Hi everyone!!! We're back. Whew!!! What an incredible vacation!!!

I finally plowed through emails but haven't answered many. Sure looks like a TON of posts here to get caught up on, too. What a chatty bunch! I did indeed miss you guys and really wish you could have been on the trip with us, although we would have had to charter a few hundred buses, along with many, many rafts.....

Any highlights to point out for me? Did I miss anything monumental?

Very tan and stringy,

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001

Answers

Hi, Hi, Hi Sheepish! Yes, the BTS United States Map! We all had fun doing it, and tell me what part of the state you are in and I can place your name accordingly. (I just put you in the middle)

After you catch your breath, you can tell us all about your trip!

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001

WELCOME BACK.............REALLY MISSED YOU. Can't wait to hear about your trip. What does stringy mean........did you lose a bunch of weight??? Should I take a big canoe trip to get skinny???

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001

Welcome back! We'll be waiting to hear your stories!

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001

Howdy!

Stringy probably means my hair ( I did wash it a few times! But today I got to wash it with *soft* water....what a divine experience!) I also had a chance to get in better shape: off-loading gear from the rafts every day; plus lots of daily hiking up into side canyons, and esp. the Bright Angel Trail (10 miles of downhill hiking...not especially hard, but rather trying b/c of the 110+ temps.) Plus too hot to eat very much!

I saw the map! Very, very cool! What a lovely idea! I'll post my location somewhere over there....

Yeah, I'll bore you with parts of the trip from time to time...can't help it. It was a fun experience. Plus we went sea kayaking on Lake Powell, saw California Condors (validated!) and tasted lots of good wine in California. Also spent a night in Las Vegas (eeewwww.) We also camped in Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona, both to and fro...

Today it's about 70F here. It feels SO good to be home. We had furnace-type temperatures most of the vacation. Our first day in the Canyon was 111F in the *shade* (thermometer stopped at 126 in the sun)...we spent the afternoon lying in Bright Angel Creek, sipping tequila (not the recommended method of hydration! Yikes!)

Water levels were kind of low, but the rapids were still cold and refreshing!

Critters are all fine and apparently missed us. Our neighbors are outstanding! They did a great job critter sitting for us.

Gotta run... need to start reading all these posts you all wrote!

So glad to *hear* your familiar voices!

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001

Missed you Sheepish, WELCOME HOME! Tren

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001

So good to see you back where you belong!:)

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001

Hi, Sheepish, I posted a welcome home letter to you last night, but it apparently failed to go through.

Welcome back. I'm jealous! I've always wanted to float the Grand Canyon.

Is it true that the water is way too cold to even go wading in?

JOJ

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001

Thanks! Glad I belong somewhere!!! :-) This is a great place to belong!

Re: water temperatures...nah, it's cold, but very wade- able....especially when the air temperature is so hot and/or you have to urinate! (that's where it goes...lotsa water...even at "low" water...9000-18000 cfs which we were running on...so it flushes it out fast...but no solids...all that has to be carried out.)

(Where was I? Oh yeah...)

Running rapids gets you nice and cooled off! Actually, there were a few spots near the end of the trip where folks were jumping off the rafts into the water (in some placid spots.) It was just too hot to not be wet at that point.

No injuries, thank God. We had folks with very sore muscles from the ten mile hike in, though...and one fellow, who is 76 (!) nearly didn't make it down the trail....it's tough when it's hot out, and being that age, the heat must be *much* more challenging. I got bit by an ant once, and several others got a bite or two. No scorpion stings or snake bites though. And a few folks undoubtedly must have had hangovers, although I'm sure glad I didn't! There were two chopper med-evacs from Phantom Ranch, fortunately not from our parties. One was heat stroke/heart condition, and the other was from plain ornery-ness, I heard!

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001

Glad to see you back; and glad you had a great trip!!

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001

welcome home sheepish. always fun to see other places but its true, there is no place like home (especially the pacific northwest);)

-- Anonymous, August 08, 2001

Hi jz, true! Especially on a beautiful day like today...it's going to be in the upper 80s here (hot for us....I *do* feel for you folks in the sweltering heat....but very lovely here.)

Speaking of NW: We did have a problem in E. Oregon (at a campsite south of John Day.) This was on the way home, and we had been driving through Nevada for a day-and-a-half and were just about whooped-out tired. We found a nice quiet spot in the National Forest, but it soon became populated with folks who felt it necessary to make LOTS of noise all night...howling at the moon, racing their cars, yelling, etc. Since this place is well off the beaten path, no rangers or sheriffs or anyone came by to visit. We dealt okay with the noise and were tired enough to sleep through most of it, but at 1:30 a.m. when they started firing off guns, we decided to pack up our gear, tent, etc., and move on! We took everything down in the moonlight, and drove down a deer infested pass to another campground. (Watching out for deer when half asleep was challenging! We must have seen about 2 doz in as many miles.) However....the campground was full! We spent the night sleeping in the car. I guess that could happen anywhere besides the Pac. NW, though!

-- Anonymous, August 09, 2001