At the end of this month I am flying down to Laredo, Texas for a family wedding.

I have mixed feelings about it, after briefly glimpsing a few minutes of that TV show: "Bordertown Laredo" about cops fighting the war against drugs on the United States side of the border. I couldn't really stand to watch that show because I couldn't tell the cops from the crooks, and have a feeling the line is very blurry.

I asked the mother of the bride about safety, and she said that a year ago the drug cartels in Nuevo Laredo, right across the river via international bridge from where we're staying and the wedding will be held, were shooting random people, 'but not Americans.' And supposedly they're not doing that any more.

These are the cousins I went rafting with on the Arkansas River this past summer. The bride-to-be is on the left side grinning big. Her groom is the first one on the right side.




Today the bride sent out an email describing things to do in Laredo while we are there. These include a walking tour of the old downtown and kayaking on the Rio Grande. But then I looked at the website for the company that conducts the guided kayak tours on the Rio Grande.



Is it reassuring that they feature a picture of the Border Patrol? Not to me.

The kayaks themselves look pretty stable.



The way I left it was that if my cousin Cathy, who is my age, is going kayaking, I will too.


Here's the website in case you want to arrange a Rio Grande kayak trip:

Big River Outfitters