Eric's Story, Part I (a continuing saga)

As my kayak crashed against the rock, I began to think that maybe this was not the best idea. As soon as I fell out I was rushed down the famous Murderers Barge Class V rapid. I was sucked into a hydraulic, and spun around and around like huge washing machine. At this point there were multiple problems. I hadn't known I was about to go under so taking a deep breath had not been my first thought. I was quickly running out of air. God, I don’t want to die. Not like this. The point came when all my air was gone, but I was still under being tossed and turned by the strong current. In a moment I knew I would have to take a breath. Here it goes...this could really be bad, but I had no choice...

To my astonishment, what filled my lungs was not the cool water of the river, but pure air. I couldn’t believe it! My head must have popped above the water a quarter of a second before I took the breath. I swore I was still under water. However, the fight with the river was not over. Murderers Barge was just the first of consecutive Class V rapids. Somehow my kayak bumped right into me, and instead of facing the other rapids we headed to the left into a calmer pool. At this point I was still terrified. I couldn't touch the bottom of the river, all my strength was gone, and I still needed to get back into the boat. The life jacket and the grace of God were keeping me alive. I headed to a large rock and somehow climbed onto it.

I later learned that during this time, my brothers-in-laws didn’t see any of this, and were starting to talk about how they were going to tell Leila. Her father just died in December and now this...They raced up the hill above and thought, Maybe he made it...

--To be continued...