Water Water Everywhere

WARNING: THIS MAY BE A LONNNNNG POST
I realize it's been quite a while since I posted. For a quick update; Casey started school last week. I've been training to work in a different part of the business, I have crossed several more things off my 101 list (even if nearly killed me!), and I swim with team old.

Some of those things are pretty self explanatory. I mean school and work are pretty boring at this point. I start my phlebotomy course on Wednesday the 5 so that's exciting but really right now there isn't much to talk about. Casey will be so busy this semester he will just have to introduce himself to me come January I think. But anyway, I have a couple of fun water stories that I just wish I had visual aids for. :( I will do my best anyway.

I have a strange fear not of water but what is IN the water below me that I cannot see. So when our company had a white water rafting trip in August I thought, that is terrifying! Rocks, creatures, who knows what are in the river! But my husband convinced me to go and maybe face my fear a little bit. I said sure but as long as I stayed IN the raft. No swimming for me thank you very much. I will save that fun for the pool. (That story is for another post.) Well we go and the guide is this fun guy who I make aware of my fear early on. He was very kind about it and said not to worry he would take good care of me, and that he hadn't lost anyone out of his boat yet................................ Famous last words. Duh nu nuuuuuuu!


Okay, NO this wasn't our raft. I don't even know who these people are, I found the image on the internet. lol
And this didn't happen to our group.

So the front of the raft (for those who have never had the opportunity to enjoy this type of outing) is called "the bull." On some trips while your are going through a rapid a daring individual can "ride the bull" which means to sit on it and hold tight to a rope and brave the crashing water in front of you. Sounds like a jolly good time right? Well I seemed to think, ya know, I AM going to face my fear of falling in the river and by gum, I'm going to rock "riding the bull!" At this point in the story you may think to yourself, now Heather....you're stupid. And that's okay. I am.

I looked at our guide and asked what are the odds I fly off? He laughed and said, "hold on tight, I'll do the rest!" So heartened by the cheers and pride of my group I went and sat on the bull. I wrapped myself tight on the rope and waited, doing my best to not chicken out. The rapid we were going through is called Time Zone and it's a class 3. There are 5 classes of rapids I think and you have to be a pro to go on a 5. The highest we went on in this trip was a 4. As we approached the rapid I was ready and yelled wahoo even, and BAM the water crashed over me. But I stayed on the boat. I was so excited I thought, "MAN I CAN DO THIS!" I even did a fist pump in the air then went back to my tight grip. Then we did a bumpy bump thing over some smaller parts and a big one was coming up. All of the sudden my tight grip didn't even seem to matter. The wave hit me full force on my right side and all I knew was I was flying through the air into the scary water with rocks, and creatures, and who knows what in it! I heard my brother in law Perry yelling, "POINT YOUR FEET DOWN RIVER AND KEEP YOUR HEAD UP!", and I did my best. My natural instinct was to fight to swim. Water was crashing over me everywhere. I was terrified honestly. I didn't know where the rocks were, I couldn't catch my breath because every time I opened my mouth to get air, water covered me again. I was praying in my heart so hard that I would make it out without any injuries. It couldn't have lasted more than a minute but it felt like forever. Finally I was beyond the rapid and just floating. I made the mistake of looking around me and I could tell I was in a very deep part of the river and I couldn't see very far down. But I was to exhausted to panic. The raft pulled up by me and they pulled me in with one tug. (That made me feel good actually because that means I'm not to heavy to save lol) After catching my breath and resting for a moment the guide asked if I was okay. I made eye contact with Casey briefly and I could tell he knew I was about to burst into panicked tears, so I pulled myself up and said, "Yep, but I think I swallowed a fish!" Everyone laughed and let out a puff of air in relief. Afterwards Casey patted my leg and asked quietly if I was really okay, and I assured him I would be, I just needed some time. The guide appologized over and over. It seems that we were on course just fine and I would have stayed on the bull with no problem but suddenly his hat was flying off. In the split second it took for him to grab his hat and toss it down to where it wouldn't land in the water our raft turned sideways. When you go through rapids you have to hit them head on or people can fly off or the raft can get tipped over. So THAT'S why I had my little swimming moment! It wasn't my fault! Although I am naturally uncoordinated and very clumsy I wouldn't have stayed on just fine. Ack!
But the story doesn't end here...... A little ways down the river after a few more class 3 rapids the guide asked if I would like to try to ride the bull again. I looked at him like a cow looks at an oncoming train... HUH?! He told me, "I have the perfect rapid for you. It's mellow. Only a class 2. I don't even wear my hat this time so you don't have to worry about flying off." I was reluctant if you can imagine..... But then he said something else. "Heather, have you ever ridden a horse?" Well yeah. "Have you ever been thrown off?" Dang that was a good line! (Although when I think about it now, getting thrown off a horse at the fair grounds is VERY much different than in the middle of a white rapid!) He then told me that he didn't want my rafting experience to be marred by a mishap. He wanted me to try to "get back on the horse" so to speak. But only if I wanted to.... So I did. I rode the bull a second time and although that water threw me into the raft I held on for dear life and made it through still in the boat. By golly I did!

I still have mixed thoughts and emotions about going again. On the one hand it was very fun but on the other it was terrifying. I had nightmares for quite a few nights afterwards. But who knows? Maybe. I don't always make good choices. lol
Love,
Heather
P.S. if you are interested in seeing my adventure first hand go to this website:
www.salmonriverphotos.com
click on rafting the salmon river 2012 and scroll down until you see Idaho Guide Service. Then click on the date Aug 17 and there is a visual account of my adventure.And don't feel bad if you laugh.... It's kind of hysterical.