Kernville 2005

6/13/05 Left at 9:00 a.m. in the morning with Rob Goldberg in the truck and the 5th wheel for Kernville California to camp and raft. We arrived at 3:30 in the afternoon and decided to camp at a NFS Campground 3 about 5 miles north of town right on the river. The temperature was 100 F. It was beautiful spot in a scenic canyon right on the roaring river. Had no hook ups so the self contained trailer features were well appreciated. We had some of Linda’s homemade bean and sausage soup for dinner. The temperature lowered nicely at night for very pleasant sleeping conditions.

6/14/05 Rob and I both slept in late getting up about 10:00 a.m. I made cheese omelets, toast, and coffee for breakfast. We surveyed the 4 mile Pump House rafting River run and decided that the class 4 rapids and high flow rate was beyond our skill. We signed up for a professional trip on a 6 man raft with a local company. The trip was really exciting and fun, costing only $25 each. One rapid was class 4 and even the class 3 rapids appeared scary. I was happy that I did not take my boats, as if we flipped it would be unlikely that we could retrieve our boats in the fast moving water and rapids. Spent the rest of the day relaxing in camp and watching the NBA finals on TV. We had pizza baked in the trailer for dinner.

6/15/05 The Kernville Chamber of Commerce had a fund raiser rafting and barbecue party for $27 so we signed up for this. The raft trip left at 11:00 a.m. and was longer than the previous day. I was on an 8 man Avon raft and the group leader. It was again lots of exhilarating fun going down this swollen river. It’s the biggest flow since 1985 at about 5,500 cfs. The barbecue consisted of hamburgers, soda, and ice cream. After the trip, we drove up river 15 miles to sight see.

6/16/05 The temperature dropped about 15 F this day. We decided to drive 33 miles up river to a 100 tree Sequoia Grove. The elevation was about 7,000’ and the conditions were like spring in the 60’s with lots of wild flowers. The drive was beautiful and the Sequoia Grove was impressive. We did some hiking, but Rob (also an MS patient) was not capable of walking more than a ½ mile and that had to be on level ground. He definitely has worse symptoms than I. We met at the MS support group and became friends. I did the infamous sail boat trip on his sail boat. Took several photos on the way home arriving back about 2:00 p.m. We then went to the local museum for a couple of hours. Had appetizers with red Merlot in the trailer, then another gourmet pizza while watching another NBA game on TV.

6/17/05 Left for home at 8:00 a.m. Arrived home about 3:00 p.m. Enjoyed the trip and was happy to share the a nice vacation with Rob. He is not wealthy and can not do expensive trips very often, so this low budget trip helped him out. Of course I enjoyed commiserating with him about our common disease; MS.