August 18, 2004
7:10 p.m.

So, now you guys get to hear about my rafting adventure. So, you know where the movie Deliverence was filmed? That is where I went rafting. I wasn't too worried, the first rapid wasn't too bad

Then, we get to a rapid called seven foot drop or something to that effect. Look how nicely we are paddling, all in unison, except for me, because my paddle is currently hitting a rock. We can't really see the drop from that vantage point

Oh, but we realize what a drop is was now.

We are all oblivious, but we almost lost our guide. If you look closely, you will see the only thing keeping him in the boat is his toe which is wrapped in the rope holding the little orange bag. He was out so far because he was trying to keep the boat balanced from tipping. He claims he meant to do it...I'm not so sure.

So, we continued along, going through a couple of rough rapids. Then, we come to one rapid, strong class four or weak class five. The plan was to go through it, and pull over to the side, because the rapid directly after it was really bad because of the water level, so we deffinately didn't want to take it. Well, as we were coming to the end of the rapid, this happened.

You can see Ellyn is bumping into me, which almost pushed me out of the boat. I remember my head coming above water, and seeing the other side of the boat hanging over me, and thinking, 'Hmm, this isn't right.' I was really straining to stay in, because I really didn't want to go down a class four rapid on my ass. I was quite comfy in the boat. We did lose Michelle though, the one in front of me. You can see the guide and Dianna both looking back to see Michelle floating at the very back of the picture.

I lost my paddle and looming ahead is the rapid we aren't supposed to go on. Our guide is yelling at us to paddle toward the bank, but I have no paddle, Ellyn and Dr. C are both stuck in the bottom of the boat, so there are only two paddle and a very strong current. Also, if you notice, the raft is quite full of water, not really a good sign. Our guide was even starting to sound a bit panicked when one of the guides on shore threw a rope to us. I grabbed onto that rope and held on for dear life, and they pulled us to the bank. It scared the crap out of me. We still had fun, even Michelle. After almost getting dumped, the rapids after this one were nothing. Ellyn fell out on a class three. We aren't really sure what happened, it was a dinky little rapid, but one minute she was there, and the next she was floating down stream. I don't think she will go again. I'll go again, but I would rather go back to where we went last year. The rapids were tough, but not this tough, and there was more time to relax and enjoy the scenery. It was a blast though, what can I say, I love an adventure :)

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