Little Helpers

Esther, at nine months old, helps her dad with the big rig.

Camryn and Jackson explore our 18' expedition raft.

"I think that this is the hardest letter to get started that I have ever written," wrote whitewater addict Bert Loper to Julius Stone after his Salmon River trip (Idaho): 

for I have wanted to write it different from all the rest. You know that I took your book along with me so I could get an idea of just how to write but I have given up all hope of ever becoming a writer - the first obstacle is the lack of education and the other is my inability to handle the English language in a proper manner. I have read your introduction to your book several times and the beautiful language in it makes me despair.

"Please don't bewail your lack of education or redundancy in the use of words, " Stone replied, "because you have a forthright way - even though it might sometimes seem crude to highbrows - of expressing yourself. The whole essence of any narrative, whether fanciful or factual, is to have something to say, and then to say it."

- from "The Very Hard Way: Bert Loper and the Colorado River" by Brad Dimock

I am disappointed to type that I started 2014 with the expectation of going through Grand Canyon. Something happened to stop our trip from launching next month. 

I think I spend too much time dreaming but since rafting Grand Canyon the past two years, I believe in dreams.