It was our first official multi-day float of the summer! We headed up towards Grand Junction, CO for a three day two night float with some of our good friends, the Erwins & the Meiningers and some new friends, the Campbells & the Lanoues!
my fearless crew
We start each float the same way. When we get to the put-in there is a frantic rush to get all of the gear off of the trucks and onto the boats. And then comes perhaps the hardest part of the entire trip. The moms (typically) stay with the kiddos and try to keep them entertained while the dads drive an hour or more away to the take-out to leave the vehicles for the end of our trip. This is called "running the shuttle". And every year while I'm trying to think of ways to pass that long hour + in the hot sun with hungry, cranky and bored children, I vow to myself that I will learn how to drive the truck and trailer for the next trip. So that I can spend an hour or more in the air conditioned car, singing along to my crappy country music at the top of my lungs, all by myself. I still haven't learned how to drive that damn thing...
kill'n time; shane taking bennett out for a little paddle boarding - he loved it!
So we're finally off and we're loving the slow smooth float down Ruby Horsethief. It's hot here. Really really hot, like in the high 90's, but we've all been doing this long enough to have found little tricks to keeping everyone as cool and comfortable as possible. I think the most important addition to our raft is our sunshade. We had our shade custom made a number of years ago but now they are readily available and made in DRO. You can see from some of my pictures that all the boats have a shade of some kind.
The water this year was pretty high so the time we floated each day was really quick. Both days' float was only about two hours long. But there was still plenty of time to party-barge up with our fellow comrades and share a drink or two as we laughed at the kids and each other.
i realize this is a really odd pictures to include but if you look closely you will see a bald eagle a third of the way down from the top and in the bottom third of the picture sits a golden eagle - an auspicious site and surely a good omen for the trip
The first night we camped we had a superhero themed Mexican fiesta. There were some really fun costumes and we had a great time running around and demonstrating our super powers. The Zierchers went as Superman, Ladybug Girl, Wonder Woman & Super Red Neck. Yes, Brett always picks the most ridiculous costume he can possible think up.
The second day we had another great float. The kids did so well on the raft. I was really proud of them. Bennett loves being on the water and Callie does a great job of drifting off to sleep when she needs a little refresher.
playing with nut & naptime on the river
callie girl had a fu-man-chu of dirt & sand from her pacifier, she did so well on this trip!
That day found us face to face with a bachelor party at the campsite we had signed up for at the beginning of the trip. It's not a nice thing to do, and obviously ensures future bad river karma, but people steal campsites all the time. So in the theme of making lemons into spiked lemonade, we set up camp at the site right next to them and had an absolute blast playing in our own private swimming hole for the day.
our sweet sweet camp site & watering hole
the cliff next to our site was perfect for diving; shane, demonstrating
the meiningers!
12 adults & 10 kiddos, mostly 4 and under - we were a force to be reckoned with!
bz, learning to paddle board
It was a long hot day and it was nice to put the kids to bed at a reasonable time, watch the sun set and a bajillion stars come out. And then eat really really good s'mores. Yes, I did say that we made the s'mores after the kids were in bed. hehehehe
that quite time at the end of the day when the hot sun slips behind the cliffs is so sweet
The next morning we were up early and enjoyed the sunrise with our breakfast.
all the littles were super excited about the train that ran past the campsite. i was less excited about it when it ran past the campsite at 1a and 3a.
goofing around on the last day
Once we were at the take-out, it was lunch time for the kiddos while the dads sorted all the gear and readied the rafts for some more action.
The menfolk continued on to West Water. It's a class IV part of the river that is pretty technical and way too advanced for our kiddos. So while they were off doing that, two of the beautiful, amazing, strong, fierce women-folk (my heros, Deven & Jill) and I took our five children home. There was a lot of pooping, some vomit, tears, an extra Starbucks order and quite a bit of laughter. Because really, what else is there to do when you're too tired and dirty to cry. You laugh. Really loudly and really hard.
Good float friends! I'm really looking forward to our adult float weekend in August & another family float in September! Fun fun times! xoxo
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