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A few days ago, my Uncles decided to meet in West Virginia and take me white water rafting on the New River. Hehehe. My Uncle Roy and I woke at 6:15, although I didn't really crawl out of bed until 6:45. We went to breakfast where we were served the rubber substitute for eggs and some cinnamon peaches that tasted the way Garden Ridge smells (in other words, it smelled like those cinnamon brooms you set out in the fall and carpet rolls.). Then after successfully not dying of food poisoning, we met my other Uncle and went to the rafting place and checked in. We get there and sign all the paperwork and stuff, and since I'm under 18, I had to have paperwork signed by my parents saying that I could go. That was when we started freaking out, because my Uncle Roy left the paperwork in the car. So we went the "Gay married couple (My two Uncles) adopted a child (me) and changed the kids last name to match theirs, but as it turned out, the guys were chill with my Uncles signing for me. When our raft god (yes, that's what they're called. Raft gods.) asked me where I was from, I said "South Carolina for the day (my Uncle Pat's from South Carolina), but San Antonio usually."
Now, mind you, I wasn't even considering that we'd be swimming in a river, never mind white water rafting. So while everyone else is dressed in tank tops/swim shirts, swim shorts/spankies, and swim shoes, I'm wearing my Uncle Roy's oversized swim shirt, a skirt bathing suit bottom, and toms. But of course these aren't just Toms. Oh no. They're much better then that. They're sparkly pinkToms. So I wasn't exactly in the best gear for class 2-5 rapids, but hey, when life gives you lemons, you make grape juice and sit back while everyone wonders how you did it. Just kidding. Grape juice is gross. When life gives you lemons you're suppose to throw them at people. Anyways, I'm completely unprepared for white water rafting, and guess where they stick me? In the front of the raft. Where I'm in charge of leading all 4 people paddling behind me. And if I get off and don't paddle in sync with the other side, then the people behind me won't paddle in sync with me and we'll go the wrong way and crash into a rock and flip over and get sucked into an undercut rock and drown and die. So no pressure, but I couldn't mess up. Or we'd die. No, as you can tell, I actually did ok cause we're still alive. It was a pretty easy ride, nothing too scary. No one fell out and we didn't flip. It was probably the equivalent of a slightly dangerous Schlitterbaun ride that you could die on at any moment. We even had a few chances to get out and swim over the rapids. Overall it was a pretty fun trip. Our guide was pretty talkative. He told us about the "Great Squirrel Migration," which was a thing a few years ago when one spring all of the acorns only grew on one side of the New River, and none grew on the other. Because of this, all the squirrels on the side without acorns would swim in herds to the side without acorns. He also told us about how some of the rapids got their names. One man's canoe got stuck upside down on a rapid, the number '66' sticking out, making '99' upside down. Hence, Herman's 99. Double Z is a zigzag rapid, forming two z's. They were simple names like that. The scenery was also beautiful, with lots of greenery and the occasional run down building from an old deserted coal town. We also got to this huge steel arched bridge where we got out. While I had fun on the trip, getting out was less fun, because my Toms are made of canvas, so three hours later, sitting in a four hour drive to South Carolina while my Uncle awkwardly makes small talk about my boyfriend and asks questions about him, my Toms were still wet. Well, that's all I've got for today, and I've been typing for about an hour, so goodbye.
Things I learned today: A) The New River in West Virginia is the world's second oldest river, B) West Virginia has the most and biggest speed traps in the US, and C) The New River George steel bridge is the longest steel arched bridge in the US and the second longest in the world (damn Chinese. >.>)
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