Narrative and Photo by Carolyn Rand.

I love to paddle on both white and flatwater, especially when you add overnight trips sleeping under the stars and close to nature.    I have been a TVCC cruise master for more than 10 years, first for the flatwater group with Eric Fleming, and now leading the overnighter group on trips dozens of times each year.

I am also an avid equestrian who has had horses all my life, winning my first blue ribbon at age three.  In 1971, I was high point barrel racer in Louisiana and continue to ride my horse on trails here and all around the country.

I went to college at Louisiana State University where I met my husband, Mark.  I graduated from college in 1976 with a BS degree in Dental Hygiene and moved back to Baton Rouge where I had lived my early years. I moved to New Jersey in June 1979 after I finished MBA, and where my two children were born.  That is also where Mark and I hand built our house over three years;  we did everything but the masonry work ourselves.

In 1994 my family moved to Chattanooga where I worked as a dental hygienist for 23 years.  I have been a registered dental hygienist for 41 years and active with the TN Dental Hygiene Association, winning an award for my work over the years.