‘My butt’s draggin’!’

Inaugural Bump or Bust a hit

By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com

* Photo gallery – more than 400 images

ROCKINGHAM — All Mari Bennett can do is present the opportunity.

It knocked, and on Sunday afternoon a couple of dozen, give or take, answered. That opportunity came in the form of the inaugural Bump or Bust float down Hitchcock Creek. There was only one catch: To be a part of the 3.6-mile float down the blue trail, each participant had to ride an inflatable tube, raft or kayak.

Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com

Anthony Bristow, for one, couldn’t be sure he had the day off work fro the Shoe Department. When he confirmed he did, though, the 19-year-old Rockingham archer put the bow down, at least for an afternoon, to accept Bennett’s challenge in style.

Think Tom Hanks in “Castaway.” Bristow found a skeleton in a storage area at his home. Then his creative side took over. With a pilot’s hat and a lifejacket, he had a friend for the trip. But Bristow knew something was missing.

“I needed something original,” Bristow said.

Enter Wilson, or a generic brand of the white volleyball Hanks used in the film to keep him company for several years after a plane crash caused him to be stranded on an island.

Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Anthony Bristow and Wilson.

Bristow, Wilson and everyone who started the trek finished it as the third annual Mutt Strutt was taking place at the Steele Street takeout.

Each participant paid only $5 to enter the event — and another $10 if they needed to rent an inflatable craft from Bennett, who owns LMO Paradise Rentals. Bennett said the idea was to get people outside and enjoy the area’s natural assets. All too often, she said, people complained about having nothing to do while simultaneously letting life pass them by.

Many of the inaugural Bump or Bust crew wouldn’t hear of such an approach; it was several floaters’ first time down the creek.