Happy Birthday America – 2004

The day started out with getting up early and getting the truck and boat ready for the river. I put on the new license plate on the boat. I put on the new tabs. I headed to Pullman. I made a few phone calls to people to see if anyone was interested in going along.

I had called Chris last night. With the way I treated him last time we hung out I doubted that he would want to go. But he said he would go. This was going to be my chance to apologize to him. I went to pick him up first. He got in and we headed to get Ryan from Kristine’s apartment. I tried to find a way to say sorry but I couldn’t until we were at Kristine’s apartment. Finally I told him that I wanted to apologize for the way I treated him last time we went out. He said that he thought I was just in a bad mood. I told him that it was not a bad mood. I told him there was no reason that I should have ever treated him the way I did. I told him that sometimes I have a hard time letting a grudge go. I again said that I was sorry. He said that he accepted it. I felt better. He said if I ever want to talk about what he did that caused me to get mad he was open to talk about it. It is so petty that I am not going to bring it up.

Ryan came out of the apartment and joined us. We headed to get some gas in the boat and the truck. Then we went to Safeway. We got some food and I picked up some pop and water. On the way to my truck I saw a few full-time guys from Pullman fire. They said hi. Away we went to the river.

Once at the boat launch Chris helped me get the boat ready to launch. We got the canvas covers removed. I got the boat plug in. I undid the straps and unhooked it from the front of the trailer. I waited for someone to get his boat out of the water. I got my boat in and it started quite rapidly. We pulled away from the dock and got into the water. We got everything situated and then I took a few pictures of the area as well as Ryan and Chris. We decided that we would go to Clarkston and Lewiston. I first drove to the dam. It takes forty-five minutes to get from the dam to the L-C valley. Like clockwork that is how long it took. The water was rough in a few areas, but for the most part it was okay.

We got down there and cruised between Lewiston and Clarkston on the rivers down there. Then we went tubing for a while. Chris was the first one to go. The water was a little bit on the cold side. After Chris went a few times and fell off it was Ryan’s turn. It took Ryan a while before he would finally get into the water. He did not want to deal with the cold. Finally he jumped in. Then he got on the tube and I drove him around a little while. I also was teaching Chris how to drive the boat and tow someone. So I actually had Chris do the towing of Ryan. We did that for a while then I took my turn. On my first crash I rolled on top of the water about four to five times before crashing into the water. After a few crashes I got into the boat and we headed to Rooster’s Landing for lunch. We sat on the deck for a while and chowed on good food and we all had a dessert. I found out that Chris will be leaving town in about a month and will be gone for about three to four years, including a trip to Afghanistan. I certainly hope he will be safe. I am happy that I heard Pastor Casey Treat on the TV a few weeks ago.

We got back to my boat and fueled it up again. It was a little after four pm when we headed back to Granite Point. Once we got there we went near the rock and watched a few people jump. I saw a few of them do some belly flops. It looked like it hurt. I unhooked the tube to do some more tubing. Chris and Ryan both said they did not want to go. I wanted to. The water was so nice. It felt great. I was on a big corner when I fell off the tube and slide on my back a few feet on top of the water before I finally went in the drink. After a few rounds. Ryan decided he would go out too. Ryan did a few rides. Chris said he would go out now. So Chris got on the tube. Ryan challenged me to ride backwards. I said I would if he would. He did. It only lasted a little while before he said it was hurting his back. So he got out and I tried it. It felt like someone was punching me in the kidneys. It started to hurt more and more. I realized that it was probably do to the rough water. I got out and Chris went in the tube.

I had Ryan in the tube when he was sitting upright in the tube. He wanted his sunglasses so he could see because the water kept splashing in his eyes. I had him going around a few times and he finally bit it. He came up without the sunglasses. He said he felt one arm break off and then the glasses got ripped off his face during the crash.

We traded out for a while back and forth. Pretty soon the night was moving along and the water started to get more and more smooth. Then Ryan and I rode backwards a lot. It felt so nice to do so. We continued to take turns and ride the tube as the sun was getting lower and lower in the sky. We headed back to the dock. It started to rain really hard. That was strange because it had been hot and sunny all day.

I back my boat trailer into the water and by this time the rain was done. We got the boat out of the water and got it ready to travel. I took a few more pictured before we headed to Pullman.

When we got back we went to Safeway. I talked to Russell to find out what we needed to bring to his place. He said just us. He said we will eat later on but if we got something small to hold us over that would be good. While talking to a ten-six-seven was shopping as Safeway. Once he was out of ear shot I described him to Russell. He was a blonde with blue eyes. He was well built.

I got some pop and then we all went to McDonald’s for some hamburgers. I dropped Chris off at Orton so he could get his car. He followed us to Russell’s apartment. I brought in my fireworks. We all said hi to each other. It was close to ten pm. The Pullman show was supposed to happen soon and I wanted to see it. April, Ryan, Chris, and I went to the Wheatridge Condo’s and hung out by Tori’s condo. He was on his deck. I chatted with him for a while waiting for the show to start. It was cool. You could see the whole thing, but the big deep booms could not be heard there. After the show we went back to Russell’s apartment.

I got a beer and gave one to Chris. I held mine up for a toast with Chris. I said “to friendship.” We drank to that. Then we got the fireworks and headed out back to the courtyard to light off the fireworks.

We did a few aerial shots. I set up two to go off at the same time. One went off first and it knocked over the second one. It was shot at an apartment building across from us and it hit it, then it blew up. Everyone was wow-ing that. A few people from an apartment below Russell’s out watching our stuff and lighting off their own. Jason who is a cook at Safeway and who I have gambled with was there. He reminded me of Jason from Pullman and WSU fire. He has great blue eyes and blonde hair.

We continued to light off fireworks until they were gone. By the end we were lighting off five or six aerial devices at once. I shot off my three-hundred shot Saturn Missile Battery. It was awesome. I will buy one again next year. I tried again to make a sparkler bomb and ended up only with a big flame.

After the fireworks were done we ate and had some more beer. Chris had to leave early. I said goodbye to him. The rest of us sat around and chatted about some stuff. We talked about jokes, South Park, and some other stuff. We were joking about the South Park episode where they had a Michael Jackson guy. He said that one quote he said in an interview. “No, that’s ignorant.” So we laughed and made a ton of jokes about that.

At about two am I finally left and went home.