Smith's Recall

In Woodland, there is a canal that comes off of the Provo River with a pretty calm current and is much deeper than the river.  Graydon, Jenni ,Smith and I went to float it last Saturday.  We found a great little life jacket for Smith, some tubes and we were off.  The water was FREEZING!  We're right in the Uintahs, so it is just ice cold water.  As soon as Smitty felt the water he was immediately apprehensive and well, terrified to go down.  We got him on my lap, waved to Lainey and my parents and headed down the canal.

We didn't get very far before we had to bail, get out and walk around a low bridge.  Getting back in the water proved to more difficult than our first attempt.  The water here was much more swift and a few yards down, there was a rather large tree branch sticking half way out of the water.  Gray lost his tube, and since he was helping me with Smith, Jenni floated down to catch the tube.  She hit the branch, and continued on.  So, Smitty and I got on, and hit the same branch.  We weren't so lucky.  We flipped over backwards which sent Smith head first into the chilly water.  The problem was that I was on top of him with the tube on top of me, and because of the current, I was stuck and couldn't get him out of the water.  Graydon was only a few yards away, and saw our plight, and came to the rescue.  Safely in Gray's arms and dripping wet, Smith choked out, "This stinky life vest didn't even work!"

That was it for Smith.  We took him down a little farther to meet my parents and he high-tailed it out of there.  Jenni, Gray and I had a great time floating and shivering the rest of the way, but because of a few more trouble spots, and another tip over (Jenni), I was glad Smith had headed for dryer, warmer ground.