Run, River Run

The Rivanna River runs through Fluvanna County, passing right next to Palmyra. There was a mill at one time and the village of Palmyra grew up and became the county seat. The Rivanna is usually a slow and shallow river. At one time there was a canal and locks along it, when it was used for commerce. Since the era of railroads and trucks nothing much has been asked of the Rivanna and it has become a lazy waterway, primarily used for recreation.

This is the boat launch on the Rivanna River at Palmyra. 

This past year, however, the Rivanna has been full to capacity or even overcapacity more often than not. All the rain has kept it working fast and hard, moving muddy water down to the James. The demands on it have often exceeded its capacity, resulting in flooding. I had a beer with my friend Tricia on Sunday and she told me that she would apologize to the river when crossing it, saying sorry for all the extra water she's had to carry. This is probably the first year since we've lived here that I never got in a canoe trip this past spring, summer, or fall. The water has been too high or it's been raining whenever I had a chance to go.

The river didn't jump its banks this time, but it certainly got
high and was running fast, hard, and muddy.

Maya and Serena and I walked down to the river this afternoon to take a look. Later I took Theo, Max, Smokey, and Trooper out to the pasture for a run.

This walk was new territory for Serena and she was happy
and excited to be going. We also met a woman I know on
the walk back up and Serena greeted her and leaned into her
like they were old friends. She's overcome the social anxiety
she had when she first arrived.

There's apparently lots of interesting smells in the sand.

Maya is my faithful hiking companion.

One route we normally take on the way down was flooded
with standing water, so we backtracked and took the gravel
trail. It has suffered a lot of erosion from the rains too.

This is the top of the river bank. There's a steep drop off to
the water, but down there is normally the sandy beach.

This is the old county courthouse in Palmyra. I stopped on the
way home to finally get my 2019 county kennel license. 

Theo and Max

Max (left), Smokey (downhill), and Theo (right)

Smokey enjoyed the run and he didn't get
his butt kicked today. He actually got Theo
to chase him for a bit, and that's what he
really wanted to do.

Theo, of course, is just interested in playing ball.

Smokey on the run.

That's Smokey front and center, I think that's Max on the right, so Theo is downhill on the left.

Theo the Great

This is the only picture I got of Trooper because
he spent the entire time at the front fence. There
was a UPS truck across the street and he had to
make sure it went on it's way. That's Trooper
on the left, Theo on the right, heading in.