We drove to Green River on Friday night, an hour outside of Moab. It's a truck stop on I-70, essentially, and it was only $50 for Motel6 instead of $100. Definitely worth the savings. I enjoyed a warm (almost 70 degrees at 5:45 am!) 8.9-miler at a 10:55 pace to start my weekend. Photo is of me by the Green River, for which the town is named. I was going to do 10 miles but ran out of time; still I knew I would need the points for the food on the trip, so I did as many as I could. More pictures of Green River here.
Then we drove to Moab to meet our group (Leah and Cindy from the walking club met us there, and a retired couple named Jeff & Jean joined us as well) for the rafting expedition. The guides loaded up our belongings and we drove up highway 128 for 30 miles or so to Dewey Bridge, where we began our journey downriver. The first day was a very calm float trip with only one small rapid. Still, it was very beautiful, and I was out there for the scenery and the relaxation, honestly. Loren would have liked more rapids, but was enjoying the trip anyway. We camped on a small island about 10 miles downstream. It was quite lovely, though very windy. The wind calmed down just in time to enjoy a yummy dinner of pasta, grilled chicken, asparagus, and garlic bread, with dutch oven brownies for dessert :). Over a little wine, I was wishing aloud that I could get some more exercise the next day (can't racewalk on a little island covered with brush!), and one guide, Landon, said I could row the gear boat. Cool! I was pretty excited about that. Loren thought I was a bit crazy, but I was game to learn.
In the morning we got on the river pretty early (9:30 am) after breakfast and breaking camp. Good thing, too, since the guides told us that the river gets VERY crowded on weekend days, with a hundred or more rafts. We did not see any other rafts at all, which was great. Landon was true to his word and showed me how to row the gear boat. I rowed it through all of the rapids except the last one, which was more hazardous. He was going to let me do it, but I chickened out and got in the other boat with the group. I actually loved rowing the gear boat through the rapids - it was pretty fun attempting to make it go where I wanted to go, and I did OK. I made it through all of them very well except for one, where I got a bit sidetracked and bumped into the canyon wall. Oh well! 
More pictures of our rafting trip here and here.
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