(When we ultimately got out of the river, I found that the double knot in the shoelace behind my head had become totally undone, and the double knot on the left stem had worked itself down to a single knot. I couldn't believe the glasses had loosened themselves that much, as I didn't think I'd moved my head that much paddling. One of the others said it must have been when I was "in the washing machine.")
Of course, the rest of the river was a breeze after that. There was a long boring sequence in the middle where we just sailed along (one person even got out and swam) and Kelvin gave us all candy bars (proof again that River Rats was the company to be with -- the other raft had no goodies), and then there was a sequence of 3-type rapids at the bottom. By the end, I got the feeling that Kelvin was feeling confident enough with this group to give us a fun ride, rather than just trying to get through without throwing anyone from the raft. So as we approached one rapid (which he said is called, "Kelvin's Mistake") he gets us spinning the raft as we go into it, so we sorta bounce up spinning and all get wet. Way fun. He also slid us up the side of a rock and down again off it -- which I'm sure was acceptable rafting technique, but appeared not strictly necessary for getting past.
Did I mention Kelvin was a good guide? After awhile, I sorta started not paying complete attention to the "watch the rock" commands, which were inevitably followed by a teeny little bump which at no time threatened to dislodge us from the raft. Even when he said, "hold on," there was never any time when I felt like I was gonna fly out of the raft were it not for the fact I was then holding on to the ropes. I mean, yeah, sure, I had my feet wedged in that thing pretty solidly, but he really took us on a course that was fun and totally safe.
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