This was our last day on the river.

Somebody took a photo of me to show where my favorite seat on the raft was.

A couple of days before (on 2 of the few warm days we had) I rode in the very front (twice – once with John and once with Kathy) so I could experience getting really wet ( I did) and feel more of the excitement of the rapids.  It really was exciting.  The first time I was glad to have JJ right behind me so I could lean back on him. The second time the water hit my face really hard and I didn’t have glasses on my face.  I could feel the rush of the water, but I couldn’t open my eyes.  I loved being up there, but the water was too forceful to allow me to hold on with one hand so I didn’t get any photos.

I actually absolutely enjoyed riding up high in the back for the views. I also thought it was much more comfortable than sitting either in the front or on the bottom of the back.  Nobody else seemed to want this spot so I was very lucky.

It was my last day to photograph the rock formations.

I took several views of what I think was Diamond Peak.

There were still a few rapids in front of us and we did  get wet.

This may seem like too many photos, but I wanted to record as many memories as possible.

I needed a close-up of that one.

 

 

I think Ken was really enjoying this one.

Even though I was sitting up high, the water splashed the camera.  I am happy that I bought the waterproof camera – especially since my Lumix jammed a couple days ago – probably from the sand.

We stopped for our last chance to pee in the river before we got onto the jet boats.  Okay – probably TMI but I couldn’t resist.

Just before it was time to get off our rafts, Emily read us our last story.  She had told us many stories along the way.

Duffy read the list of the 10 Best Ways to Prepare for a Grand Canyon River Rafting Trip With Grand Canyon Expeditions to us.

10.  One week before the trip, have a yard of sand delivered to your home.  Sprinkle liberally in your bed, dresser drawers, on kitchen and bathroom counters.  Fill your salt shaker, sugar bowl and cereal boxes with sand and use them as usual.  Place garbage can lids of sand in front of  your fans and run them continuously at maximum speed.

9.  After renting a projection TV, illuminate the walls and ceiling of your bedroom with old Dracula movies, especially the snake, spider, lizard and bat infested scenes.

8.  Have your friends form a long line then, systematically pass the entire contents of your home out of the front door and into the back door of your house.

7.  With an industrial size brush and a bottle of bleach, wash, rinse and sterilize the hubcaps of your car thirty minutes after sunrise and immediately after sunset every day for eight days.

6.  With a large meat tenderizer, practice beating beer cans down to the diameter of a hockey puck.

5.  Sit on the hood of your car while riding through the car wash.

4.  Line the bed of your sandals with sandpaper and spend two hours per day on a Stair Master.
3.  Drape the allotted contents of your brown grocery bag on the bushes and rocks in your backyard.  Twice a day practice changing while your neighbors watch.

2.  With twenty- seven friends standing in the shallow end of your swimming pool, practice looking nonchalant as you carry on a conversation and pee simultaneously.

1. Crap in your upstairs waste paper basket, then, with your pants still around your ankles, run downstairs and pee in the tub.

It gave us all a good laugh.

At mile marker 279 Ken took a selfie.

This is what he wrote on his Facebook page.

“Here I am, at Mile 279 — the last river mile — at Grand Wash Cliffs, Ready to say goodbye to the Grand Canyon, and even readier to say hellllllllllo to my first shower in a week! ”

We unloaded the rafts for the last time and loaded everything onto the jet boats.

Our guides all waved good-bye.

I took a final photo of the rock formations.

Then it was the 6 hour ride back to Las Vegas (first in a bus that could make it though the rough road and then the comfort bus.

One more photo of Sue in another geologist t-shirt.

I wrote to Emily and she sent a copy of the poem that Duffy read to me.

Here it is:

Ten Best Ways to Prepare for a Rafting Trip With Grand Canyon Expeditions

10.  One week before the trip, have a yard of sand delivered to your home.  Sprinkle liberally in your bed, dresser drawers, on kitchen and bathroom counters.  Fill your salt shaker, sugar bowl and cereal boxes with sand and use them as usual.  Place garbage can lids of sand in front of  your fans and run them continuously at maximum speed.

9.  After renting a projection TV, illuminate the walls and ceiling of your bedroom with old Dracula movies, especially the snake, spider, lizard and bat infested scenes.

8.  Have your friends form a long line then, systematically pass the entire contents of your home out of the front door and into the back door of your house.

7.  With an industrial size brush and a bottle of bleach, wash, rinse and sterilize the hubcaps of your car thirty minutes after sunrise and immediatly after sunset every day for eight days.

6.  With a large meat tenderizer, practice beating beer cans down to the diameter of a hockey puck.

5.  Sit on the hood of your car while riding through the car wash.

4.  Line  the bed of your sandals with sandpaper and spend two hours per day on a Stair Master.

3.  Drape the allotted contents of your brown grocery bag on the bushes and rocks in your backyard.  Twice a day practice changing while your neighbors watch.

2.  With twenty- seven friends standing in the shallow end of your swimming pool, practice looking nonchalant as you carry on a conversation and pee simultaneously.

1. Crap in your upstairs waste paper basket, then, with your pants still around your ankles, run downstairs and pee in the tub.

My random reflections on this amazing trip in no particular order:

• I am very happy that I completed this amazing adventure.
• I sure wish I had not forgotten the waterproof Grand Canyon River Guide with me on the trip because it would have been much easier to do these posts.
• Better weather would have made it more enjoyable. Emily probably negotiated many of the rapids in in a way that kept us from getting too wet.  It would have been more fun to hit them hard.
• I think we had to skip several hikes (either due to the weather or an assessment of our abilities). That was a bummer.
• I also believe we missed  going into some canyons because of the danger of flash flooding.
• The food they prepared in the dessert was great.
• I enjoyed the company of the people in our group.
• Hauling heavy bags on and off the rafts was hard on my body but I needed to do my part to help. This was not good for my body; I came home with sciatica.  Luckily my osteopath has put me back in alignment so I am okay.
• Emily, Duffy, Mija, and KIrsten were wonderful.
• By the last day I finally learned how to put  up my cot and break it back down without assistance from Ken, Audrey, and Ann.
• A part of me wishes that I had done a float trip instead of a motorized trip.  Yet, I think the rapids would have scared the pants off of me and I am not sure I could have taken 16 days in the sand – especially with the problem of keeping a CPAP machine clean.
• I am one of the relatively very few people in the world who are privileged enough to raft through the Grand Canyon.