Great weekend with friends

I just finished a two week stint at a software go-live.  If you have never had the opportunity to work one of these gigs, it includes long, odd hours, bad food, bad seating, moments of high anxiety broken up by hours of boredom.  Okay - this is the first go-live where I've had hours of boredom, but that's just how my life is rolling right now.  

After all of that - I was definitely in the mood for some fun, so I hooked up the trailer and went over some impressive mountain passes.  I got to go through the Sideling Hill cut in Maryland.  Unfortunately, I was driving through clouds so I didn't get any pictures, but it's impressive!  You can follow this link to check it out:

http://www.mgs.md.gov/esic/features/sidel.html

After some white-knuckle driving, I got to camp and let JoeH have the honors of backing the beastie into our shared site.  The previous night's heavy rain meant that we actually had some choices for boating destinations.  The big boys decided to hit Meadow Run which is a delightful  Class IV creek with the world's shortest shuttle.  The mere mortals decided to run the Casselman.  Tthe conversation went something like this:

Me:  Can I take your 12 year kids on my Shredder?

Allen:  Have you ever run the Casselman?

Me: No, but what could possibly go wrong?

Allen:  OK - let's go.

I had a fantastic day with the the older two Lundy kids.  The youngest rocked the river in his hard boat.  Now, you might be wondering what could go wrong.... The kids had such a good day that Allen sold his creek boat and is now in the market for a Shredder.  Yes, another Shredder partner succumbs to the fever!  I'm pretty sure that Allen didn't see that coming :)  

Day 2 brought the Lower Yough with a great level for the rubber boats and another new partner for me.  Duane and I got boarded by some of the pirate crew from Joe's raft:

The pirates' boarding attempt was not quite successful and they got to walk the plank:

  

Day 3 was the Lower Yough at normal release levels and another Shredder partner.  Again no pics - boo :(  But, Katie is a trooper!  I met her two years ago at the Lower Gauley.  Conversation went something like:

Darren:  Katie - meet Kathy.  Kathy - meet Katie.  

Kathy:  Katie - want to Shred with me?

Katie - sure.

Kathy - have you ever Shredded before?

Katie - no.

Kathy - what could possibly go wrong?  let's go!

We had a great day.