South Fork of the Payette River…

We had so much fun in Jackson that we needed to get away to another rafting adventure. Ryan and Kenzie invited us the next weekend to try the South Fork of the Payette River. We invited Devin and Brittany to join us on our car ride. Earlier that day Mike had driven back up to Afton to tow Lil’ Red home. We washed her and got her ready to sell. Fortunately for us, there is a group out there that loves Eclipses making it rather easy to sell. A man was going to come all the way up from Salt Lake and tow it home himself. We called Alex Thatcher, a fellow Aggie tennis player, to assist us in the transaction since we were going to be leaving for Idaho. On our drive, we found out our buyer unfortunately had some bad luck and his truck died in Brigham City. He had to hire a tow truck to take him home. However, to our benefit, Alex and his expecting wife liked our apartment so much they wanted to purchase it! Things were really working out for us.

We stopped in Boise for the night to rest up for the big river the following day. The next morning we woke up early, packed up, and drove the rest of the way to our big adventure. We dropped off our gear at a campground, changed into our swimsuits, and braved the river. It was the best river rafting I had EVER done. Unlike other rafting trips, this river has one rapid after the next. During one part of the river you have to pull out to avoid going down a mild waterfall. It gets a little intense at that spot to say the least. But even throughout, you always have to be on guard to make it to safety. We had such a good time the first time down that we had to try it again.

The first ride took about three hours and we made it through without spilling. We cannot say the same about the second ride. Yet, the second ride was much more enjoyable. We had two spills on our raft. Ryan and Kenzie’s raft was wondering what the heck was going on. The first spill sent half of the boat in the water, including Mike. I thought I was going to go in but realized I was safe. In my head I thought “I’m still on the boat!” Brittany, Devin’s girlfriend at the time, got stuck between the raft and a rock. I watched her as she closed her eyes and went under. Don’t worry, she wasn’t hurt. One girl started freaking out, first river trip, because her husband was in the water. She was yelling at Mike, “Get Him!” But Mike didn’t feel too bad because he would have been able to pull him in earlier, except she sent him after her flip flop. The next spill, however, I went in the water and knocked some others in with me. As you can see, it was a pretty crazy and fun ride!