A Series of Unfortunate Events...Happy Fourth of July!

This year as a fun 4th of July activity my friends and I decided to float the Provo River on tubes. In theory this should be a nice, relaxing ride that you can enjoy with friends.












Of course that's only in theory....













The unfortunate events started in the car when one of my friends had the idea that if we turned on the heat FULL blast on the way up to the river that the water would feel better...so, for 10 minutes we drove in a car with the heat blazing. Now, I agree that if we would've gotten in the water right after being blasted with heat it would've been nice...however, on the way up a few of our life jackets flew out of the truck so we had to go back and get them so half of us went to get the life jackets and half stayed in the sweltering heat. I was part of the half that stayed in the sweltering heat. After waiting for about 15 minutes the whole group was ready to go.

We got into the water which felt more like getting into a bucket of ice, it was freezing!! Almost immediately I couldn't feel my toes...but, hey, I was there for the FUN. So, we all floated uneventfully for about 15 minutes, then the "fun" really began. While trying to wait for the group I fell out of my tube, it was quite a shock to my system to have my whole body in the water. Thankfully two of my friends waited for me to help me get back in my tube. Back in the tube and floating with two of my friends I was having a good time. Until, one of my friends (who is a fire fighter) saw some people on the side, one of them looked blue so he stopped to help. My other friend stopped to wait for the fire fighter friend and it was my job to go catch up to the group. So there I was...on my own...floating down a river...something I'd never done before...

I was really focused on not falling again, because I knew I'd have a difficult time getting back on my tube. So with each set of rapids I focused really hard on using my balancing skills. There are two bridges on the Provo River that you go under. The first one passed uneventfully...the second one however was another unfortunate event. As I was coming up to the bridge I noticed that there was a huge log and I was rushing straight towards it, as the log got closer I realized there was no way to avoid it so I went at it feet first to be able to push off (that was the one tip I got before getting into the river, THANK YOU Meagan). As I hit the log my feet got tangled in the branches and I realized my flip flop was stuck. I had to make a quick decision "Flip flop or life?!" I chose life. After navigating through the bridge and realizing that I had lost one flip flop forever I focused on the next task, finding the group of friends.

I floated along uneventfully for a little while, enjoying the scenery that the mountains had to offer, then came more rapids. I was getting better at navigating them. After what felt like hours I saw my friends about 100 yards away...I started to paddle as hard as I could, using my one remaining flop flop as an oar...when I was about 50 yards away a raft with probably 10 people came along. They asked if I was cold to which I responded "Of course I'm cold...I'm in this water." They asked if my friends were up ahead and then said "Grab on, we'll take you to them." That was music to my ears! So I just held on to their raft while they paddled towards my friends. But, of course, it wasn't that easy. We went over another set of rapids. On these rapids my tube shot out from under me. As I was in the water the raft hit my head and the current started to suck me under the raft. There were 4 guys trying to pull me out of the water, but I kept getting sucked under and my foot got stuck on a rock. After about a minute (it felt a lot longer) they pulled me up into the raft. I laid on the bottom of the raft and breathlessly and flatly said "Thank you for saving my life".

You'd like to think that I'd had enough unfortunate events by this point...right? Wrong! As we caught up to my friends they got off the river on one side and then told me to jump out of the raft and swim to them. I wasn't jumping out of the raft. Plain and simple. So, I found myself on the opposite side of the river getting off where "the rescuers" had rented their raft. I stepped off into into 6 inches of mud with one flip flop. I wasn't happy. I asked a guy the worked at High Country Rafting how I could get around to the other side of the river. He pointed and said "Just go around the bridge." I looked where he had pointed seeing the rocks that lay between me and the other side and responded with a gulp, "Around the bridge?" and he said "Yep, just go that way..." and I said almost in tears now "Ok....?" He then looked down at my feet and saw why I was so perplexed by this walk around the bridge. He said "Oh! Over there is a tree with mismatched flip flops go take one." I was so happy to know that I wouldn't have to walk with a bare foot on the rocks. I went to the tree to pick out a flip flop, the only one that was a right foot was 3 sizes too small for me, but, it was footwear. So, I set out with my tube in one arm and my life jacket in the other to find my friends. After walking for about 10 minutes I found them...thus ending the series of unfortunate events...the rest of the day was spent having a BBQ and watching fireworks.

I learned two important lessons:


1. Floating the Provo River by yourself is NO FUN!
2. Floating the Provo River in flip flops is a stupid idea!


And, by the way...HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!