Chena River Floating. :)

As we pull up, one car full, two cars full, me and Chad... We begin to wonder, do we even have enough room? As Dr. Henry backs the trailer down into the Chena River and begins to remove the straps holding it in place, Melissa remains seated in the vehicle rolling her eyes repeating, "Chris, what about the frame?"
Slowly, once all the work is done, four more boys meander their way Chad, Melissa, Dr. Henry and I. Ten people, in this, probably, six person raft. "This is going to be an interesting night," were my thoughts...
As we, one by one, make our way into the raft, we remind the boys that it is probably a better idea to distribute the weight evenly, what geniuses it took to all sit on one side, is beyond me. Melissa makes her way in muttering under her breath the fact that the raft was going to buckle without the frame, but no worries, she would be the frame, and she did. She stayed put up front, legs reaching across, keeping the raft from rolling into a taco.
As we begin floating down the river... I laugh at the fact that between the six boys, not a single one knew how to paddle correctly. In fact, rarely were they even paddling at all. Normally, this wouldn't be such a big deal... But it was seven o'clock... and we put in by Pro Music, quite a ways up river from our final destination, the Pump House.
Two and a half hours later, we finally reached the Pioneer Park, aka, Alaska Land Bridge... Where three of our boys got schooled by a nine year old jumping off the bridge. Now this could have been very fun, but minor detail I noticed, was the fact that there most certainly was not enough sun to keep the wet ones warm. The sun may not go down, but it does a great job hiding just enough to keep you a tad bit chilly, even when you're dry!
Upon arrival of the Boatel, we laugh at the fact that we are not even to the point where it took Henry and Melissa two hours to get to the Pump House...
Chad decides to bail, craving beer and a warm bed.
We then begin going, of course, after a good ten minute chat, something that they didn't quite understand could be done as we were making way down river... Two things at once, no way.
At this point.. We've been floating for over three hours... Four boys are shivering, all of our feet are numb.
As we approach Chena Small Tracts Road, Melissa and Henry decide upon running the rest of the way.. Considering it was going to be a little extra work since one of the genius boys left the keys to one of the Vehicles at the pump house in one of the vehicles at the Boat Launch... what he was thinking, I'll never know.
At approximately four and a half hours, the paddle being handed over to be, (Well, I took it...) They finally got the paddling down and we were making head-wind.
As we finally get within visible distance of the Pump House, there stands Melissa with her camera... Dr. Henry at that point, had gone home to put on some warm and dry clothes... Had retrieved the vehicle from down town, and was waiting.
Five hours of floating, an hour and a half of just me and the six boys, the fact that slowly down the river, we were losing people one by one...
It made for an interesting night.
I'd never been more excited to take a hot shower and lay down in my super warm and comfy bed.
7:00-1:00 Wow, really guys? Why'd we put in so far up river??? ;-)

Updates on Life

MY LIFE HAS GONE THROUGH SOME PRETTY DURASTIC CHANGES IN THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS. THE RECENT CHANGES, WITHIN THE PAST SIX MONTHS... I ALMOST UP AND MOVED TO UTAH, SOMETHING I CONSIDERED ALL TOO QUICKLY AND REALISED ONCE I WAS THINKING STRAIGHT THAT IT WAS NOT THE BEST DECISION FOR ME. RATHER I STAYED, STARTED WORKING WITH TRACI SELLING REAL ESTATE, AND GOT LICENSED. WITH ALL THAT, CAME A WHOLE NEW LIFE, SOMETHING I'VE FOUND I MUST HAVE REALLY NEEDED.
I AM ALWAYS SOOO BUSY, WHICH CAN BOTH BE GOOD AND BAD. SOMETIMES I DO NEED A BREAK, BUT FOR THE MOST PART, I LOVE BEING BUSY, I THRIVE ON BEING BUSY. STARTING TOMORROW, I WILL BE CONSIDERED FULL TIME IN THE OFFICE, SOMETHING I AM SUPER STOKED ABOUT CONSIDERING I NOW PAY RENT (A NEW CHANGE WHICH OCCURED RECENTLY), ON TOP OF MY CAR PAYMENT AND INSURANCE WHICH IS BOUND TO GO UP DUE TO MY LACK OF BEING IN COLLEGE AT THE PRECISE MOMENT.
NEXT SEMESTER, I CAN ASSURE, WILL BE CRAZY INSANE TO SAY THE LEAST. I WILL NEED TO GO FULL TIME TO APPEASE MY CAR INSURANCE COMPANY, MY FINANCIAL AID SERVICING, AND MY DADS LIFE INSURANCE POLICY WHICH HAS GRANTED ME A SMALL AMOUNT OF MONEY TO GO TOWARDS MY SCHOOLING. I WILL BE DOING THIS ON TOP OF GOING TO WORK FULL TIME. I CAN DO IT. BRING IT ON. I AM STILL PLANNING ON GETTING MY BUSINESS DEGREE AND FOCUSING ON MARKETING AND ADVERTISING. :)
I'VE MET A LOT OF PEOPLE I'VE COME TO LOVE AND ADORE. I RECENTLY JUST MADE IT THROUGH MY SECOND FATHERS DAY SINCE MY DAD DIED, AND THAT WAS ONLY BECAUSE OF THE GREAT PEOPLE I HAVE SURROUNDING ME.
THINGS ARE GETTING EASIER, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN I DON'T HAVE MY HARD DAYS. I MISS HIM LIKE CRAZY, AND HOPE THAT I AM MAKING HIM PROUD.
MY IDEA OF A GREAT NIGHT NOW CONSISTS OF SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF NO WHERE WITH A CLEAR BLUE SKY DRINKING MY WINE. I LOVE IT.
I MISS MY MOM AND MY SISTERS, BUT AM HOPING TO SEE THEM MOVE BACK TO ALASKA IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
WELL, OFF TO BED I SHOULD GO AS I START WORKING AT EIGHT IN THE MORNING TOMORROW! YIKES!

GOALS

1. BUY A HOUSE
2. LEARN TO WELD
3. LEARN TO COOK
4. GET MY TATTOO
5. GRADUATE COLLEGE
6. KEEP UP ON A JOURNAL
7. SAVE A LIFE
8. MAKE A DIFFERENCE
9. WRITE A SONG, WORDS AND MUSIC
10. TAKE AN ARGENTINE TANGO CLASS
11. RUN TEN MILES NON-STOP (ENDURANCE)
12. HIKE ANGEL ROCKS
13. SLEEP ON A ROOF
14. GO SKINNY DIPPING :)
15. DRIVE A BOAT
16. LEARN TO SKIP ROCKS
17. LEARN HOW TO SNOWBOARD/SKI
18. LEARN TO WATERSKI
19. RIDE A SNOW MACHINE
20. GO PAINTBALLING
21. TAKE GUITAR LESSONS
22. LEARN HOW TO CHANGE MY OWN OIL
23. GO 120+ MPH
24. GO TO A NASCAR RACE
25. SEE WICKED ON BROADWAY
26. SPRAY PAINT MY NAME ON THE ROCKS
27. RIDE IN A FIRE TRUCK
28. GET MY PILOTS LICENSE
29. SWIM WITH DOLPHINS
30. GET MY DEEP-DIVING CERTIFICATE
31. PROVE EVERYONE WRONG
32. NEVER SMOKE CIGARETTES
33. NEVER BECOME AN ALCOHOLIC
34. GO MUDDING
35. GO SKYDIVING
36. VISIT NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
37. LEARN HOW TO LIFT WEIGHTS :)
38. MAKE SOMEONE TRULY HAPPY
39. OWN "MY" TRUCK



I'VE RECENTLY DONE A FEW THINGS THAT WERE ONCE GOALS

1. LEARN TO DRIVE STICK
2. GO ROCKCLIMBING
3. GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL WITH 4.0
4. GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL EARLY
5. BUY MY OWN CAR