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One October a few years back a hurricane came up the coast and hit the area in which I live with lots of heavy winds and tons of rain. Every river and stream flooded over and were running very fast.

Earlier that year I had purchased a kayak and when I saw how fast the river was moving the day after the hurricane had hit it I decided to run the river. As it often is the day after a storm, it was a beautiful sunny day.

I dropped my kayak off where I wanted to start running the river, carefully hiding it under a small bridge so no one would touch it. I then drove 3 miles down river and parked my car where I was going to get out of the river. I grabbed my double ended paddle and started walking back upriver to where I left my kayak.

Not long after a truck came by and the two guys inside offered me a ride. When they heard what I was doing they were fascinated but also let me knew they thought I was crazy. "You could get killed easy." One of them said.

The water didn't look that bad to me and I told them I'd be OK. But they had gotten me thinking maybe I wasn't being so smart. We arrived at the bridge my kayak was under and they were surprised at how well I had hidden it. They asked me one more time if I wasn't sure if I just wanted them to drive me and my kayak back to my car.

I told them I would be OK, and one them said he hoped he didn't read about me in the paper the next day drowning in the river. I just chuckled, as youths do. When I got into the kayak and set off they waved and both looked as if they were sure they had seen the last of me alive.

The water was very swift. Much quicker than it looked. Soon I was tearing down the river at a speed much faster than anything I had ever done before. The river was alive tearing at me. I reacted to her clutches and maneuvered past all trouble points. But then a tree was across the river. It came upon me very fast and in order not to hit it I had to go under the water and my kayak swamped.

I quickly exited and made sure I grabbed the kayak as soon as I was safely past the downed tree. I started dragging the kayak over to a small island in the river and the force of the water tugging at the kayak was very strong. With great difficulty I got to the island and then sat down exhausted.

Eventually I wrung out my clothes and dumped the water from the kayak and went on down the river without trouble and then exited near my parked car. Not exactly rough seas, but a very rough river.

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