In July, I
had the unique opportunity to spend 9 days in Arizona, 7 of which were floating
down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. I’m in the middle of
blogging through the amazing week from my hand-written personal journal. Bite-sized chunks ... I hope you enjoy
them. 
Monday, July 16, 2018, 6:15AM
(at Whitmore’s Wash)
So it was relatively late
in the afternoon that we arrived at our campsite – almost 4:30. Usually we camped between 3-3:30. As soon as we landed, a light rain started. I managed to get my tent set up before the
rain got heavy – and then the skies really opened 
The rain eventually
stopped, so I had a quick bath in the River and put dry clothes on. I unfortunately had to put on my last pair of
clean underwear – which means I wear them overnight and all day today! I put all of my rain gear on – pants, jacket,
and even rain shoes (over my socks – because both shoes and sandals were disgusting). Bright side – kept me fully dry during all
the evening rains! Downside – made
packing today harder. 
Last night during circle
time everyone shared about their experiences this week. It was quite encouraging and
informative. Later today, maybe on the
bus, I’ll write a bit about each person on the trip.
Up early this
morning. The camps was bustling by
4:30. We were to be all packed up and
ready for the copter by 7AM. I managed
that no problem. I had to keep my shower
stuff (clean shirt, soap, deodorant) “handy” to get a quick clean at the Bar-10
Ranch. And my duffel bag weights
probably 10 pounds more than it did on the way here – all of the accumulated
water and sand and dirt and sweat has made my clothes very heavy and stinky! 
So today … the copter
will take us up, an 8-minute copter ride to Bar-10 Ranch on the North Rim of
the Canyon. There will be 5 or 6 people
per ride, so probably six convoy trips.
Then we have a charter flight on a small prop plane from Bar-10 to
Tusayan, the main Grand Canyon village on the South Rim. Our charter bus will meet us at the airstrip
in Tusayan to drive us back to the Radisson in Phoenix. 
Busy day of travel – quite overwhelming to anticipate! I can’t wait to see Vanessa, Alethea, and Keilani tonight when I get home! It has been TOO long.
July 16, 3:20PM
Crazy travel day, but I
made it to the airport gate on time!
Hooray!
Our helicopter ride from
the campsite started at 8AM. I’d never
been on a helicopter before, so it was quite a thrilled! I was in the 4th of 6 groups of
five to take off. Feeling the blasts of
air on the ground as the helicopter 
Pretty neat to be in such
a small, manoeverable craft. Landed at
Bar-10 Ranch on the North Rim – Bar-10 has a working ranch, a gift shop, lodge,
SHOWERS, a heli-pad, and a small airstrip.
I had time for a quick shower – the sweet feel of running water! – and
cleaned all the sand off my body, out of (all of) my orifices, and out of my
sandals. Nice feeling of
clean-ness. The way things worked, I
wish I’d packed one more pair of underwear – but at least these only went on at
6PM yesterday. Still, it wouldn’t been
nice to feel totally clean after the shower. 
After showering, our
charter plane was about ready to leave.
Our aircraft had some (unexplained) mechanical issues which lowered its
weight capacity, so two of our group (trip leaders) had to take a helicopter
(55-minute ride) to Tusayan instead of the flight (35 minute ride). The flight gave another set of amazing views
of the Grand Canyon and Colorado River.
The adventure ended, for
all intents and purposes, when our plane landed in Tusayan. We waited for the last of our group to
arrive, used the bus wifi to
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