Once upon a time, a long time ago I went to Gatlinburg, Tn.! The occasion was a church group I and my then husband belonged to. From time to time we all took trips together- to camp, picnic, and yes- White Water Rafting!
I had never been white water rafting, but was game. "If these folks could do it" I told myself, "I can too!" This happened about 40 years ago, so some of the particulars are rather fuzzy. Yet two events that happened that trip will forever stand out in my memory!
It was a hot day- I do remember that! I had only one bathing suit- a bikini. Since I was rather skinny and small chested, I didn't worry about being too "sexy" for a church group.
We left from our lovely campsite by bus. Once at the river the guide ran us through the safety precautions, warnings about the rapids, etc. If I remember right, there were six of us on each raft. Off we took, with a guide in his canoe following along. I was in seat 2 right- with my husband insisting on sitting in the rear.
It didn't take too long before we were in trouble. No matter how hard I paddled, as did the rest of the group, we didn't seem to have much control of the raft! What the heck! About 15 minutes into the rapids we hit a huge rock on the left side. The gal sitting to my left fell over onto me and out of the raft I went!
Cold! I mean COLD! The water was like ice! I'm a good swimmer, so no problem there! But I didn't want to go down the rapids without a raft! Getting back into the raft, however was another matter! This is when I realized my upper body strength wasn't what was needed. My lips were turning blue from the cold water. Deep shivers took over my body! My raft kept floating down stream. Another raft from my group came to pick me up. Hard as I tried, the raft was just a bit too high for me to hoist myself into. Seeing this, one of the guys from the group said something like "Forgive me!"- reached down as I was attempting to raise myself up, grabbed me by my butt and hauled me into their raft! Though I was grateful for the help- I could've done without the big grin on his face!
In just a bit they got me transferred back to my original raft. My husband was grinning from ear to ear, which should have given me a clue for what was to follow!
Down the river we went, hitting rapids after rapids! Again, no matter how hard we paddled we always seemed out of control! At the last rapids there was a camera man standing on a huge rock, taking pictures as we passed. As we approached the last rapids we were suddenly turning- until we went down the rapids backwards!
Our guide had a few choices words for my husband! It seems that my husband was acting like a rudder, and for thrills and giggles caused us to completely turn around! Later the guide said he realized my husband was messing with the raft the whole trip! The guide was NOT happy! Though it all made for a memorable ride- it took me a while to forgive my husband!
The second incident happened at the campgrounds. There was a lovely pool there! As we were all sitting around the pool a 13 year old boy from our group made a comment about me being too old to out swim a young man such as himself! His name was Doug. He was the son of one of the ladies in our group. (I will note that I was in my mid 30's at the time, though perhaps ancient according to him!)
Well- I pride myself in my swimming ability. Plus this young buck wasn't going to get away with such a challenge. So- I proposed a race. 3 lengths- starting at the deep end and ending at the shallow. Whoever got to the end first wins!
Off we went! I have to admit, he was a good swimmer! But yes- I was faster! Now comes the BAD part! Reaching the shallow end first, I lept up, hands in the air and yelled a Yahoo!
The young man looked up, then in shock looked away and swam in the opposite direction! What?? I looked down to realize the top of my bikini had shifted, exposing my left breast! Oh God! I screamed!
Did I keep quiet and act like nothing happened?! NO!! Big mouth me screamed to his mother "Diana!! I just accidentally exposed myself to your son!! Oh My God!!" There was a moment of silence from the group- followed by laughter! I, of course was humiliated!
That night, around the dinner table we all shared, Doug would not look at me. He wouldn't look at me the whole evening! I mentioned this to his Mom.
The next day I was coming out of the shower area when who was standing there? Doug! With a big grin on his face! In fact, the rest of the day, every time I looked up, there was Doug, grinning at me! Oh Dear! Ha!
Years later a now grown up Doug asked me to retell the story of our "Swimming compition". He seemed to love the retelling of it! By then I had gotten over the humiliation of the incident and found the story funny.
So that's the two unforgettable events from my Gatlinburg trip!
Thank you for following along as I walk down memory lane!
Life Is Indeed An Adventure! And Shooting The Rapids Backwards As Well As Surviving A Rather Humiliating Incident Makes The adventure One To Remember!
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