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Published: August 9th 2009
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August 4th Moab, UT
WHITEWATER RAFTING!
We got up early in Green River, UT and called to make reservations for a whitewater rafting trip. We figured since it was the middle of the week we would have no problem being able to book a trip. Geez, were we wrong! We wanted to do the combined whitewater/horseback riding trip but that wasn't available. We were however able to get the last two spots on the 11am trip down the Colorado River. So we made our way to Moab.
Moab is a completete outdoor adventure town and lays claim to be the mountain bike capital of the world. Everywhere you looked you saw outfitters for whitewater rafting,jeeps, hummer rides, horseback riding, climbing. You name it they have it! What a cool town. It's just ful of cool people doing awesome outdoor stuff! We managed to get a space at the RV park right in town so that was great.
We all boarded a bus to get to the area of the river where the rafting started. There must have been 40 people on that bus. Hot and dusty and crammed all together. We were wondering how the raft ride
was going to be.
It turned out great. We got to the river and they split us into different rafts. We got in a raft with an Italian couple, a French family of 4 and a dad and his 14 year old son from Philadelphia. Our guides name was Melaina. She is a college student studying zoology who works as a river guide during the summer. She was great. We decided we had the United Nations raft!
The trip started gently enough. We hit a few ripples but mostly floated and paddled down the river. A few people got out to swim beside the raft as we moved along. The scenery was beautiful. The river runs right down between the huge red cliffs that we have seen so much of in Utah.
We stopped at a resort ranch for what we thought was going to be a little lunch on the side of the river. It was a feast! This turned out to be the only rafting company that stops at that resort for lunch. We had hamburgers with all the fixings, BBQ chicken, potato salad, macaroni salad, 2 kinds of chili, drinks and huge cookies for
desert. It was delicious. We could hardly zip our life jackets back up to get back on the raft.
Once we loaded back on the raft the guide asked us if we had all gotten the safety talk about what to do if you fell out and we said no. Good thing I listened. Our first set of big rapids was White's Rapids. We all got ready to row and get thru it. We hit it pretty hard, the raft turned sideways and we went up and then we went down. And when we came down.....you guessed it...... I went bouncing and flying out. I screamed as I went over head first. The rest of the raft was in quite a turmoil apparently(I've only heard since I wasn't in it!). Half the people in the back of the boat went crashing into the middle of it followed by the guide who fell on top of them. She scrambled back up. She was telling the people on the left side of the boat to back paddle. She knew she had lost someone overboard but didn't know who it was. Phil was heard making the comment "There goes the wife!"
In the mean time I was never so glad in my life to have a life jacket on. I managed to grab my sunglasses as I was going over. I had them in one hand and my oar in the other as they had told us to hold onto the oar if we went overboard. I knew i wasn't in any immenent danger so I tried to lay back and take the rapids the best I could. I did mange to take in a few gallons(ok-mouthfuls, but it felt like gallons) of lovely Colorado River water. I couldn't see very well from the water hitting me in the face and messing my contacts up. I did turn around to see where the raft was and my WVU baseball cap was coming down the river right along with me just behind my head so I grabbed it! I went feet first as best I could and hung on for the ride!
The raft followed me down the river. I know it wasn't a long way but it felt like it. My new best friend Ricardo from Italy leaned over the raft and hauled me back in! As I was laying
on the floor of the raft everyone was amazed that I had my paddle, sunglasses, and hat all in my hands! What a rush. I told everyone they missed the best part of the ride. Of course I took some international ribbing for the rest of the trip.
We finished the rest of the day off with a few more rapids(which I handled a little better). There was a photographer up on the cliff taking pictures which was good since we couldn't bring our camera with us. We also got to get out of the raft and float down the river in our life jackets. It was such a peaceful time even though there were other rafts on the river. We hated to see the trip end. When we got to our final destination the bus picked us up and took us back to town.
After a short rest ( I took a cat nap and Phil went running) we got on the scooter and went to check out the town. We hit a few watering holes and had something to eat and then back to the RV for the night. Our plan is to have a few days off intense driving to head to Brewton, AL where Phil's dad grew up to visit the relatives. After that we may hit Penscaola to see the Gulf of Mexico and then we hope to be able to stop by Charleston, SC on the way home to see Scott & Tara's new house.
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