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In the spririt of keeping up with tradition, we asked around to see if we could draw a new crop of thrill
seekers to take with us down to the New River Gorge in West Virginia. We had one goal in mind, get
back in one piece! We almost did, sorry Asher...

After making the VERY long but very scenic 8 hour drive from the "D" to Fayetteville, we checked in to
our cabins and got the fire buring, sort of, while we waited for the rest of the crew to arrive. Once we
were all there and after convincing Lisa that the bathrooms could actually be used, we decided to
load up on some food at the Western Pancake House. Where else would you ever go!! Good, cheap
food is just the ticket for a good nights sleep. Espescially with what we had in store on Saturday.

The following day is pretty much a national holiday in WV. Bridge day is when they close the longest
arch bridge in the western hemishphere and allow base jumpers to jump off it's 876 foot arch, down
to the New River below. The weather was perfect and the jumpers were scared, good combination
for those of us choosing to WATCH and not partake. We'd get our fix in a little less death defying but
no less courageous manner, in our opionion at least.

We left the bridge to head down to Kaymoor trail head but, in the spirit of adventure, got lost. So,
rather than start at the bottom, like we were supposed to, Jeff "chose" to start the group up on top and
hike down to it. Very interesting hike, for those who like stairs, there were no complaints. Defintitely a
more advanced trail but a bit less scenic than starting from the actual trail head.

When we arrived at the ghost town of Kaymoor we found...more stairs! The stairs leading from Upper
Kaymoor to Lower Kaymoor total roughly 900. Since our legs weren't quite tired enough, we decided
to head down to the ruins below. In all actuality, you had to have known we were going down there!
Getting down to navigate our way through the underbrush, we were rewarded with an amazing
feeling of having just stepped back into time. Most of the buildings, aside from being empty for years,
still were home to a lot of the equipment that was once used there.

We managed to get out of the buildings and hop a few fences with pretty minimal damage, aside
from some torn clothes, and head back up BOTH sets of stairs to the cars above.

Even though it only took our legs about 6 hours to recover, we were able to eat MUCH sooner than
that. Some of us decided to head over to Beckley for some good old red meat at the Texas Steak
House.

It didn't take most people long to realize that this may, in fact, be their last meal. So, we made the
most of it. Did I mention the rolls? I think they still remembered us from last year. Once we ate, we
were asked to leave due to Lisa's constant harassing of our waiter about the safety of our impending
trip. Terry said the best thing to do was give her a box of wine back at the cabins and she'd fall
asleep. So we did.

Bright and early (and cold as hell) on Sunday, it was time for some nice damp wet suits and a bus
ride to Summersville Dam, the put in for the Upper Gauley. We broke up our group into two rafts and
got it going. I must say that our guide, Tasha, was the bomb! So much for Jen and Karen's
infatuation with Luke last year, now the boys were happy!

It didn't take long for a few of us to get wet. Being that today was the last day of the season, the
guides to a few more "chances" than they would normally have done. It sounded fun until we were
told that "nobody has ever surfed this hole with an 8 person raft before" Pretty soon it was only a 7
person raft as Terry (first time) wound up underneath it. At least the cold water woke him up! As we
continued on, we realized that we seemed to be trying harder to flip the raft than we were actually
trying to avoid flipping it. Tasha almost seemed a little saddened by the fact that Dori and I stayed in
the raft with her when we went up perpendicular to the water at our first major class five. Good thing
we did as it took all of our energy to pull Bob, Lisa, Toni and Terry (second time) back in as well as
three other guys??? We weren't really sure who they were but thought it seemed like a good idea to
get them out of the water. Our 8 person raft was now a 12 person. This didn't bode well when we got
stuck broadside on a rock outcropping, for about 10 minutes!! No, Terry didn't fall out here. We got off
the rock, got rid of our extra bodies and headed down to Sweets Falls and Box Canyon.

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A tip...when there are several photographers sitting there waiting for you, something bad is going to happen. Tasha decided she
wanted to set a record and drop into the 12 foot falls with two other boats at the same time. Not a good idea. We wound up in the
canyon, but made it out. The other boats were not so lucky. Asher made it half way out, is other half stayed in the raft, allowing him
to drink the most water I've seen go down anyone's throat in my life! He made it out with a "minimally" discolored leg and enough
pain pills to last the drive home. Heading back to the pick up point was long and a bit cold and, wait...why do we have 12 again?
Where do these guys keep coming from and why is their guide sitting over there on top of that rock!?!? More importantly, why aren't
we making them paddle? We booted them once again and headed back home. Everyone was happy and maybe even a little bit
relieved?

A good time was had by all as we saw some new things and conquered some fears. No bootcamp on this trip. Just bootcamp for
the gut as I think we all came home about 5 pounds heavier but 10 feet taller!

FYI, I know Terry got tossed one more time. I just can't figure out where. We're taking bets. If you can prove it, let Dori know. She's
playing bookie...