DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME : Rotteneggs.com text files and message bases are for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. DO NOT undertake any project based upon any information obtained from this or any other web site.We are not responsible for, nor do we assume any liability for, damages resulting from the use of any information on this site.
(41 votes) Published: Oct 17, 2005 5:03 p.m. Viewed 171 times
Here is an account of my dad and my trip down a river that was recently flooded after it rained 4 nine days. I wrote about if for my english homework: Having to write a story with 15 vocab words. (So just ignore the big words that are underlined if you don’t understand them) Here is our story:
Early Sunday morning my dad asked me if i’d like to raft down the {name) river,for the river rose 4 feet due to the past 9 days of heavy rain, and had flooded it’s banks in many places as i lay recumbent on the couch reading. I agreed, even though not agreeing was not an option. Often being a terse man, when my father suggests something, be it chop up a tree or go to the beach, you do it with ought question. So we jammed our rubber coleman raft in the trunk of our Jetta, it being covered in mold and pollen after being stored outside by my mom who hates any object that she considers “clutter”. We decided to set off at an area where the swollen river cut through the power lines. After pumping up the craft with a hand pump and then rolling in gripping the paddles we were soon swept away in the current, desperately paddling through vicisstudeness of the river’s rapids. We couldn’t have been more than 100 yards downstream when we pushed off when we noticed a salient clump of flooded bushes and flotsam dead center of the river. My father’s Sagacity was no match for the powerful current which drew us closer and closer towards the jaws of this trap. We hit it. The raft then folded up and we became entangled in the sharp green branches of the bush, and ice cold water surged over us, gargling our initial screams and yelps. We both fell out and held onto the bush against the current. I manages to disentangle the raft, now flooded with murkey river, from the bush. We both clamored back in. I thankfully had the perspicacity
not to even suggest turning back, my father’s death stare said a thousand words. I decided to divert my eyes and try to bale out the water from the raft with the blade of my paddle. The initial shock of the cold water had worn off, but my jacket and shoes was completely soggy and drenched. My dad has a propensity for being silent when he is furious, and he certainly exercised that natural tendency after the initial soaking, yet i gave him a seditious look right back at him. We paddled on down the river, whose current was much more powerful that it usually was, even in the spring after the winter’s snows have melted. Waterfall my dad mentioned, and as i looked forward i saw the dreaded sign of a drop in the river ahead. The water gushed over a the remnants of a concrete dam. Do you think...” i tried to say. steer” my dad said. Do you think we could...” Steer” my dad replied again. DO YOU THINK WE COULD TRY TO PORTAGE THE RAFT AROUND THIS?!” I shouted over the roar of the falls. STEER!!!” My dad boomed. The woods and bracken created a dark, impenetrable tangle at the river’s banks, even if we ourselves managed to penetrate it there was no chance of getting the bulk of the raft through. I then gripped the handles of the raft as we shot over the dam. All i remember seeing before the impact was the paddle slowly floating up out of my dad’s hands. Then... SPLASH! Down my dad went in the raft, which catapulted me out into the maelstrom of white, foamy water. My dad and the raft shot ahead of me as i tread water, but my dad threw some rope to me and I so got back in the raft after being dragged downstream a bit. Thankfully we still had both paddles. As the stream slowed down to a considerable pace we were able to asses our situation. We were in a tangible mess. I had branches and leaves in my hair, we were still sitting in cold water, and there were numerous species of insects crawling all over me. The river slowed even more and we soon came to a lake that had flooded it’s banks. Soon taking a wrong turn we got stuck in a quagmire of mud and vegetation. We couldn’t paddle anymore. The only solution was that i get out and try to wade through the mud and plants and try to pull the craft back to the flowing river. My shoes sunk into the mud at the bottom, and every step i took i heard squelching sounds and bubbles flow up to the surface. I finally succeeded in dragging the raft back to the river. Although muddy and soaked i couldn’t help to realize what a awesome day it was. The foliage was in full swing, the trees blazing in fiery reds, oranges and yellows. Many trees, bushes and vines emerged from the surface like amazon rain forest during the flooding season. The lambient light shone over the surface of the river. My dad and i paddled under a stone bride having to duck down so as to not get our heads clipped. But then dead ahead was another obstacle; some idiot had constructed a wooden bridge across the river conecting his yard with his niehbor’s. The water flowed about 6 inches from the bottom of the bridge. The raft hit the bridge with great force, jarring us occupants. In trying to get out my dad slipped and soon became sucked under the bridge. After afew tense moments he apeared again at the other side. After finaly managing to get the raft over the bridge we noticed that we had lost a paddle. I had to use a branch as a tentative paddle afterwards. We were finally near the end of our river trip. The banks sloaped down towards the river at a 45 degree angle, thick with norwegian spruces that seemed to hold latent partisans preparing for an ambush. Yet our actions on this stretch were the most crucial. The current sped up again, we were reaching where there was a large dam adjacent to an abandoned factory. We needed to find a suitible spot to land soon or be washed over the dam. Steering into the shore, wich was a mess of pricker bushes, we rammed ito the bank. The raft was punctured and the air soon began to bubble out. I was about to try to drag the raft up on the bank but my dad just told me to leave it. We walked past the factory to the street and then the medway convienece store to make a phone call and settle our predilection for a mountain dew. We wrung the surfiet water from our jackets and anticipated going about the task of restitution of the torn raft. But despite all the calamity’s that occured on this trip, we had conquered the {name} river.
Oct 17, 2005 5:22 pm - This is not spam. You need to stfu and read my rules in the GD forum. If this keeps being a problem, i’ll drop your eggs. Dont let it happen again REmast3r...
Oct 17, 2005 10:43 pm - definatly a great story. I go rafting in coleman rafts whevever I get the chance. I have done quite a bit of research on the subject
so basically
you guys screwed up way to many times. You have to be much more safe when rafting a flooded river. did you even have life jackets?
Going over a dam (even a small one) is a terrible idea. Most dams are construted in a way that it purposly curls the water around to prevent erosion, but it creates a boiling death pool for anybody who gets caught in it. some times the water is boiling so much that its boyency is much less and won’t hold a boat on it’s surface any longer.
And hitting the bridge was almost as bad. there often times are strainers hidden under bridges which could catch on you and hold you under.
I wrote an egg for a "guide to rafting". you should check it out, It has lots of pictures
Oct 18, 2005 11:20 am - Rafting Very nice story. Mike, Phil, and I went swimming last summer. Phill had a small yellow raft, one of those cheap wallmart things. Mike jumped into it from a rock about 20 ft up. He went through it like exlax through a goose.
The Vigilante
Edit Page
Message I-AM-THE-MONGOOSE
Add Comment
Add to Favorites
Email to Friend
