rafting in maine aug 2006

i have been compelled by ben's exhaustive, incorrigible blog to detail my own account of our trip. on friday night, buffeted by high spirits while listening to my music on the cult-classic minidisc player, we sped to our destination in only 7 hours. the next morning we rafted the kennebec river, with a lunch break in the middle. galen and ben were on a quest to "build character" and decided to forgo wetsuits. i guess all that teeth chattering and shivering makes you lose a good deal of weight so their routine is more appropriately called "diet-trim". the river was rockin and we were wild. consider our feral snarls as we conquer the rapids:after leaving the river and a quick shower we tightened our guts for a potentially long drive in the southeasterly direction on a gamble that an atlantic coast and fresh maine lobster was forthcoming. we made it to belfast roughly 1.5 miles later and it was well worth the search. welcome to young's lobster pound, well known in belfast, ME.cars in the parking lot sported NY, NJ, and even a TX license plate. it is not insanity to drive for lobster. for those of you lobster connoisseurs, ME lobster flesh is more succulent and at the same time sweet and salty. much more complex.there were 5 of us, and 14 pounds of lobster in total. and not a bit of meat was spared to the gulls.
the next morning found us in millinocket, ME, putting in on the penobscot river with a hungover guide brad and a small whitewater-luring raft. for brad, being hungover only meant that it took him a bit longer to call out some commands. it is exhilirating to ride the rapids without holding on to the thwarts, relying on intuition and instinct to steady your balance and guess what you ought to do to maintain your seat. so we dived, and dived, and whooped. and then ben's 350 pounds of muscle mass taxed the boat too far and ben flipped our boat. there is a picture of the 3 of us and our guide sliding as our boat stood vertically sideways, ben submerged, one hand hanging on to a thwart, taking the boat with him. the picture will certainly be posted when it becomes available. our last stretch on the penobscot was scenic and we soaked it in with a long playful swim. except for the mosquitos,maine is fucking beautiful. i'm buying a tent for more adventures.

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