For the last ten years, during our guided paddleboard tours through Asheville, we've told guests about the Flood of 1916 and how it took out the town.

Never did we ever believe we'd be living through a story we've told countless times.

While we were able to save most of our vehicles and equipment, our business is over, the river is trashed, and our employees are out of work. All of them escaped with their homes and lives, but some lost cars and personal possessions, and all lost the town that they loved.

Our loyal mechanic, VJ's auto, which is run by a local Appalachian family, was completely destroyed by the raging floodwaters—the business and building are both gone.

For the past ten years they've been there for us whenever we had an emergency breakdown, needed a fix, or a tow, and they even towed us out of the river once when our van took an unscheduled drive.

Now it's our turn to tow them from the river, and also help our employees and business make sense of what we do next.

We will recover, Asheville will recover, but it's going to be a long time.