My 2 year verizon contract ends today. My 2 year AT&T contract begins

It’s about two hours of rafting bliss turned to four hours of rafting nightmare. The challenge is to float down the Manistee River between the small suspension bridge by Hodenpyl Dam and Red Bridge. We set out to accomplish this with a team of six very inexperienced rafters. Our complications began with our lack of preparation. Only three of us had chosen our flotation devices prior to the day of our voyage. Target provided $2 inflatable rafts for the three that didn’t have large rubber inner tubes. We also bought duct tape to do final work to our devices before hitting the River. Austin, one of the more inexperienced floaters, taped his two cheap target rafts together in an “X” form. I thought this looked like a good idea and reaffirmed him that he would have no problems. It wasn’t long after jumping in near the suspension bridge that Austin found himself struggling to stay afloat.

The journey begins along a very peaceful and variably paced river. It is “lazy river” at its finest. Before you know it you are pretty bored of just floating. After finding we were only half way at 2 and a half hours, Austin and Adam dropped out and took the land route (amateurs). Now with only one raft and three tubes left, we got more determined to finish the challenge. Steve, the last rafter, suffered three cramps in his calfs as we pressed on to Red Bridge. The only problems were that we were losing sun because we started at 3:00 pm, the river was cold, and the river stopped moving. Now we no longer kept up with canoers who never knew how much farther we had to go.

Floating so uncomfortably at 1 mile an hour almost drove us to insanity. We now understand way they call it “lazy river” and that’s because you are too lazy to leave your tube to relieve yourself. An occasional racoon did provide entertainment as we lied staring at water and trees.

Seeing Red Bridge after most of your daylight has left is a huge relief. Six hours of floating with only one break to jump off a 15 foot ledge is quite an accomplishment. I am proud to have finished the Manistee Rafting Challenge. I hope this inspires you to float down something.