But anyway, here's what happened (my version):My wife said to me on Friday, as she was leaving for work, "When is Gauley Fest?"
I replied, "This weekend."
She responded with a casual, "Call me at lunch."
So, I did and at 12:30 a.m., Saturday morning, I came rolling into PAC's campsite and crawled into bed and slept soundly until I heard the Canadians crashing into things as they were getting themselves organized and preparing breakfast
After saying our "howdy"'s and spending about 60 minutes of discussion on where to eat breakfast, we go to Bob Evan's and load up on coffee, eggs, and hash browns, then fart around for a few hours while we set shuttle for running the Lower Gauley. PAC asked who would run shuttle up to the the Middle Gauley putin and my response was (and you are not going to hear these next words for a LOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGGGG time),"I'll run shuttle."
We throw the boats in, and on, my truck, toss in the gear, load Canadians, regionally indigenous boaters (including a kyacker, which SHOULD HAVE given me good karma), and one (very rare) Chinese Canadian
, into the cab and we are off with PAC trailing with the others in our group. I believe we had a total of 11 boaters (3 kyackers, 3 cboaters, 2 sets of Shredders, and an open boater (yay, Al! ).After a LONG drive up the short way on the dirt road called, Panther Mountain Road (and we went the short way
), we eventually arrive at the Wood's Ferry putin. We got on the river in just a few minutes and away we were for a great day of boating, self rescue, boat-assisted rescue, and swim-assistance rescue. Plus, a lot of playing, surfing, chatting, losing our group on occasion, chatting with the raft guides and customers, and catching up with other boaters not seen in a few years. There was some great entertainment from each of us in how we were conducting our boating prowess (aside from me yelling at that "poor" Chinese Canadian for flipping in Canyon Doors rapid (her response, with a great big smile, was that her friends consider her to be "entertainment" on the river). In short, the trip down the Middle and Lower Gauley was great. Just the way you want the trip to go......with a few exceptions:
- 1. We started late in the afternoon
2. We got off the river even later (ended up chasing the setting sun and the dropping river level)
3. I discovered, after we had almost got back to the putin, that I had left my key on the ground at the takeout.
We went back in the dark to look for the key, checked all my gear, the ride vehicle we were in, and my boat, went to the putin to pick up PAC's vehicle, checked everything a second time, and left my truck at the putin with a bunch of local ATV'ers who were kickin' back and slurpin' down some nice cold ones from the coolers on the back of their ATV's. Thoughts of vandalism, demolition, dismantlement, theft, fire, and explosions were racing through my mind (you just have to appreciate just how far back in the woods the location of that putin really is
).With great fortune, PAC spotted the park rangers driving through and we talked them into going back to my truck. I was able to access the cab and took everything that was of value, personal value, and things I did not want stolen. I locked the truck up (using the fob that was in the truck since I did not have the key, or even a spare key) and left with the same images racing through my mind. PAC, his son Jacob, and I arrived at Gauley Fest by 10:00--just in time to do a quick sweep through the compound, catch up with other boaters, and check out stupid people doing stupid stuff (that has to do with sumo wrestling and alcohol, LOTS of alcohol).
After a restless, sleepless night, we had breakfast at Bob Evan's and Jay spent the rest of the day on Saturday getting me to the truck and met the tow truck driver, who took my vehicle out of there, took me back to the take-out to look around some more, run up to Summersville to see if I could rent a car and leave Jay alone (which was fruitless on both parts), then drove me all the way out to Beckley were I got a hotel and eventually stopped pestering Jay. The rest of Saturday was spent catching up on TV shows and reading James' letter to the Jewish Christians.
Monday, today, came around and I finally got my brand new key, hopped in the truck and left for home. I got back just 1 1/2 hours ago and it is nice to be back. I'm grateful to ALL the boaters (especially to PAC and Jay, "not Elvis") for the time they gave up to be with me and make sure I was taken care of. Wonder if Jay EVER got to meet up with that guy and pick up the boat he was supposed to get Saturday afternoon?
And that is my story,
KNeal (please don't ask me to run shuttle)
If I fine a key is the 
...), but I can assure everyone here that May, the Chinese Canadian paddler mentioned in KNeal's report (which I really enjoyed), has a great sense of humour and would most likely not have been offended by this report at all.
!
Turns out, the truck driver timed the stopping distance behind Jay very poorly, locked up and swerved his cab into the other lane to keep from driving through Jay's truck! 
Oh, large steaming pile of dog doo!