Crazy Lawsuit Game

This post is dedicated to E-Lo and the fuzzball living inside her. Apparently it's hot up in PA. It's hot here too and that won't change until roughly late October. It was hot until December last year. Global warming and all.

I went rafting on the Nantahala River in North Carolina. It's in the mountains so it was nice and cool all day. That and the water is damn cold, so the hot sun really balanced it all out.

Hey look! That isn't me!


It's a nice easy beginner river in the Nantahala Gorge. There are a couple Class II and the ending rapid is a Class III-V, depending on how high the river is which depends on how high the guy at the dam wants it to be. Wed. I would say it was a III. A few friends of mine are trying to get a rafting trip together to go do the Chatooga which is a much more intensive river from what I hear, so I really hope that comes together.

I didn't decide to go until Wed. morning when I saw a couple of friends of mine (also grad students) were going. So they talked me into it and said that I would drive so the group could go ahead and leave without us. I was fairly certain I could catch up to a Geo Prism, Mercury Grand Marquis, Jeep Cherokee, and 6 15 passenger vans. There were around 60 or so people going. We caught up, followed them for a while, then stopped at Chick-Fil-A for some new chicken minis. Tasty. I had 4 for $2.56. They're basically a small dinner roll with a chicken nugget in it. Yum. Then left and caught up to them again. Then passed them when they pulled over for everyone else to catch up. We had directions so I was confident that 3 grad students could figure out where to go. And the directions were fairly detailed.

But there was a packed dirt road that we were on for a few miles and we passed a suspension bridge that crossed the Little Tennessee River, and since we were ahead of them, we had time to kill. So we got out and went bouncing on the bridge. I forgot how much fun those things were if you can avoid picturing the final scene of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I don't think April would've enjoyed it. She is a little bridgephobic. So we screwed around and finally they showed up and then we followed them to the Nantahala Outdoor Center where we got set up with the necessary gear(life jacket and paddle) and watched the instructional video. Basically about what to do if you fell out or if someone in your boat fell out. (Float facing downstream on your back with your feet at the surface) Then we all hopped onto the bus which shuttled us upstream to the put-in point. I was a "guide" which meant that I had been before but I got the cushy job of steering the raft and sitting in the back. I did paddle but mostly I was just worried about keeping the boat pointed the right way.

We had 5 in my boat, max of 6 I think, and were off. The raft had holes all along the edge of the floor so your feet were going to get wet. It was chilly but I forgot my flip flops so I wore my socks and shoes, which I think was a better idea. I'm sure my feet would've been very chilly otherwise.

We paddled downstream some. Got stuck on several rocks. Had a water fight with another boat. And then we stopped midway for lunch, provided by us and not the rafting company. Swarm of locusts is an excellent metaphor for what occurred that day. It was just sandwich stuff, Wal-Mart white and wheat bread, honey ham, shaved processed chicken breast, Oscar Mayer smoked turkey, Pimento cheese, cottage cheese(I know, I said WTF too) bags of lettuce, 4 or 5 tomatoes, mayo, mustard, chips, pretzels, apricots, plums, vanilla oreos(I guess that's what they were, oreos are chocolate!), real oreos and some Chips Ahoy.

It was all eaten except for about half a loaf of bread, some lettuce, and 2 cookies. Locusts. And we had drinks too. We even had a six pack of Bud Select which was awful. I don't like many domestic mass market beers and this is one of the many. If I'm gonna drink that crap, the cheaper the better. PBR, Schlitz, or High Life for me.

I'm tired of typing, so this is to be continued.....

I'll pick up the story when we get back in the river, probably on Monday or maybe this weekend. And my Blogday is July 13th. I looked yesterday. I will accept presents but don't expect them.

Update: I also updated my sidebar a little bit. The picture of the woman is a drag racer down in Georgia who found my blog when I put up that post about Danica Patrick, and I added some car links at the bottom. And I added that John is an ex-reality show writer who is expecting in Oct., so a little before Preggy-Lo and Catt. (I think that's right)