My father-in-law Jim Hicks squeezes water out of his shoes after the canoe he was in tipped over during our Oregon getaway. Everything was so wet, he had to dry out the entire contents of his wallet!
We got a big laugh out of this. We packed toilet paper just to be prepared. But like everything else, it went overboard!
My mother-in-law Diane had a great sense of humor about the whole ordeal. We could actually hear her laughing downstream after they flipped over!
As luck would have it, the canoe that happened to have all of our dry clothes in it was the one that tipped over!
Our fabulous guides, Stephanie Gallegos of Iowa and Eric Jackson of Sun River, righted our overturned canoe and got the gang back to shore.
Guide Eric Jackson not only rescued my family, but was pretty handy attending to a boo boo, as well.
Posing with guide Eric Jackson in front of Dillon Falls. Eric also coaches snowboarding and dreams of opening a kids camp some day.
On another whitewater adventure, I was one of the paddlers up front that is responsible for keeping the boat on course on the rapids-- NOT an easy task. Of course, this was taken when I was still in the boat.
This is our boat on the Deschutes River as we navigate through the Big Eddy rapids.
Check out that look of determination on my face! It takes all your concentration and energy to get down those rapids... but its a real rush at the same time!
From this picture you really get a sense of how hard you have to fight to stay on course through the rapids!
Back in the boat and traveling safely down the river. It was a scary ride, but I would definitely do it again!
A big thanks to my guide Logan Fizer who literally rescued me from the churning waters!