Whitewater Rafting

On Thursday, Dan and I had the privilege to go rafting with a couple of our college kids and a senior. We headed to the Ocoee River in Tennesee. It is full of class III and IV rapids. Dan and I have taken our teens rafting numerous times, but it was on the Nantahalia which doesn't pack quite the same excitement. I think we were all ready to get wet and have some fun. Our guide was awesome. We had just started out on the river, and all of the sudden he landed right beside me in the boat as we went through a few little dips. He scared me because it was so unexpected. He jumped like that through most of the rapids. If you look at the pic this guide (while not ours) is doing the same thing. Notice the kid riding the front of the boat. Dan ( of course) as well as Megan and Nick all had to take their shots at the front. I think Dan is actually the only one that remained seated for the ride. Megan and Nick both fell back in the boat.

We had so much fun. Our guide managed to break his paddle in half. So he just used one of ours. On one of his wild jumps through the rapids, he mislanded. It bounced him out of the boat almost. He managed to grab my life vest strap and the side strap of the boat. As he tried to pull himself in, he was actually pulling me out. Thankfully, Megan turned just in the nick of time to save us both. It was quite the fun.

The best part was when our guide intentionally dumped us. We were approaching one of the last rapids, and he gave us the option of hitting it straight on or going through it sideways. We were up for the excitement. It was the ONLY rapid he said, IF you go out of the boat, don't worry. I think his statement got us all thinking. As we approached, he told us he would have us put all our paddles in the air so that no on got smacked. We got to the edge, he gave the command, and as my paddle was going up, I was going out along with Dan, Megan, Jessi, and NIck. I honestly thought the raft had turned over, but as we surfaced, there was our guide safely in the raft. As he approached us, he said, "Next time I tell you to lean right, lean right!" We all quickly informed him that he never gave us that command. He then laughingly stated that he had somehow forgotten. It was quite the experience floating through such a rapid. It was definitely an experience I would gladly do again today!

If you would like to actually see us going through the first rapid to get a real taste you can scoot on over to http://www.ocoeerafting.com/ and view pictures of Havard for the 1:30 trip on 7/17.