Quote:
Originally Posted by MahiMike
Almost died river rafting when I got stuck in a hydraulic. My son had just been born and I had recently gotten life insurance. I remember looking up to the surface thinking, "cash the check honey". Was down for a long time before I went down and swam out.
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Wow. I almost drowned when I was like 15 years old. My dad, me and my brother went canoeing on the Niobrara river in north central Nebraska. I had decided on the last day to try tubing on the rapids at the end of the two day run. It looked like a water slide to me, in fact I saw some kid go before me and he wiped out and popped up laughing on the other side...so I figured why not?
I was sitting on the edge of the tube trying to navigate a bit before hitting the rapids, and I pushed off a boulder...and the tube shot out behind me and I was standing belly deep in the river, which was just starting to pick up speed. I remember feeling the unrelenting and un-conquerable strength of the current...I was going over and there was nothing I could do about it...it sucked me under feet first, I think I hit my head on a boulder, then I got launched over the short falls at the end of the rapids and when I went under, I was in the "washing machine". I remember the stones on the river bottom were really smooth, and I remember thinking briefly "it's quiet...this ain't so bad..." then by some miracle the river spit me out and all this water came out of my lungs and they were burning...and my next thought was "No no, I want to live..."
I remember my dad running along the river yelling at me to try to stand up, but I had lost feeling in my legs and thought "Oh shit, now I'm paralyzed"...but then they started to work and I slogged my way to the shore. My dad was beside himself and yelling at me (which I understand, that's what he did when he was scared shitless). We rested for a minute, got in the car and drove home.
Crazy 30 seconds in my life that I'll never forget.