A Rafting Adventure

This weekend, I went to Boise with Husband again, for the river rafting. Since this is my third year of going, and rafting, I feel ok by now. I know what’s going on, I know how to do it, I’m ok with it. I’m no longer as scared of it as I was. We get there late Thursday night, and then went rafting Friday. After we went down the river in the rafts, I was feeling pretty adventurous, so when they asked if I wanted to go down in a beetle bug/inflatable kayak, I was like, heck yes, lets do this! And then I got in the water, and I was nervous, but I did it!

Look how jazzed I am at living through the rapids, so jazzed.

So then, we get done Friday, and I have a little sunburn, but not too bad. Then we got out Saturday. And Saturday is when rafting changed. *cue the dramatic music*

The reason we went to Boise this time is because Husband’s friend asked him to guide some rafts down the river. For the friend’s work, (a hospital) they took all the personnel out for a day of rafting. It was different people every day, so it was a whole new group this day. We had 4 people plus Husband in the raft, so 5 total. We got going, and in the 3rd rapid of the Payette, called “Go Left or You’re Fired” (The PC version) and this rapid is a class 3 rapid, it’s the worst rapid of this river. I tell you this to let you know what we’re going into.

Off we go, the 5 of us. Myself, two adult Iron Man athletes Jeff and Patrick, and a 13 year old skinny boy, Ian. We approach the rapid, and he’s telling us to paddle hard, and we are. Husband gets us to the rapid, and we’re going for it. Then, he took us a little bit too far to the right. We hit a hole there, and our boat flips. Now what I know is pieced from my memory and the stories of the boats around us. We hit the hole, and our boat flipped backwards. But before it flipped there, it went straight up in the air, totally airborne. Then, it came backwards. All I remember is, Husband yelling at us to paddle hard, and then all of a sudden, the raft was coming towards my face, and then, I hit the water, on my back. They tell us, if you should fall in the water, do the defensive swim. which is, you get on your back, put your feet straight in front of you, toes pointing up so you can see them. Well, I’m going to tell you something. When you get in the water, and you’re dumped in, your body panics right away, and you don’t do any swim. You just try to stay above water, which you’re not really doing, because it’s shoving you down.

So there I am. In the water, in the rocks, being pulled down by the rapids, and shoved back up. There’s not enough time between going under and being above to get a breath, and I can’t swim, and water terrifies me, so basically this is TERROR to me. I am terrified. Right now, as I’m writing this story, a while later, my chest is seizing in terror about the whole thing. So then, finally, the rapids shoot me out, and I’m heading down the river, fast. Jeff from my boat, is yelling at me as he’s next to me. He’s the only person I can see or hear, and he’s telling me what to do, and I’m not listening, because my panic is the only thing I can hear. So then, I listen to him, and I do the defensive swim, which keeps my head above water, but just barely. I’m getting water in my face, and Jeff is telling me I’m doing ok, and I’m ok, and I’m alive. So then, I see one of our people’s boats ahead of me, and all I can think is, get there. So I float over there, and then, I see our raft. The guide of this boat pulls me into their raft, and I’m just laying on the floor there, trying to catch my breath, but I can’t, and I’m shaking, and I’m terrified. Then, they get our raft, and they get it right side up, and luckily, they’ve managed to get all of our oars.

So then, I see Husband in the water, and he’s swimming to the raft, and the other guys are all in the water I can see them. We get Husband in his raft, but I wasn’t ready to get in there yet, so I stayed in the other boat. They get Jeff in the boat, and have to get Patrick and Ian in to the boat, and they’re near the shore, so thankfully, we all get back in there. As they’re getting everyone back in the boat, and I’m still in the other one, I finally lose it. I’m shaking, and I just start crying (NOBODY GETS TO JUDGE ME THIS IS MY GREATEST FEAR ALIVE) and then finally, I calm down. Our raft makes it back over, and I climb back over. There were no more adventures on the way down, and every time we got to a rapid, we all got really quiet and nervous. We all looked over our bodies when we got back in the boat, and we were beat up. I have scrapes and bruises down my left arm, I’m thinking when I hit a rock coming out of the boat. And then both of my knees have bruises and scrapes, my ankles have scrapes. There were a lot of rocks there, so I made it. And sadly, I lose the sunglasses I was wearing, and my chapstick came out of my swimsuit. But I’m alive, and we all made it. I’m sure I’ll make my way down the river again, but for right now, I’m content to stay out.

This is us after we finished the whole river. We made it!