better place in the world to spot weirdos.

Exhibit A

“Smokey the Bear hat? Check. T-shirt converted to sexy tank? Check. Cut off shorts? Check. Man I look hot!”

Exhibit B

This fella reminded us of the Australian Party Guy

Exhibit C

This is why Texas stereotypes exist. The tattoo on this dude’s leg matched his t-shirt.

Yet another reason why I love this state. It really is like a whole other country.