Getting on the River

The night before the river trip we camped along side the railroad tracks. And yes a train did go by in the middle of the night with its blinding lights headed in our direction. I incorporated this train into a dream/ in between dream state and for a moment I truly though we were going to get hit by a train! But it stayed on it's tracks as trains usually do so we were safe. But cars on the other hand are not on a track and our tent with us in it nearly got run over by a car. As far as we can figure the car was filled with another family about to go on a river trip as well. As they pulled in to the camping area late at night they drove straight for us. I sat up and hit the tent hoping to cause some change in the shadows so they would realize the object behind them. I don't know if it was my shaking the tent or the driver finally paying attention but they hit the brakes and after a string of profanity they backed up and we watched as they drove down the road. I do not know if they were on the trip with us butu no one admitted to nearly running us over. Other than the locomotive disturbances we slept okay and had to wake up with the sun in time for breakfast and introductions. Luckily we were camped near the river guides so we heard the hustle and bustle of their preperations and we were able to wake up in plenty of time to pack our things. They had an impressive breakfast buffet set out and the river trippers slowly made there way to the table. We each made a duct tape name tag - which was a good idea in theory but in reality the sharpie and the duct tape did not mix well and I had Rebekah written backwards and upside down numerous times on my leg and my luggage bag. Soon I was wearing a blank piece of duct tape on my shirt - who knows maybe that will be the new fashion. So we did not easily know any ones names but everyone was nice enough that we soon learned most names and everyone was so nice that knowing names was not required. Over coffee we met our guides. The leader, Alan, and his trusty sidekick Dean. There was also another gentleman who is a guide in training and he began with the name Super Dave. Sadly on the second day of the trip I jokingly called him Slave Dave because he was put to work cooking and cleaning, etc. The name seams to have stuck because the guides were calling him Slave Dave for the rest of the trip. Dave is pretty awesome regardless of the adjective before his name. Sorry for taking away the Super! We discovered our group consisted of three families with children and the rest were couples. It was a healthy mix of ages and personalities. The first couple we talked with quickly became our buddies for the remaider of the trip. The husband asked if it was july 17th and my response was "whoa you must be retired because no one with a job is that for off with the date." He and his wife giggled and they were both retired so they admitted they have little to no need for knowing the date. At least they were here on the correct week. I guess I opened up the gates for them to pick on me and they were more than happy to rise to the challenge. Naturally this made them the "fun" couple so during meals we tried to move our chairs close to theirs. Maggie was her name and I am sad to say I did not catch his name - as I said names were not necessary. She was a retired elementary school teacher so you can imagine how much fun she is and he is just a goof ball! Anyway - we packed all of the things we were taking into dry bags and dry boxes and shuttled the car to the "secure" site near the river take out. After a brief on land canoe paddle lesson where we looked silly all in our life jackets standing in a circle moving our pretend boats by paddling in imaginary water. We stretched and got an idea for the basic strokes and then in we went. Everything was tied down to our individual canoes and with helpful shoves from the guys and fellow trippers we were each with all of our gear headed down the river. For the majority of this trip my Camera was securely in a Pelican Box so there are limited pictures.