It was a nice, sunny afternoon when Crew 1042 departed Kitsap en route to Plain, Washington. Twelve left in three cars to meet up with two members from Crew 67 in Monroe, Washington. There in Monroe, the combined 14 of us enjoyed a cold treat at Dairy Queen to fuel us with sugar on the latter half of the four hour drive from Kitsap to Plain. After arriving at the Hyland’s field in Plain, the youth of the crew started making a dutch-oven meal consisting of chicken, and a goulash with beans and rice. Of course, the whole time the youth were working hard, the advisors relaxed in their camp chairs in the proper advisor position. After dinner, we all enjoyed an apple crumble dessert and enjoyed an hour or two playing football in the huge field. Finally, after the long day, we all headed to our tents to rest for the rafting that would come in the morning.

People say the early bird gets the worm, so the Crew woke up at 6:30 to depart Plain and have breakfast in a nice little diner in Leavenworth. There was an abundance of great food, fellowship, and camaraderie that morning in the crew. At about 8:30, the Crew headed to the great Wenatchee River. There, we split in to two boats of seven each and started our adventure down the river with our two guides, Buddha and Sean. During the three hour adventure, the Crew had a blast. The two boats had at least ten water fights using buckets to dip into the river and dump on to the other rafts. Guide Buddha’s raft had two medium sized buckets, whereas Guide Sean’s boat only had one large bucket. During one of the epic battles, Buddha’s boat seized Sean’s bucket, making it so Buddha’s raft had three buckets and Sean’s boat had none! After all of the youth plus one of the adults in Sean’s boat offered to jump out of the raft and swim around in the ice-cold Wenatchee, Buddha’s raft decided to give them their bucket back. During one of the rapids, there was a chance to get out of the raft and float on your back through the rapid. Of course, our Crew would never give up the chance to do something reckless, so six brave Venturers hopped off their rafts and floated through. Finally, the last rapid came; Granny’s Panties. The rapid was named after the house above the rapid that would hang their underwear on a clothesline for all of the rafters to see. The daring boats roared through the white water, smashing against the waves like sledgehammers smashing into a brick wall. The crew carried the rafts off the river up to the trailer, and we rode back to where we started the adventure in a bus that the outfitters drove. Back at the base camp, we dried off and changed back into our normal clothes and enjoyed a delicious barbeque hosted by River Riders. Lastly, the Crew thanked Buddha and Sean for being amazing guides and we started our trip back home. All in all, the trip was an amazing experience. That was definitely NOT the last time we’ll be going there.