Time with Joal, Liz, Amaya, and Rowyn Lee June 26th - July 2nd 2024

I am spending time with as many family members as I can before I head down through Mexico and my fist stop was to see my younger brother Joal and their family, Liz, Rowyn and Amaya.  This family is soooo fun and adventurous.  As soon as I got to Pullman, Joal was pulling me into a two day awesome white water rafting trip down the Wallowa river and onto the Grande Ronde.   It was amazing.  Here is what they have to say about it.  Thanks guys, that was an Amazing time with you all.

Rowyn: I had a lot of fun this weekend, even with a broken leg. The first day when we pulled up to the campsite, it didn't look like there were any camping spots left. Dad decided to ask a woman in a bigger site if there was any extra space, and when she said yes he was so overjoyed that he gave her a hug. There were some boys about Amaya's age in the camp next to us, and Clinton decided to play matchmaker for Amaya and Ivy and ask them to play our camp in a football. The next morning we finally got onto the river, and after a while of rowing, we all got our "raft names." I was Sonar Flickman and Clinton was Capitan Flames. It wasn't long before we hit our fist rock, and it almost swept Ivy out of the boat. Thankfully, we all stayed afloat. After hitting about 15 more rocks and knocking Amaya and Mom out, we finally made it to camp #2. We had a fire and ate some Oklahoma beans, then went to bed. The next day was pretty similar, except instead of Captain Flames being the raft guide it was me. I wasn't much better about avoiding rocks. We all ended up safe and sound at the last camp, and started to head home. We stopped in Lewiston at a Mexican restaurant and ate a good dinner and some delicious churros. Then we all headed home and had an awesome night of sleep. 

Joal: Clinton arrived in Pullman, and I asked for a tour of his van. It was really impressive to see all the modifications he has made to it: the solar panel on top the battery bank, the tanks of water and gas, the engine, the luggage racks; it seems ready to take him to a lot of places where he can do a lot of good. The next day, we finished preparations for the rafting trip and then headed to the tiny town of Minam, Oregon, at the base of the Wallowa mountains. We wedged ourselves into a couple of other people's campsites, and Clinton, Elizabeth, and our friend Rachel started setting up camp. A friend of mine and I made the nearly three-hour roundtrip journey to shuttle a vehicle to where we would end our rafting trip near Troy, Oregon. We got back late, ate a quick camp meal, and went to sleep. It got light early, and we started breaking camp, lit a fire, and started cooking breakfast. Down to one vehicle, we had to make two trips to the boat launch site, and we didn't get on the water until 11:00 a.m. The water was moving at a good pace, and there were some little rapids. We had two 15-foot rafts, one with everyone paddling, and one oar rig. I was on a standup paddle board. For the next five hours, we splashed and swerved through rapids, boulders, and submerged rocks. Clinton captained the boat with the paddlers, and Ben captained the oar rig. The kids sang songs, made up names for each other, and sometimes paddled. I had never taken a paddleboard on river before, and I wiped out many, many times, occasionally getting swept downriver for hundreds of feet, banging against rocks as I struggled to climb atop the paddleboard without losing the paddle. About 20 miles downriver from where we put in, we finally pulled to the side and staggered out of the boats in a pleasant camp site. We set up camp again, made a ring of chairs, and talked while we prepared dinner. As the evening turned to night. we drifted off to bed and, worn out from a long, challenging, sunny day, we fell asleep quickly. Next day, we ate breakfast, packed up, and hit the water at about 10:00 a.m. We had a few of the kids take turns captaining in paddle boat: Rowyn, Amaya, and Ivy. Clinton and Elizabeth tried their hands at captaining the oar rig, which was more awkward and challenging than they anticipated. We pulled over on a small island for lunch, then Ben and I went in the oar rig with the intention of getting to the take-out site early and getting a head start on the long shuttle drive. Along the way, there were hoards of lethargic flies that looked like the deerflies or horseflies that would bite us when we were kids, but these just sort of bumbled about, seemingly half-dead, landing on whatever surface they could, and they didn't bite us. Ben and I got to the take-out site, moved our raft to a good take-out location, and headed to the car. By that time, the other boat arrived, and they started unpacking while Ben and I drove off. After another long drive on dusty, bumpy roads, we returned, packed everything into Rachel and Ben's Honda Pilot and our Toyota Prius, and we headed out, stopping in Lewiston, Idaho for dinner. The rafting trip was a lot of fun, and it was a great opportunity for genuine connection with each other and nature. It was refreshing to mostly be focused on the elements, the raw stuff of life, and friends and family. 

Elizabeth:  My favorite memories of our time with Clinton are the rocks we managed to get stuck on and navigate away from in our raft.  Nobody tries to get stuck on rocks, but it definitely made the rafting more exciting and more interesting.  We all had to work together to figure out the best way to get unstuck. I am especially thankful that Clinton plucked Amaya out of the water immediately after she was popped out by our collision with a large rock.  She said she barely even realized she was out of the raft before she felt Clinton hauling her back in.  Clinton helped everyone have fun and keep up a good attitude, even when they were tired, wet, or being attacked by flies.  

Amaya: The weekend was super fun, and I liked hanging out with the cowans and  singing made-up songs on the raft. It was nice to fall asleep with the sound of the river right next to our tent. There was a pretty strong rivalry between the right and left side paddlers, which was good motivation to keep the raft moving. The river was beautiful, but it could have with fewer flies. It was a really fun and i'm glad we were all able to get together and have the best weekend.