|
|
The Trip of a
Lifetime
By Delbert Blickenstaff, M.D.
When I first started talking about going on a whitewater rafting trip
to celebrate my 90th. birthday, I got a wide range of reactions. Some
people said “Are you crazy?” Others said “That sounds exciting!” I
invited members of my immediate family to go along, and in the end 8 of
them accepted the invitation. Louise stayed home.
On July 4th. I drove to Lebanon, OH, to pick up Gunnar and Catarina,
friends from Sweden, who were visiting Tim and Lois. Gunnar had been an
exchange student who lived with us in Versailles 44 years ago, and we
have kept in touch over the years.
Then I drove to Cincinnati where we met our son Jon and his wife Angie.
Jon drove the five of us to West Virginia to go rafting on the New
river. We had studied the brochures and elected to raft on the upper
(tame) part of the river.
When we arrived at River Expeditions headquarters, near Fayetteville,
we went straight to the cabin that I had rented. It looked new and had
a nice kitchen and bathroom on the ground level, and 3 beds upstairs.
Jon had rented another cabin that had beds only. All 9 of us found
comfortable places to sleep and we ate together using the gas grill and
picnic table that came with the first cabin.
On July 5th we met 10 other people (2 families) who were in our big
rafting group. Our party of 9 included us 5 plus Theron, John David,
Sarah, and Steve. After being fitted with life jackets and helmets, all
of us were packed into an old school bus and transported to the river.
We nine rafters were loaded on a big raft along with our guide. He was
a college student who organized our party by putting 3 rowers on each
side the other 3 in the middle. (I rode in the middle.) The guide had
the front 2 rowers set the pace and to row only when he told them to.
There was lots of smooth water, which flows north, we spent most of the
6 hours enjoying the beautiful scenery and the perfect weather. When we
did come to rapids our guide steered the raft through them, giving
instructions to the rowers. We didn’t capsize once, however we did see
one of the smaller 2-person rafts turn over. Everyone survived.
The most exciting part of the trip was the “Jumping Rock,” a huge rock
formation which extended at least 15 ft. above the surface of the
water. Our big raft and all the little rafts stopped to allow anyone
who wished to have an opportunity to climb up and jump off into the
deep water. There was an 8-year old girl who jumped off 5 times. Each
one in our party except Angie jumped at least once. I set a new record
by being the oldest person to jump off the rock. Our guide did a back
flip off the rock.
Then we stopped for lunch on a sandy beach with some shade. One young
man on the crew had brought all the food in his boat and they set the
picnic lunch up on an overturned raft. We all ate our fill and rested
up for the rest of the trip.
By the time we got back to our cabins I was exhausted, but happy. I
crashed on the sofa for at least an hour. But I woke up in time to
enjoy a great hamburger that Steve had grilled. We called Louise to
assure her that all of us had survived and were in good shape. I had no
trouble sleeping that night and was ready to start home the following
morning.
Our drive home was uneventful with Jon and Angie driving to Cincinnati,
and then I drove the rest of the way home. I don’t know what I’ll do
for my 91st. birthday, but it won’t be whitewater rafting. Once was
enough.
Delbert Blickenstaff
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
