White Water Rafting

I am going to repost this again at a later date when I can get pictures to post.

What an awsome weekend! Much different than anticipated and not at all what I had planned for...but awsome nonetheless. My original plan was to head down with the girls and hang out while they went rafting. I brought all my food, because their food was included in the trip. I also packed my scrapbooking stuff and a couple of good magazines. I was really looking forward to just relaxing with no responsibilites all day Saturday. They would get back from rafting around 1:00 and sleep for a couple of hours, come back and sleep and then everyone would be ready to have a good time that night. Here is what really happened.

ROADTRIP

We finally decided who was riding with who and when we would leave on the morning we left. There were 8 of us that headed out from MI and one that joined us from Lousiana. Brandi met me in Ann Arbor and we carpooled down from there. The rest headed out from the Detroit area. We all ended up leaving around the same time even though one car was planning on leaving around noon. That's just the way this trip went. Brandi and I made it down to West Virginia without a hitch. (It wasn't until after we arrived that we found out there was a much easier and faster way to get there, but it made for a good road trip) That is until we got to Hwy 19. We were only supposed to be on that road for 17.5 miles. However we were talking and Brandi apparently needs glasses to see in the dark (something I didn't fing out until we had missed the signs twice). And we spent 2 hours on Hwy 19, back and forth. Stopping and asking directions. Now to our credit, the fog was so thick we couldn't tell we were on a 1/4 mile long bridge (it wasn't until the next day in the day light did I realize we had driven over it 4 times). At any rate...we finally stopped and bought a map. We set the trip meter and we didn't talk. When we finally saw the signs we couldn't believe we had missed the signs so many times. But we made it and pulled it around 1:00am.

SETING UP CAMP

We arrived about the same time as one of the other cars. They were just setting up their tent when we got there, and we quickly followed suit. About an hour or so after we arrived, the 3rd car arrived. Half way through our trip down we got a call from Tierney (the one flying in from Louisiana), telling us that she was stuck on the runway and wasn't going to make her connecting flight. She only had two options...fly to Columbus when she finally got into Atlanta and drive down from Columbus or drive from Atlanta. She chose the latter and pulled in just in time to get her wet suit on and board the bus for the rafting trip...she wins for the most extreme roadtrip!

Once we got our tents set up a couple of guys were walked around and offered us some wood;) and got our campfire going. What nice guys! But the best part of them stopping buy was the fact that we got to talking and found out that they had a spot on their raft. One of their guys didn't show up and the spot was already paid for. They said that I was more than welcome to fill the spot if I really wanted to go. I really debated going because I was all set to rest and relax on Saturday...but how could I really pass up this opportunity, I mean it was free and all. So they went back to their camp and we waited up for T...well we tried to, but by 4:00am we couldn't hold out any longer. So we all turned in for what would be a whole hour of sleep.

TODAY WE RAFT

At 5:00am my phone started ringing, only I wasn't cooherent enough to figure out what was going on. Brandi handed me the phone, only I thought it was just my alarm going off. Nope it was Tierney trying to figure where she was. She called Beth and I heard them talking. Once I woke up enough to figure out what was going on, I got on the phone and guided her in (we had just spent 2 hours on the road that she was now on, so we were experts at figuring out where she was:)

At 6:30am Tierney arrived...just in time to put her wet suit on and join the rest of the gang to head out on their white water rafting expedition. What a crazy chica!! Or should I say "Extreme Chica" She definatley earned the bragging rights...but definitely deserve a pat on the back for trying to stay awake for her;) hehehe We tried! As soon as she arrived I was off to pump and figure out where these guys that had offered me a spot on their raft were. I walked around the "campground" (actually it was just a big field where everyone pulled in and set up camp...great set up actually). I knew the general direction they were in, but it was pitch black out when they came by the night before...so I just started asking if there was a Tim or an Allen with their group. Eventually I found the right camp site. I think they were a bit shocked when I came by. But it didn't take them long to all warm up to the idea and were welcoming me into their little group. There were 6 guys. I know, how crazy is that. I come to West Virginia with 8 girls and end up rafting with a bunch of guys. It was a ton of fun though!

We sign in, get our wet suits and get ready to board the bus to begin our rafting excursion. It began with a guy video taping us as we walked single file down the sidewalk to the shack where we got our equipment. I didn't know what else to do, so I did the "SuperStar" pose. And it made me famous...well kind of. It got me a spot on the DVD that they sold after the trip. I was the opening credits for our trip down the Gauley. To funny actually. If I ever figure out how to post movies...I will definitely have to post it. It was awsome.

RAFTING ON THE GAULEY RIVER

We deboard the bus and make our way to our raft with our guide, LJ (who was very cute, but who isn't attractive when they are holding your life in their hands for 6 hours). (Tracy if you happen to read this you will get a good laugh at his name). All 7 guys and myself climb aboard our raft and we head off down the river. The rush began while going over the first rapid "Insignificant". I don't remember the names of all the rapids, but this one I couldn't forget because it was the only rapids where anything bad happened. We must have hit it at a bad angle because our raft guide got bucked up and landed in the middle of the raft. He ended up with a pretty nasty looking cut on his knee and he landed on my hand. My first instinct was that it was broken...but thank goodness it was only bruised and not a very bad bruise at that. LJ's cut didn't turn out to be to bad either, thank goodness. The rest of the rapids (The Box, Hawaii 5-o, Fuzzy box of Kittens, Pillow Rock, etc) were pretty uneventful, but not without the adrenaline rush that keeps you coming back. I did fall out on the last two rapids, but they were the ones that the rafting guides were trying to dump us on. All in all an awsome ride and I can't wait to come back next year. If you want an account of the other girls trip you can go to http://parksnrec.blogspot.com/ to get Kari's account of the weekend.

When we got back we showered and all gathered around to watch the movie of our trip. (Side bar; LJ's 4 year old sun was running around while we were watching the video and got stung by a bee. Poor little guy! But this little boy has already gone rafting and jumped off a 25 ft rock. I couldn't believe it. Crazy stuff!) It was a great way to end the rafting trip...watching everything in slow motion on the big screen!!!

Later on that night we reconviened at the bar that is located right on the premises. What a great set up. Everyone can get together and have a drink and no one has to worry about driving anywhere. Our plan was to go up to the bar to have a couple of drinks and then head back for a bon fire and s'mores. The group I rafted with all headed up to the bar shortly after we did and we ended up staying up there all night. We had such a great time! And by the end of the evening the two groups had melded into one. What a great time!!!

I ended up crashing at midnight. I knew I would have to drive the next day and I couldn't hold my eyes open anymore. The rest of the gang had more energy than I and came back much later and stayed up for a campfire. I never heard them come back (except when Tierney climbed into bed, she almost got mauled by me, because I didn't know what was going on. I had ear plugs in and a mask over my eyes...it was a very strange feeling). Other than that I slept like a baby all night!!

HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN

Trip home was relatively uneventful, except for the constant grinding of my brake pads on medal. On our way down I started hearing the tell tale sign of the brake pads wearing through (well I didn't recognize it as a tell tale sign...I was pretty sure but not positive). I took it in to town on Saturday, but everyone was closed and couldn't do anything about it. So I risked the trip home. Unfortunatley a trip that was going to be relatively unexpensive, turned into a very expensive trip. Because I couldn't get them fixed down in WV, I had to drive the whole way back and it destroyed the rotors. But it was an awsome trip and I am not sure I wouldn't have done it again even knowing. Such is life!

When I got home I walked into the living room and Josiah turned around, saw me and started to smile really big. Then he started to dance and giggle. I think he was pretty excited to see me. Either that, or he was glad that the "boobs" had returned:) The boys had a good weekend and I was glad to be back home with them both!! I had missed them:)

I can't wait for next year!!! What an experience!!