"The Sun is Shining"

Well Hello Everyone :)

I write you now from one of our boss's house. He's been working at Ace for over 20 years, and lives in a cool little house on a beautiful ridge on property. With intense old stories, a hot tub, hot shower and internet access, he's become one of my closest buddies :) He's actually one of our trainers as well, the type who might yell something like "Paddle harder you maggots!!" at any given time...

Things here seem to get more intense as time goes on. The more we learn about the river, the scarier it seems to get. They say "Ignorance is bliss" a lot here, and I personally believe that to be the case. I never feared these rivers over the last four years, as I do now. I think the veteran guide trainers, actually I know, make a point to scare the living shit outta us as frequently as they possibly can. For example, we hear horror stories such as, "I saw a whole boat with seven people on it get sucked under that rock..." "He broke his back on that hit..." "Oh she was a good guide, but quit the day one of her customers almost died..." And I'm thinking, are you freaking kidding me?! These people are seriously confident, somewhat cocky, and definitely badass. I mean you have to be to have the mental strength to at the very least make it through training...

Life off the river is no less intense. I've been recruited into construction here, where we're building a shower house and a gear room. And earlier when I said I was doing manual labor, well I must have been confused, because I am now getting worked like I'd never believed. I have a time card that I push into a machine to clock me in and out everyday, I'm constantly covered in saw dust, mud, paint and high on the fumes of some sort of sealant. I lug and stack lumber, I fill pot holes all over our 1,400 acre property with gravel, and I ache like crazy. I actually took the day off today because I thought I might keel over and die after four days straight this week. I need to get my act together today though, because my tent is taking on water and I've been sleeping in a puddle. So I need to re-tarp my A-frame structure today while it's sunny, which is super rare by the way... to be sunny that is. That "April Showers" saying is no joke here. But I can now comfortably hang out in the rain while it's 35F outside with no problem. When you live outside, you either get used to it, or you get out...

We definitely find ways to amuse ourselves as a pack though. Building and playing with fire is now standard, but someone introduced the game of "Hot Coals" to us. It's like Hot Potato, but with 500 degree coals yanked out of the fire pit instead. I think I'm pretty good at it... We have a Wing Night at another rafting company's bar, and we throw some of our guys up to sing with the local musicians. I even almost got into a bar fight last week! Great fun. It was awful actually... I was targeted as a newbie trainee, and surrounded by six local river veterans and verbally harassed for a while before my people noticed what was going on on the other side of the bar. The situation was ultimately defused, but it certainly shook me up. Like I said before, anything to scare us...

Well everyone, I miss you all very much and can't wait for the season to start so I can start seeing your smiling faces again :) Don't worry about me, I think I'll survive ;)

Lots of Love,

LB

"Living Intents"

Well hello everyone :)

I write you now from Oak Hill, WV where I have found a library with wireless service. I never thought that I'd find myself back in a library considering I just ran away from civilization, but here I am... So the last 13 days here have been pretty crazy to say the least. Before I got here I was told that we would be staying in heated cabins for a few weeks until it got a bit warmer. Well, that was sadly not the case. I pulled in and met a very rough mountain man named Bo, who explained to me that things had changed suddenly, and told me that people don't ask questions round here... He then rushed me around a huge camp site back in the woods on top of a hill to find me a spot, that was already littered with tents, campers, kayaks and other people. I luckily had enough time to set up my tent under a huge ripped tarp before the sun went down. Turns out the cabins got a bad case of bed bugs, and we were relocated to the veterans camp site. They're apparently going to be super pissed when they come back and find us there, but we now have a trainee in our group nicknamed Bear, who weighs 300lbs and carries around a club he carved out of a 4x4, so I think we'll be alright...

My first day of river training was the very next morning, Saturday the 21st. They showed us to the wetsuit room, and then threw us in the river. We did the Upper New on Saturday, and the Lower half on Sunday. By Sunday evening I had already guided through at least two class V rapids, and a handful of smaller ones as well. There's no better way to learn I guess, then from doin' it wrong. I had thought that I would be a super rookie out here, but more than half our group had never even been in a raft before. That gave me a small boost of confidence, which was then immediately ripped away when I had to guide us through giant waves of water I didn't know how to read... Reading the river is very challenging. There are pour overs, undercut rocks, underwater trees, holes, edys, wave trains, hydraulics, ferrying angles and much more that I haven't yet retained... It's very similar to an obstacle course, except that it can kill you if you do it wrong.

Monday I went hiking with a few of my new friends, and we found an overlook that took my breath away. The New River Gorge is absolutely beautiful, and I can't wait for the flowers and leaves to come back. It's still very much so winter time up here... Tuesday I got a job with a guy named Paul who looks like a young Tommy Chong, and acts very much like him too. We've been painting the zip line tower in the lake, and repairing rafts when it rains. Manual labor is quite a bitch, but I really like it. Wednesday I came down with the camp's sickness, and spent the rest of the week coughing my face off in a cold sweat in my tent. Because it rained all last week the water levels were way up, and by this past Saturday the Gauley had become runnable. I was still pretty sick, but I suited up anyway and got on the bus to the Lower Gauley. I attempted to explain to my guide that if I went for a swim in the 34F water, there was a good chance I was going to end up with pneumonia. She then proceeded to explain to us that if anyone was going to go for a swim that day, it was going to be us. We were the only ones with an NRS raft, and apparently they're finicky little boats that love to flip. Super, I thought, I'm gonna die. "You're gonna die" is a commonly used phrase usually added to the end of every sentence our guides use while explaining different features of the river to us. It's pretty calming. So anyway, were were about two hours into our trip, heading through a rapid called "Junk Yard", came up on the ass of a raft in front of us, hit the wave train at a wrong angle, slammed into the boat in front of us, and flipped right over. I jumped up to the highside of the raft in attempt to push it back down, but I really ended up just helping it right over. I was then under our raft for a few seconds before I lead myself out, and found everyone else splashing around in a bit of a panic. I was then dragged out of the water by another boat, and sat there super stoked about the sudden drop in body temperature. By the time I finally took off my wetsuit four hours later and stood under a hot shower, it was too late. I felt my fever spiking, and I headed to the hospital. It turns out I had the flu and a 101.6 degree temperature. They gave me a handful of Tylenol and an IV for a few hours, and then sent me on my way. Needless to say I sat out the Lower Gauley trip they did on Sunday.

The people here that I'm training with are all going through this too, so everyone's been really great at supporting each other. We all gather around the same fire every night, cook together, share flashlights and water... I even picked up some Benadryl for my friend Andrea today when I made a trip into town. It's becoming quite the little community. Someone came up with the catch phrase "Living Intents" because we all live in tents, and it's super intense. I think we're making shirts. But who knows, we're all poor river rats now, living in the trees... And I love it :)

Hope all is well in the outside world, thinkin of you all... One Love. LB.

Bon Voyage Baltimore!

Well everyone, the time has finally come. After all this talk about heading to the river, it's time to actually make the move... To tell you the truth, I can't believe this is actually happening... I have talked about doing something like this for a while, but now one of my stories is coming to life! I'm really excited, and way beyond nervous... I've been getting all the horror stories from my veteran guide friends, and trust me, they are heart pounding. Everything from customers who don't speak English, to broken bones in class 5's, and even some drownings... Yup, these rivers are scary. I've also been getting some pretty sound advice as well, and to you all who have dished it, I thank you :)

I'd say I'm pretty prepared, gear-wise at least. I have gathered everything from dry jackets to head lamps (thanks pefi!), an outdoor briefcase looking grill (thanks dad!), pots, pans, tents, sleeping mats... and lots and lots of non-cotton dry-quick river wear. My mom even took me to CVS for some sunscreen, Advil, and other motherly touches, thanks mom! :)

I have really been looking forward to this adventure... Looking forward to breaking free from the Rat-Race, fast paced city life, society's pressures, and worst of all, rush-hour-traffic. I have had a burning desire to get outdoors, test my personal limits, use my muscles, enjoy the sun, and feel alive again... But I know I will miss my friends and family very much... The going away parties were a blast, and so were the many good-bye lunches and dinners. You all are very thoughful and loving, and I sincerely appreciate the fantastic send offs :)

So Bon Voyage everyone! Enjoy Camp Lee and the Bay House while I'm gone, I don't doubt this summer in Maryland will be fun... I won't be using my phone very often due to the chances of me breaking it, and the lack of service, but I will set up a P.O. Box when I get there and post the address for you guys.

Lots of love!!!

LB

ps. Yes mom, I promise to be safe :)

pps. Yes Corey and Caroline, I promise to keep writing in the blog :)

<3<3<3<3<3

Getting the Job of all Jobs...

Well, I'm freakin blogging... You can thank Caroline for this :)

So, as many of you already know, I hate sitting at my desk. I even wrote a book once that was inspired from my misery of desk-sitting, "Quarter Life Crisis". Not much has come from the book as of yet, but my drive to leave my desk has not faltered one tiny bit... Over the last few years I have researched making a move to all sorts of places... Thailand, Charleston, St. Croix Tibet, Colorado, West Virginia, etc... And as time passed, all places turned out to lack job opportunities that interested me... Except for one, Wild and Wonderful West Virginia :)

For the past 4 years I have gotten a group together in September for my birthday to head out to West Virginia to raft two of their rivers. One being the New River, which is a fun river with a good handful of adrenaline heightening rapids, and a few jumpable cliffs. The second being The Gauley. The Upper Gauley is the second most difficult river in the western hemisphere, or northern america, or something like that. All I know is that it's legendary for it's gnarley-ness, and it's scary as crap. There are countless Class IV and Class V rapids, with one Class VI 12ft waterfall at the end, that they have downgraded to a Class V so they can take commercial boats down it... Commercial boats that I will now be guiding :) Holy hell...

About a month ago I headed out to Colorado to hang out with a friend of mine who guides in WV, and do some snowboarding... Colorado is an amazing place because every square foot of it is rideable, out in the Rockies at least... And of course, I fell in love with the atmosphere of it all. Cool people my age working as snowmobile guides, snowboarding instructors, dog sledders, bartenders, etc... all outside all the time riding and loving every moment of it all. So, I researched moving out there in the summer because they have 4 rivers that seemed decent, and their summers are just as fun ans busy as their winters. But as time went on, it became more clear to me that the job opportunities were not abundant, especially for someone who had never even run those rivers before. So, out of pure curiosity I applied for a Rafting Guide position in WV instead. I picked a company that I knew was really big with the failing economy in mind, and filled out an application. I told them I'd been running their rivers for 4 years, that last year I took the helm to guide a few rapids on my own (small ones), and that I was used to customer service considering I'd been a server/bartender for 5 years. They said I was "A Perfect Candidate", and I've never smiled so big :)

So it's official, I start training with ACE Rafting Company on March 21st, which will be cold as balls. As I was reading their "What to Expect" letter, I remember being thrown back the most at this line "...you may want to bring a wool sweater, wool socks and a wool hat to wear under your wetsuit and helmet, because there are few things more miserable than being cold and wet..." Super... I'm going to freeze to death. At least they let us sleep in some heated cabins for a few weeks until we're ultimately kicked out and relocated to the Guide Camps, where I will proceed to live in a tent from April to October :) They said it's like a cool little community, where people all take turns cooking and everyone really likes it. I think I'm going to love it...

So from now until March 20th, I will continue to work for my Dad at TCG, and I will start collecting the items I'm going to need to survive... And that's a literal statement, sweet huh? Expect to hear about Going Away Parties... Because I'm going to throw a few before I go to be able to say goodbye to all my favorites...