Rafting Fools

Day four of the Zimmerman reunion we met for breakfast at the

Wheat Montana Bakery/Deli just down the road from our campground.

Dad liked this place.  He felt at home here.

Here we said goodbye to some who had to head home

and some of us brave souls headed towards an uncertain future

on the whitewater the of Gallatin River.

 At Montanta Whitewater .

Getting geared up.

Rafting Rollie having one last puff on pipe before getting on the bus.

Getting instructions on what to do

when you get thrown out of the raft. 

Panic first.  Pray second.  Or what is the other way around?

Let's do this thing!

In this raft: Dave, LeRoy, Karen, Mitch, Darla, Diane and Kyle

and their guide, Robert.

In this raft: Landon, Bill, Brian, Leanne, Laurie, Roland

and our guide, Cyrus.

They got hung up on a rock!?

Does this look fun or what?

They call the last part of the trip The Mad Mile,

and all the rapids have names: 

Screaming Left, Killer Fang Falls, Snaggletooth, Barb's Revenge, Thumper,

you get the idea,

and they all have a stories behind them.

Here's our raft coming up on the one called House Rock, 

any guesses why it is called that??

Getting a little spooky here- are we SUPPOSED to be going sideways??

Are we SUPPOSED to be doing this backwards?? 

Umm...Cyrus where are you?

Oh good our guide is still with us but umm...where is the raft?? 

   Is this where we all fall out and die a slow,

painful death as we bounce on the rocks down the Mad Mile?

We made it!!!  We are all looking to see if Dad is still with us. 

He was just leaning back enjoying the scenery.

Our guide helping Dad out of the raft at the end. 

Thanks to Sam for taking the photos of us!

Back up the bank to the bus.

Dad has just earned the name Rafting Rollie or

Wave Runner as some might call him. 

Did I mention he's 88?

He did great!  It was incredibly fun--you definitely ought to try it!!!