Adventures Abound

When last we met, I was embarking upon a kayaking trip on the mighty Rio Grande. Sister Dee and her beloved Carlos rented an inflatable “funyak” to carry them down the river beside our yellow kayak, formerly the property of the most generous Paul and Cynthia Finney.

Spirits were high after Jim gave Dee and Carlos a mini lesson on kayaking. Dee had chosen a part of the river that had only a few small areas of rapids...not the much more formidable part of the river known as the “racetrack.” So off we went...down the Rio Grande gorge in beautiful northern New Mexico. All seemed to be fine. It was a beautiful day, the water was moving but not overly swiftly...all was well....until....dun dun dunt dun (what?)

We came upon a part of the river where there were some real rapids. Dee and Carlos headed into them first. They turned sideways, but righted themselves and made it through. Now it was our turn. A guide at the rental place had said to stay left...so we tried. But, alas, the kayak “wedged” and started filling with water. The cooler and the beach towels floated up and out and...away.

Jim told me to get behind him but first I asked for and put on one of the life jackets we carried in the boat. The water was shallow but moving swiftly and the rock population was abundant and varied. He told me to sit on a big rock right at the end of the kayak, so I did. He tried to free the boat, but it didn't seem to be budging. I was sitting there doing nothing. I'm not sure why I was so passive because it's not usually my way but I think mostly it was because I WAS SCARED S***LESS. I wasn't afraid that I would die, really, but just that I or Jim would break a leg or get a big bloody abrasion. I tried hard to stay calm and focused on my breathing.

Soon, a man who we had talked to right before entering the rapids made his way across the river and started helping to bale water out of the boat. He and Jim managed to get enough water out of it to get it unstuck and moving again. He took it around to the lower part of the rapids while we tried to figure out what we were going to do to get ourselves out. I saw no choice but to body surf. A couple of rafts loaded with people came by about that time and our helper tried to get them over to rescue me, but they couldn't navigate to me. I was glad because the rafts were full and there were little children on board. The rafts went on by and Jim took off first through the rapids and I followed. I just held on to that life vest and hoped for the best. I was fine. The kayak had been beached on the nearby bank but the water took us well past where it was. I held on to one of the rafts and they pulled me mostly to shore. A tiny little girl on the boat looked at me with the biggest, scaredest eyes. I wonder if she thought I was going to die. Jim askedme later  if I had smiled at her, but I think I was too scared myself to do so.

After I got to the bank, I waited while Jim went back for the kayak. Dee and Carlos were waiting downstream. She said she had started getting worried when we finally showed up. It seemed like a long time had passed, but I don't really know how long it took.

We did lose the beach towels, but Dee and Carlos snagged the cooler while it floated by (though all the water bottles were gone) and we lost some sun block but later acquired a different tube that passed by...perhaps lost by another wet but grateful river rat in training?

My takeaway from it all was Jim and that helper guy (who worked for a rafting company, we later learned) were my heroes and all you can really do is

GO WITH THE FLOW.

I'm very grateful that neither of us was hurt, that the boat was fine (actually a lot cleaner now than it had been) and that in the end, we all had a great time and a terrific memory.

We did go for a nice dinner at Rancho de Chimayo last night and today we had another smaller adventure when we took a road the GPS lady recommended that was mostly dirt and very steep and twisty for a few miles...when there was a better alternative. 

The view from the scary road was "gorge"ous!

But the casita did great...Jim said it didn't seem like he was even pulling a trailer.

Little tortuga casita crosses the Continental Divide.

So we arrived in Colorado and are now nestled in very cool Crested Butte right next to another casita and looking forward to a week here.

Sorry this was so long and thanks for looking.