Today I tubed down a part of the Brenta river. River Brenta passes through the mountains of province of Trento, under the ponte vecchio bridge in Bassano del Grappa, past our town and finally drains into the Adriatic Sea. "A 174 km long river, River Brenta has a long history, dating back to the 16th century."
Andrew, coworker to my husband and friend of my coworker, took us on this death defying journey today. We were there to do a bit of recon because Andrew plans on taking a bunch of teenagers floating down this river a couple times this summer. I'm always up for a little adventure, especially if the alternative is to stay at home in the heat and do housework!
I was so excited for the adventure that I bought my own River Rat floatie, sure that I'd be wanting to repeat the experience several times this summer.
Well, let me say right off the bat that as soon as I took a look at how fast the water was moving, I knew we weren't going to be lazy river-ing it. These were near rapids, honestly. Then I walk right up onto an obese man and his belly sunbathing. Further, I fell chest deep into the biting cold water on my first step in. Foretelling? pshaw! That only happens in movies. All systems go!
Thank the heavans above that I thought better of bringing my Rx sunglasses with me into the water as I had originally planned.
Long story short, Mary got pulled under a tree and was wise enough to stay put at the startline. I went down the rest of the river and ran straight into a massive fallen tree myself. I was shaking, but I managed to pull myself up onto the tree, preventing myself from being sucked under. Then I climbed over the tree, praying that branches didn't break or beaver bedrooms weren't being stepped on. (Beavers have scarey teeth in all the movies I've seen.)
I made it down the river in one piece eventually. My feet still hurt. They hurt for awhile from the utter chill, but now I am feeling the bruises and scrapes from my fiasco on my hands and legs too.
While I was picking mulberries in the parking lot and rotweiler suddenly made an appearnce with a deep growl and bark. It was like a bear emerging while picking blueberries or something.
"Oh Fuck," was all I could think to say. I stood paralyzed. Really, I know I can't outrun a rot. I can barely trot across the parking lot. Thankfully he was tied to the gypsy van behind the trees.
My beloved Bodog hat that I got for free at the Snopp Dogg concert in Hawaii is thankfully the only casualty of the day.
Andrew still appears to be all greenlight on this taking teenagers down this river. I would never do it. I'll be taking Mateo there though. He was sleeping at home today in preparation for nightshift. I'll take Mateo to go swimming, because it is pretty there, but mostly to show him how insane the current was.
It is really pretty & somewhat peaceful out there though. At times the river slowed down enough that I dared close my eyes for a minute. And watching the trees as I glide by was nice. Pollen was floating through the air, and all I could hear were the gutteral croaks and persistent chirps of animals in the forest running alongside the river. I didn't see any river otters. I was told they live there.

The 34 degree celcius heat has died down a bit now. I am going to go water my garden, drink a spritzer, and put some icy hot on my neck.