Rogue River Rafting pt I, getting to Oregon

The next few posts will talk about my trip out to Oregon white-water rafting. 

In Salt Lake City, we rented all our gear (coolers, wetsuits, rafts, etc..) from the University of Utah outdoor adventure club, and the six of us got into two very packed cars (Danny's Suburban and Julie's GMC SUV) to begin the 850 mile haul to southwestern Oregon. Shooting out of Salt Lake City we passed by the great salt lake and the Bonneville salt flats where all the cars go very very fast. Oddly, at night (when we were returning the following week), the moonlight shining off the salt flats makes it look like the ocean.

Danny and I were pulled over by a Utah highway patrolman for tailgating the car in front of us (oddly, our friends in the caravan). He just gave us a warning, but when we told him we were going rafting in Oregon, he then asked "Do y'all have anything illegal in this automobile?" Danny and I looked at each other, looked back at the officer, and we said, "No officer, nothing illegal in this car." The officer then responded, "C'mon you are rafting for four days, and you are telling me you don't have any weed in this car?" He was joking, but I imagine we kinda looked the part.

I love the desert. Something about the wide plains, the mountains, the heat, and the ruggedness of it all clears my mind and calms me. I can't explain it, but it's what I miss the most about not living in West Texas anymore.

Notice the sign: "Watch for Snakes and Scorpions."

While driving with Danny, we had a battery powered boombox with a tape adaptor plugged into an iPod. During most the day we listened to an audiobook recording of "World War Z," an excellent book by Max Brooks about a zombie apocalypse and mankind's attempt to fight the zombies and rebuild civilization. The book takes the form of interviews with people around the world telling stories of their zombie experiences. It sounds silly, but it was awesome. There was a great story about Japanese Samurai culture re-arising, as a sword turns out to be one of the best zombie weapons (reusable, doesn't need ammunition, and deadly in the hands of a skilled fighter).

The Nevada desert was a very fitting vista for listening to the zombie book, as you can see in the video below.

We finally reached the Pacific Northwest in the late afternoon/ evening, as you can see in the haggard Danny below revealing an idiosyncrasy about his car that would doom me to moving the windshield wipers by hand with half my body out of the moving car in the cold rain later that evening.

We reached the campsite in Medford at 10 PM, met up with our two other travel companions from the west coast, stayed the night, and the next morning we began assembling the rafts. It takes awhile to pump these up by hand.

And, since you can't bring bottles on the river, you bring cans, lots and lots of cans of adult beverages. 322 beers to be exact. Me never having white water rafted before, I thought Mark was absolutely crazy thinking we would drink beer while navigating rapids that could kill you. I soon learned the error of my thinking.

More to follow in the next post where we hit the water.