A surprising anniversary

A little unknown about me. Ten years ago, I had a close encounter with death. My mentor, Kitty and I headed up to Kern River in Kernville to spend the day relaxing with some friends by inner tubing in the river. The weather was warm, the water was cool and it was a perfect and relaxing day. At least most of it was.

Sometime during our float down the river, Kitty floated too quickly down the river and we lost sight of her. About thirty minutes later, there was a huge tree in the middle of the river and stuck in the tree was Kitty, a rapid made her fall off of her tube and she climbed to the tree for safety. She was stuck there until we caught up to her. The group that we were with all steered towards her so we can grab her off the tree and help her get down all while trying to not to get swept away from the rapid. As I got real close to her, a tree branch hit me in the head and I fell into the water. It shocked me but not as much as getting tangled in the roots below me. My swim shorts tangled me into the roots pushing me further in the water. I couldn't move up to get air. I was stuck. I didn't panic, in fact, I did the complete opposite. I watched my air bubbles float around me and felt peace. I listened to the water and heard silence. It was so peaceful that I closed my eyes. I'm not sure how long I was there for before another person came to pull me out of my tangle. He brought me up to the surface and the sun and fresh air shock me out of my state as I choked up water. They brought Kitty and myself to the side of the river and we decided to call it a day. It was time to go home and take care of ourselves. Kitty and I rode back in silence, knowing all too well how the river can be very powerful.

So ten years later, I headed back to go tubing on the Kern River and had the most wonderful time (mostly).

•I don't want to go in the cold river•

Going through the rapids on a inner tube is wonderful and fantastic. My "river rat" provided enough cushioning to protect my ass from the rocks.

• see, adequate cushioning•

Going through the rapids on my ass because I lost the inner tube was not as much fun! I have the darkest and weirdest bruises on my, ahem, buttocks (was contemplating taking a photo but I couldn't get the right angle :). It was during those moments though when I had my mini-freakouts. Having my head back under the water, struggling through the rapids and being incredible weary of hitting my head made me have little flashbacks to ten years ago.

But by the end of the day, I was still all smiles and will probably head back down the river again in the future since it was a great camping trip.

•cheese•

But of course, what's a camping trip without some headache? My lovely car, which I've had since 02 and is the best little Acura RSX that one can have, decided to give me a headache. After enjoying a wonderful day on the river, we thought heading into town for some cold drinks would be perfect. My car had another idea and the alternator decided to die on me. Nothing better than having your car break down in the middle of the Sierra Mountains. It's still there getting fixed and my wonderful parents are going to pick it up for me and drive it back to Santa Clara later this week. I owe them a lot this upcoming weekend. But it works out so perfectly because I get to go scuba diving with my dad in Monterey this weekend. I'm glad that my near death experience didn't give me a fear of water or adventure because than life would be too boring.