By John Branch
CNN
(CNN) -- With family vacation budgets tight as ever, one Georgia organization is offering an inexpensive vacation alternative that is at once economically and environmentally friendly.
In what is considered the largest organized, long-distance paddle trip in the country, 2009 marks the fifth year for the event known simply as Paddle Georgia.
Organized by the Athens, Georgia based nonprofit Georgia River Network, the trip features 300 kayakers and canoeists of all skill levels, ranging from age 4 to 74.
Having floated the Chattahoochee, Etowah, Ocmulgee and Flint rivers over the past four years, this June the group journeys down the Coosawattee and Oostanaula rivers of northwest Georgia.
Charting a 92-mile course, the week-long trip takes participants downstream from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia to downtown Rome, Georgia.
***
more:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/getaways/04/08/paddle.georgia.trip/index.html