Happy Fourth of July!! The family decided we'd travel to the Nantahala River for a little white water rafting. Additional preparation is necessary when you are deaf.I wanted to be sure my Neptune processor would stay on, so I ordered a snug headband from BolderBands. I put the headband on over the cable to my AquaMic.(headpiece that attaches via a magnet--brown thing in the picture).
In the picture, I have the processor clipped to the pony tail holder. The hubs suggested that might be sturdier/safer in case I fell out of the boat. (rolled eyes...I never fall out of the boat...) It's all nicely secured by my AB hat.
So, our group got ready to hit the river. It was a beautiful day in Bryson City...and we were all set to raft with Mom at Paddle Inn. We had a crowd: our three sons, two girlfriends, and the parents of one of the girls. Three in the group had never rafted before. The boys have gone quite a bit from scouting, and I've been a few times. Usually Steve and I go in a two person raft (called a double duck), but we went in the "all adult boat" today...a four person raft.
Paddle Inn is a great outfitter. Before they take you to the put in, the owner asks for God's protection over your group. It was a good thing she did that today.
The people who take the time to read what I write are pretty astute; so at this point, you're probably already seeing the writing on the wall...so I'll cut to the chase. About 3/4 of the way down the river, we somehow didn't steer properly around a rock. We hit it sideways. First the girlfriend's dad fell out...(I thought, "oh no! that's terrible!!), then her mom ("oh, that water is going to be cold!"), then Steve and me ("We're all going in????"). The water is about 47 degrees. It's a dam controlled river and it's really cold. Really cold. I was able to hang onto the boat handle on the side with one hand and my paddle with the other. I remembered to keep my feet up and facing down stream. I was bounced around like...well, like a gal rafting in white water without a raft. I kept looking for a break in the waves (much of this river is pretty calm...not this area!). My aqua mic was bouncing around like crazy...hear/not hear/hear/not hear. At one point, the only voice I could hear was my own pitiful one in my head saying "help me...someone help me!" Finally, the rapids calmed, and I was able to get to the shore and stand. I found some terra firma to plant my frigus tibus (cold butt) on. Hubs went to check on gf father, who was on his own piece of shore...The gf's mom was plucked from the river by my eldest son. I sat there on my little piece of real estate...cold, alone, and quite happy to be alive. My hat had flipped back, but didn't fall off because of the processor clipped to the pony tail holder (thanks, hubs). I reattached the UHP, put my headband and hat back on, and waited for the group to reassemble on the raft (yay for sound again! scary as heck being soundless during the bumpy ride!) Before long, we were on our way...a little worse for the wear--a few bruises, a little blood, and one less pair of eye glasses. We got out at the place you can look at the last rapid (read: class 5 scary, I mean bad). With resignation, we got back in the raft and said, "Let's do this!!"
So, we did:
