Within seconds of putting the kayaks in the water, the current whipped one of the boats into a fallen tree, sending Joe, a database manager from Miami, into an unintentional Eskimo roll, splashing into the river, flailing, spewing, coughing, gagging and spitting water.

I started back paddling to avoid the same fate, and was pulled backward by the current into an overhanging tree. I looked up to find myself face-to-face with a large snake, wrapped around a branch right above my head, inches away.

Suddenly it was chaos, a flurry of paddling, pushing, swearing, glimpses of snake, sky, river, Joe coughing water, back to snake…whew!…still in the tree.

I back-paddled harder and faster, but the current shoved the kayak's bow around, pushing it right under the tree branch. The snake was now hanging right over the bow. One move and he could drop right between my legs!!! The only thing I knew for sure was both us were not going to share this kayak. If he got in, I was getting out fast!

This was not starting out as the quiet little Saturday morning float trip I had bargained for.

Fortunately the snake stayed in the tree, Joe didn't drown, and all nine of us on this Econ River kayak trip survived to tell about it.

If this sounds like fun, there are plenty of rivers in Central Florida for you to try. If you want to include the snake part, you'll have to get your own. I think mine died laughing.