Chapter 1: Arrival and Survival

Road trips are always a great way to enjoy miles upon miles upon miles of trees - then factories then more trees. We all piled in the Bruce van with all of our camping/personal belongings and hit the road for the Marietta, Ohio Best Western. THERE IS NOTHING IN OHIO. Well, save Cleveland and Cincinnati but otherwise it's pretty freakin' boring. We put our heads together and Ron created an ultimate mix CD with contributions from everyone in the car. We rocked out, we slept, we chatted, we visited many a TA (tits and ass!) station. Once catching about six hours of sleep, we're on the road again toward our rafting destination.

And it rained. And rained. And poured. We all were trying to be positive but there were many a grumble from everyone, and rightly so. Stupid rain! We arrived to meet Amber and Chris (YAYYYYYYYY!)and the gods were still super pissed. Jackie and Sarah went mud bogging, um, AV riding (I'll let them give you the details), while the rest of us went rock climbing. We were limited as to where we could climb, so we were taken to a beginner hill under a huge overhang so we were able to stay dry. Yeah, beginner my ass! Jeezy crezzy, it was so hard. I only got to about 10 feet - but Chris and Hutson switched on their spidey sense and made it all the way to the top. Our arms were shaking wehen we were finished. The wall was completely vertical and we had to grab onto cracks in the rock and place our feet on any natural outcropping we could find (no comfy handles or footholds). After that - repelling, the fun part. We all repelled off of a 150 foot cliff. I almost didn't make it. I was terrified, then thrilled, then terrified again! But with some gentle coaxing from Jason, one of our guides, I made to the ground. Silly city folk!

Our ride missed picking us up and we had to wait 45 minutes. Well, our guides weren't the least bit happy (we had all gotten friendly by the end of the day). We all knew we had an evening of tent and camp set-up in the pouring train; the grassy camp area was quickly becoming a marsh. Literally, it hadn't stopped raining since we arrive at the campground five hours earlier. Steve saved the day - he hooked us up with a free night's stay on their tent 'platforms,' tents that had already been set up and built into the side of a hill with a tin covering. We rented them for a second night and everything stayed dry. As we drove away from the reservation office, Steve told us to wait - he had another treat for us. He proceeded to hand us 24 drink tickets for the bar. A free night of drinking after hard day at the campsite - God Bless America! We set up camp (and finished off our first case of Miller Lite) and enjoyed a fine meal of grilled/iron baked cheese pizzas over an ambitious fire started and vigorously kept alive by Boy Scout Boylan. Bread, cheese and pizza sauce - carbaliously good. The mood was glum and shakey at bestt. This certainly was not the ideal trip we had imagined, but the bar was calling. A couple hours at the Red Dog Saloon with some 'new friends' (I'll let Emily and Jackie talk about that!) and we were drifting off to sleep on our air mattresses and sleeping bags. We had a long day ahead of us, and the rain was still going strong.

TOMORROW: We take on the river and entertain the masses at the Red Dog!