Went tubing this weekend -- in the preparation dug up last year's recommendations to tubing newbies.

Sara (and Ben's) top 10 tooooobin' recommendations:

1. tons of sunscreen (suggested application is in the morning *before* putting on your bathing suit); liberally re-applied at the under-arm tubing hotspot (having your armpits burned is really the pits!)
2. lots of bottled water. drunk is fine; dehydrated is really tiring. alternating beer and water is a pretty good approach.
3. beef jerkey/turkey jerky/trail mix. When you start drinking at 10AM it's good to have something to put in your stomach.
4. breakfast tacos for breakfast. see #3.
5. get a tube with a bottom. really. ben might disagree with me, but trust me on this one.
6. water shoes of some sort.
7. a complete (dry) change of clothes for afterwards. most of the tubing places have showers.
8. suggested post-tubing activities: grist mill or rudy's in gruene; gruene hall for music & dancing if you want to make a day of it; and the san marcos outlet malls are on the way back.
9. if you go on a not-saturday, you can find coupons online for most of the tubing places. links to tube rental places: http://www.river-fun.com/
10. no glass or styrofoam on the river. you can rent coolers in tubes for your beer and ice.