The Cast of Characters

First and foremost in the group were the guides... Chelly, Matt, Tom, Justin, KJ, and Allison. They were the best! Probably every rafting group thinks their guides were the best, but this group was great!

With many years of experience (KJ's been doing this for 35 years!), they knew what they were doing. They propelled the rafts through the rapids, they packed and unpacked the rafts daily, they cooked our food, they kept us entertained, they otherwise helped us when needed. Thanks for everything...

There were six of us passengers that were "full trippers" - Tom and Nancy, Sue and Fred, Patrick, and myself.

From California were Tom and Nancy, shown above with KJ. They are an amazing and inspiring couple, age 78 and 79 respectively.

From Louisiana were Sue and Fred, riding with Matt.

Patrick is a native of France currently residing in Virginia where he works with NATO.

And, of course, there was me!

On the seventh day of the journey, the eleven members of the Upper Canyon group were exchanged for a new group of eleven who would travel with us in the Lower Canyon. It seemed like we had just "gotten used to" the first group and then a new bunch came along that we had to adjust to. It's not that either group was better than the other, they were just different. After a day or two of adjusting to the new group, all was good. They turned out to be pretty nice people too!

The Upper Canyon group consisted of Elana and her mother Priscilla; friends Ashley, Dawn and Susan; and in the paddle raft were Dave and Jacque, with friends Jeff and Sue; and Peter and Deanna.

Elana... I don't have a photo of her mother Priscilla.

The three friends from Pennsylvania: Susan, Ashley, and Dawn. Photo courtesy of Dawn.

Dave and Jacque (friends of Jeff and Sue).

Peter and Jeff.

Jacque and Sue.

Deanna had the misfortune of injuring her ankle while on the paddle board one day. Her misfortune allowed me to ride in the paddle raft that day. (It was a short day with only one small rapid.)

The Lower Canyon group... I don't have a photo of DJ...

From Ohio were Dar and Jim.

From Arizona were Jason and Sarah.

In the paddle raft were friends from California... Russell and Tana, Dave and Mary, and Tony and Carrie.

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Note: The page Grand Canyon Raft Trip lists all of my posts published about this Grand Adventure!

Published under a Creative Commons License.
Becky Wiseman, "The Cast of Characters," Kinexxions, posted October 25, 2013 (http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-cast-of-characters.html : accessed [access date])