Floating...

Riff was gone all last week on his yearly white-water river trip. Every year him and his buddy, Britt, meet up somewhere and float for a week. Riff dearly loves to be on the river, any river, doesn't really matter where. This year Britt came out from Wyoming and they met up in the mountains of Northern California to float the Trinity River. They had a blast as usual, but Riff was a little disappointed that the water was already so far down this early in the season. They enjoyed some good floats on some class II's and maybe a few Class III rapids, but nothing like the 4's and 5's that they like to hit every year. He called me on Friday, sounding all dejected. They had decided to move camp clear up to the Sacramento River outside of Shasta City. When they got there, they had absolutely no floating water at all, so should have stayed put for those few days they had left. He had decided to come home early, so I helped him talk himself into stopping and checking out the McKenzie River outside of Eugene on his way home. He met up with some guys from Tigard who guide on the river and had a good time swapping river stories and getting some info from them on the Oregon rivers that he has not yet floated. He ended up rigging out his cat-a-raft and tailing their float for a six mile stretch. Safer than floating alone and he had a lift back to his truck. He was really glad that he decided to check it out on his way through. I think it made up for the lost day on Friday.
Every year they have to take some pictures of the whole stack of rafts, blown up and ready to take to the put-in. This year looks like Riff climbed aboard to model. What a silly man.

I had a very nice quiet week, finished a couple of projects and watched a couple of my favorite movies, but still, it's nice to have him back home.

May you all be blessed with good water and safe voyages down your rivers...