They almost didn't. This was one of the 50 for 50's that went through a lot of negotiation, and one of the options was that Sabing and I just go ourselves. (We also considered various other California rivers, and even a man-made course at an Oklahoma waterpark.) Issues had to do with us wanting to do this on just a weekend, my chronic-ish foot injury, my lack of endurance, and Jacob being 11 when most rafting places only take kids 12 and over.
Most.
We pretty much had it down to either a class III that we could take Jacob on and a class IV that we couldn't, until we found the nice people at Whitewater Voyages who would plop us on the (class IV) Lower Kern as long as Jacob was older than 9. Score!
We drove up last night (playing Car Bingo to keep Jacob's head out of his iPad. We decided we needed to update "Car Bingo." Like, instead of asking you to spot an airplane, a house post, and a tow truck, it should include things like a drone, solar panels on a roof, and a car carrier trailer.) Once we got up there, we checked in to the Kern River Lodge, which was cuter than it looked in pictures. Jacob made a beeline to the giant chess set. I checked in and got settled, then met Sabing over by the chess set. Where he was already losing.
Jacob is good at chess. Real good. And he likes it. A lot. At a quiet part of the river trip, our guide asked Jacob what was his favorite thing to do when he's at home, and he got real quiet thinking about it, and then came up with "play internet chess." I'm not sure the guide saw that one coming, but he decided it was cool. It IS cool. I watched the rest of the game he played against Sabing and he was way ahead of both of us. (I started "helping" Sabing. Made no damn difference.) He saw things we didn't see; even suggesting Sabing make certain moves. He jumped around the board (physically -- it was that kind of chess set) casually explaining things in ways I'd never considered. Sabing took losing to his kid in stride. It must be challenging dealing with a kid who is really freaking good at something -- extraordinarily so, for his age -- while you're still his parent and better than him at everything else. It looked to be working. I had half wondered if Jacob was going to difficult about this, lording his victory over his father. But it was all very natural -- everyone just casually accepts that Jacob is better at chess than us, and Sabing manages to lose to him in a way that is still educational -- asking Jacob to explain things, or reinforcing lessons from his coach.
Which was all well and good, because today we were going rafting, and the adults here were DEFINITELY better than Jacob. But he still did well -- he paddled in sync with the rest of us, followed the guide's directions, and (most importantly) did not go flying off into the water. I'm just not sure he moved a whole lot of water.
....
What? Oh, dozed off a bit there. I am tired. I am so tired.
All this Sabing/Jacob stuff is really interesting but here are the bullet points you're looking for:
- Three hour drive up.
- Dinner at the Bar & Grill next door.
- Sleep. Wake up. Shower in a teensy stall which was Not designed by a woman who had to shave her legs in there.
- Show up at rafting center at 8:45.
- Meet the other two rafts (which were doing the second day of a two-day trip) and wait while they strike camp.
- Don't get in the water until 10:30
- Sit on the left so I can keep my left ankle immobile
- RAFT! Get wet! Have fun!
- Paddle together really well, so guide starts doing extra fun things.
- Stop to portage raft around a class V rapid.
- (Watch our guides run the rapid rather than portage the other two rafts.)
- Get back in the ra--
- Slip on some rocks while trying to get back in, and get scraped up a teensy bit.
- Now get back in the damn raft.
- Raft to lunch uncomfortably and kind of awkwardly.
- Enjoy lunch.
- Enjoy more lunch.
- This is some tasty lunch.
- Get back in the raft. Peggy, Sabing and Jacob change places because Jacob wants to switch sides. (I stay where I am because of ankle.)
- We're a bit tired this time. There's a lot of wind blowing against us, so we have to paddle a lot in the quiet stretches just to keep from going backwards. We're not as sharp. I can see where the dude in front of me is messing up his stroke, but don't want to say anything because, hello! pot! have you met kettle?
- A rapid goes less than perfectly. Not anyone-goes-for-a-swim bad, but we ended up having to throw all our weight on one side of the raft (and quickly the other) to keep from toppling. And the big jug in the center of the raft got loose from its straps in all the crashing water and bodies. I may have slammed into it, but "loose item in raft on a class IV rapid" is a way better justification for a bruise than, say, "must have hit myself sleeping"
- Realize we're all getting tired paddling into the wind, and we've got a couple more rapids to do.
- Guide tells us that the last rapid on the run is the most technically difficult. DOES NOT tell us (until after) that he wants redemption on this one after how he ran it yesterday. We get a bit nervous and all quietly pledge to give this one our all.
- Guide rearranges Sabing and Jacob to put Jacob back on the other side of the raft -- where he'd been before lunch. Because of the weight distribution. Basically, he has to be on the same side as Jacob, and he works better from the other side. And we need every advantage we can get for the last rapid.
- It works. We run it flawlessly. It's called "Pinball" for what turns out to be super obvious reasons, and I watch us plot a perfect course between rocks as our raft pinballs around this thing without tilting the board We are psyched.
- And then it's over. We pull the rafts out and have a half-hour drive back to base.
- First (actual) bathroom in over seven hours!
- And a clean place to change into dry clothes.
- And another three hour drive home.
- Stop for pizza on the way.
- OK, now home.
The exhaustion is overwhelming. I nearly dozed off twice just while writing that bit.
CLEARLY, no two-day rafting trips are in my future.
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