Thank-you

My love for rafting really got kick-started on my sixth birthday.  It was a warm June afternoon and my family was rafting the Main Payette River.  As we drifted in the calm waters above Mix Master rapid my Dad suggested I row the boat down the rapid, because that is what every awesome Dad wants their six year old son doing for their birthday.  I don't recall the look on my Mom and Sister's faces, but I am sure they were full of fear.

Getting my thumb fixed after a tragic sling-shot accident
on the Owyhee River

As we approached the tongue of the rapid I was sitting in the captains seat, while my Dad sat on the cooler facing me and helping handle the big oars.  The fist big wave nearly flipped the boat. In the blink of an eye I was floundering in the water next to the boat, and in the next blink of an eye my Dad had plucked me out of the water and placed me back in the captains seat.  I didn't even know I had been thrown out of the boat.  In the calm waters below Mix Master the boat was full of excitement, as I had conquered the wild waters and safely taken my family through the rapids. I felt like a hero.

That was the first of many birthdays I have spent rafting a beautiful river.  Since then, I have had my cake on rivers all over the western US - Hells Canyon (x2), The Grand Canyon, the San Juan, the Arkansas (x3), and the Grand Ronde Rivers, to name a few.

While I was in college my Dad encouraged me to find a fun summer job, going as far as offering to pay for me to travel anywhere for that job.  I jumped online and applied to many rafting companies in Colorado.  After spending five days "interviewing" on the Salt River in Arizona, I was offered a job with Wilderness Aware Rafting (WA), based in Buena Vista, CO.  At WA I learned almost everything a guy needs to know about guiding rafting trips.  Since starting my guiding career at Wilderness Aware I have had the unique opportunity to guide trips on many amazing rivers and make great friends all along the way.

About a month ago, my Dad and I were hiking to the top of Kepros Mountain outside of Boise.  During the hike, we discussed what kind of job I would really like to have.  After a couple miles of bouncing ideas back and forth, the general conclusion was that I would love to have a full-time job marketing and selling an outdoor travel/guiding company.  LUCKY me, I was notified of a job that matched that description only days later at ROW Adventures, the company I had spent the previous three summers guiding for.

"LUCK is what happens when fate gets tired of waiting."

-Gregory David Roberts (Shantaram)

In only two days the love for rafting and the outdoors that started on my sixth birthday continues, as I will be moving up to Coeur D' Alene to begin my job as the ROW Adventure Center Manager.  I've come a long way since that rafting trip on my sixth birthday, and my Dad has provided persistent support and encouragement the whole way.

On top of Kepros Mountain with my Dad

Thanks, Dad. I love you.