toobin'

a popular video game for the nintendo entertainment system. a childhood past time, while pulled behind a boat. a brief experience on the sandy river. my story for today.

yesterday i made the decision, without much thought, that i would buy a tube and ride it down the animas river, going through a number of class 1 rapids and downtown durango. i had walked along a portion of the river and it looked great. i saw people kayaking and taking tours, down the river, and i had done it once before, so i felt it wasnt going to be a problem, just a great experience.

the previous time i had gone river toobin' was in oregon on the sandy river. this was probably 2006 or 2007. a number of us had piled into some cars for a day trip to the river. along the way we stopped and bought two tubes from a tire store and went to find a place to sit and hang out for the day. where we found our home was on the south end of a small bend in the sandy river. by small i mean it was maybe a two minute walk to the north end where you would put your tube in, and then ride it around the bend and back to home. maybe a 5 minute tube experience.

last night i parked just above where i would drop into the river, and i was caught in my truck, but that is a story for another time, this ones about toobin'! in the morning, i roused quickly and got ready to leave. figuring it would be a hot day i stuck with my river shorts, a tshirt and my sandals. it was barely 8am and it was about 52 degrees. i was cold.

i went to the store and bought a drink, then walked down to the river. it was about a 5 minute walk from the store lot and it felt good to be moving around in the cool morning air. i found a little path to the river and walked down to it. i dipped my feet in, and then quickly recoiled. the river was freezing cold! (note to self - no shit?)

for whatever reason, i hadnt planned on the river being cold, so i started to scrap my plans and went to have some breakfast. i sat and ate, piddled on the internet and found some places that rent kayaks and do tours and stuff. i called some places, catalogued some addresses and set off to talk to find a kayak. also, while at these places, i asked about the possibility of getting my own tube and toobin' myself down the river. i was told that the places dont rent tubes until the water is below a certain level. and today, it was double the level where they would rent tubes. she didnt recommend toobin' today. the places i went to werent cheap in the way i wanted them to be. i figured about $30 to rent an inflatable kayak for the day, maybe $15 or so for one of the short guided tours.

no such luck. the prices werent out of my league, but more than i felt willing to spend for a short guided experience, with a bunch of strangers. so, i scrapped that idea for the time being and looked on craigslist to buy a kayak for cheap. again, no such luck. then i meandered around downtown for awhile, stopped on the river crossings to watch the people go by on their kayaks and tours. i was looking for people in tubes, to give me confidence that i could do it.

eventually an older man and a tween girl started to walk by me and they had a tube. so i asked the guy if he had been toobin' this day. he said that he hadnt but mariah had. and i thought to myself, if a tween can go on tube today, so can i.

invigorated, i walked to my truck and was dead set on doing this. i went to a tire place and bought a tube for $10. i drove to the drop in spot and parked. i said some words to pump myself up and got out of the truck. at the drop spot i was at there was a large gathering of folks, maybe 15 folks and five kayaks, and they were all preparing to drop in. having just a tube and not seeing anyone else with just a tube, i kind of hung back and was waiting for them to go in.

they took a long time, i prepared myself. i emptied my pockets, and figured a way to attach my keys so that i wouldnt lose them should anything happen. i looked and the family was still preparing -- they were putting on sunblock. duh, i should too. so i started applying sunblock to all my exposed areas and took of my shirt and got what i could. i spent about 8 minutes doing this stuff, waiting for them folks to push off.

eventually, they didnt leave and i grabbed my tube and charged past them. i was ready. ready for anything. i walked down the little hill like a person that knew what he was doing, like i was on a mission. tube the damn river. i had waffled all day and here i was, the moment of triumph. slap myself in the face and dive in.

i tested the water. it was still rather cold, but not as cold as it was this morning. i thought about turning back, but summoned everything i had and put the tube in the water. then i waded in and got into the tube.

now, as i have said, my toobin' experience is limited. i didnt really know how to sit on the tube to get the best control of it, i figured that there is only one way to sit in it. right? well, not so. there are different ways to sit, and because i wanted to just do it before i backed out i found myself on the river trying to adjust. and i wasnt doing the greatest job, the river water was very cold and i was tried to sit cross legged so that my feet werent dangling in the water. that didnt work, and i nearly capsized myself trying. i was mumbling to myself, encouraging myself not to fall out, because there would be no way i was getting back in.

the current was pretty fast from the get-go, i kind of dropped in on a mini-rapid which wasnt the smartest thing. i was flailing my arms around trying to maneuver myself towards the middle of the river. quickly, i came to a bend in the river and found myself going over some rocks, one foot on the tube one in the water, freezing. but i took a moment and laid back and enjoyed it. i felt like i had accomplished what i wanted to do.

and that is important, because around that bend was my first real rapids. a number of boulders sticking out of the water, and me trying not be be cold and trying to maneuver around them. the first one i got around okay. the second one, i ended up going over and lost all control of my tube which then drove me straight into a third boulder which was rounded, but stuck out of the water a good 2 feet. my tube tried to go over the hill and in the process forced me off the tube.

i panicked a bit and went into survival mode. i never even thought about trying to rescue the tube, i latched onto the first rock that i could and held myself there for a few moments. then i pulled myself up and closer to the edge so i could stand. the current was pretty fast and i was behind the boulder so it was moving around me. i stood and watched my tube float away down the animas river.

then i was faced with getting out of the river. i had been nearly completely submerged and was soaking wet. i was standing in the river about 8 feet from the bank. there was no trail or anything that led me from the bank to the park that lay above, i had to blaze one. i stepped one foot out into the current and felt how strong it was. i knew i couldnt be hasty, i didnt want to get swept further down or fall down and hit my head. no one knew where i was and there wasnt anyone around.

i planted my first foot firmly and lifted my second, wobbled a little and held onto the rock. i felt my foot had a good plant so i swung my second one forward into the current in front of a smaller rock and planted it there. now i was fully in the current and moved a bit faster, knowing that i could just fall forward and my head and hands should reach the shore. i took some quick steps and was on the ground again. i started to recap in my head the events that just took place, but wiped it away, now i had to climb through 15 feet of brush at an extreme angle and sandy footing.

that was harder than getting out of the river, but eventually i made it to the top, scraped up quite a bit and looking rather haggard. there were two teenage boys throwing a ball and one looked at me. i told him i lost my tube, put on my sunglasses and turned to walk back to my truck.

and when i turned, i was met with quite a surprise. my truck was only about 100 yards away from me. i had figured that i made it a fair bit down the river, it felt like a long time. but the bend in the river took me out and then back to the shore where i had parked and i hadnt gone very far at all. i laughed to myself and sat on a bench.

the family that was preparing their kayaks still hadnt left and i didnt want to walk back by them and explain the events that transpired over the last three minutes or so. once they dropped in i walked back to my truck, got my book and sat and read while my clothes dried off some. i thought about my experience and was a bit unhappy for losing the tube. i had planned to deflate it and take it with me for my next toobin' experience, but these things happen.