River Ride

As a young man from a single parent home who had grown up on the wrong side of the tracks, I spent my freshman year of college skipping more classes than I attended and being involved with things counterproductive to getting good grades. I wanted to have fun while forgetting the heartache I felt after my high school sweetheart ended our relationship. I did not use good judgement that year and wound up with the minimum grade point average needed to return for the fall semester. It was with those same attitudes that I left my hometown to spend the summer of 1979 working in Naturita, Colorado.

In Naturita, I was hired onto a drilling rig as a roughneck where I worked twelve hours a day, seven days a week drilling seven feet diameter airshafts into uranium mines. The airshafts provided fresh air for the miners working in the mines. Time off was scarce since drilling jobs needed to stay on schedule. The work was dirty, hard and dangerous, but it paid well. The people I worked with were tough hardworking types with a penchant for playing just as hard as they worked.

In the middle of one of our jobs, our rig broke down. Replacement parts were not readily available and it would take a few days to get the repairs made. Our boss told us to cut back our work hours for a few days until the rig was back in operation.

At the end of one of those short workdays, our workcrew decided to go swimming in a nearby stream. It was a hot day in late May. The weather was clear and the sky more blue than I had ever seen. Swimming in a clear mountain stream promised to be a nice break from the rigors of working on the drilling rig. We all knew a spot we thought would make a good swimming hole. Once there we jumped out of the pickup truck and quickly took off our shirts and shoes. As we splashed into the water it was cool and refreshing. After a few minutes of splashing each other we decided to body float down the stream and get out at a point before the stream emptied into the San Miguel River.

The body floating started out great. It was a terrific way to stay cool while enjoying our time off. The stream did all the work, carrying us downstream in single file through deep pools and shallows with small rocks grabbing at the seats of our pants. It was very serene and relaxing as we laughed and talked while floating past some very spectacular scenery. The tranquil environment made us totally oblivious to the danger waiting for us.

As we floated downstream under a bright blue Colorado sky, our human flotilla was lulled into thinking that we could safely body float in the San Miguel River. We were having so much fun, we did not consider how dangerous it would be. The idea of floating in the San Miguel River seemed like a good idea. We had no idea of what we were about to get into. Little did we realize that the river was flowing very fast from the melt water coming off the snow packs high in the mountains.

What happened next was terrifying. A few meters upstream from where our gently flowing stream entered the San Miguel River, the stream’s current began to pick up speed. What had been a lazy fun filled experience suddenly exploded into a high-speed life or death struggle between three men and the rushing current of the San Miguel. The water’s temperature changed dramatically as well. The river’s water was much colder than the water in the slow moving stream.

As the current swiftly pushed us to the middle of the river, we struggled to swim out of the main current toward the close bank on our left. My boss was able to quickly make it to the water’s edge and scrambled out of the clutches of the raging torrent. I saw him climb the river’s bank as the current pulled me past him into deeper and faster moving water. The second guy from our crew was no where to be seen. I had no idea where he was as the river pulled me further downstream.

Huge swells of fast moving water were directly in front of me. I knew it was going to take every ounce of energy I had to get myself to the river’s edge. Little did I realize I would not be able to escape the river’s powerful grip generated by tons of rushing water. As I struggled in vain against the current, it was all I could manage to keep my head above water. The relentless current pulled me across the river over a distance of about one hundred meters. My body was caught in the torrent and no amount of effort was going to free me from its grasp. Pure adrenaline kept my arms and legs pumping furiously to keep my head above water. There was nothing else I could do as the current easily swept me across the river.

The current carried me very close to the far riverbank that was now on my right. I was being swept along like a rag doll just a few short feet from the bank. My head was out of the water with my legs still kicking furiously below me. I thought if I could just keep my head above water, the current would get me close enough to grab a tree limb or a root in order to pull myself out of the water. At that point, I thought the worst was over and I would be able to escape from the angry San Miguel. But I was wrong as the harder I tried to grab hold of a root or branch, the faster the river seemed to carry me along.

As I raced toward a bend in the river with the bank on my right, I kept reaching for tree limbs and branches just above my head. Suddenly, my extended body slammed into a boulder that was just below the water that must have been the size of a Volkswagen. The force of the impact knocked the wind completely out of me and flipped me upside down as the river pushed me along. I have no idea how dangerously close my head was to the riverbed or other submerged objects. I was being dragged across the middle of the raging river completely upside down. There was no way for me to tell where the surface was as I was twisted and pulled mercilessly by the boiling water of the San Miguel.

The impact with the boulder had knocked the wind completely out of me and my lungs were begging for oxygen. As hard as I tried, I could not fight my way to the surface. The San Miguel had complete control of me. Then, as suddenly as I went under, the current shot me to the surface. My face broke through the water allowing me to gulp air. If I had stayed under a moment longer, my lungs would have burst and I would have surely drowned. The lack of oxygen and pain from the impact with the boulder were combining to put me into shock.

When I broke the surface gasping for air I found myself once again on the opposite side of the river. The river had again carried me across its width and downstream covering what I estimate was a minimum of one hundred meters, completely under water. But at last I was able to breathe the precious oxygen my body needed to keep fighting the river.

The river’s current swept me close to the bank now on my left. The twigs at the end of the tree branches hung like tiny fingers over the water as the torrent carried me further down stream. The twigs raced through my hands as I desperately tried to grasp something to hold on to. The harder I tried to grab one of those fragile twigs, the more my strength was drained from me. With my strength almost gone I began to believe I was going to die. There was nothing more I could do. It was at that moment I began to pray.

I am not exactly sure what I prayed for. All I remember saying was, “ Please God save me. I do not want to die. I will never do anything wrong again. Please forgive me for all the wrongs I have done.” I was exhausted and almost completely drained of energy. I could no longer reach for the fragile twigs hanging just inches above my head and swimming was unthinkable. It was all I could do to keep my head above water. To make matters even worse, the current was pulling me toward rapids with white caps. Those rapids were no longer the large swells of fast moving water which I had been fighting. I knew those white caps meant lots of submerged rocks and certain death. I was too weak to keep up the fight for much longer. I kept praying to our heavenly father asking him to save me, yet I prepared myself for death as I was swept closer to the rapids. I was now too weak to even move my arms. I knew I could not escape the river. No one could escape the river at that point. No one that is except for the Lord God Almighty.

It was then that a miracle occurred. In what I was sure were my last moments on the face of this earth, I spotted a boulder jutting out of the water just a few meters downstream and immediately in front of me. If I could only make my way to the boulder I would be saved. And just as miraculously as the boulder appeared, the current carried me to its base where I grabbed it and hung on for dear life. I hugged that boulder with every ounce of energy left in my body. It was the perfect size for me to hang onto and after a few moments I crawled up atop that mighty rock. Miraculously as well, the third guy from our crew, Randy, reached the safety of the rock. Safely on top of our rock and out of harm’s way, I thanked the Lord for saving me and promised him my life. I prayed and prayed giving thanks to Father God over and over. I stayed on the rock long enough to regain my strength and then climbed up the riverbank to the road going back into Naturita. I just walked in a daze not even noticing the seat of my jeans was missing.

I spent the rest of the summer working on the drilling rig and enjoying the beauty of western Colorado. Needless to say I did not do any more body floating due to my new found respect for the power generated by Colorado’s San Miguel River. By the middle of August I was on my way back home

When I returned to college in September, my attitude toward school changed dramatically. My grades improved during the Fall semester and the following Spring semester I made the Dean’s List. I achieved the Dean’s List twice more before graduating. After graduation I received a commission as an officer in the United States Army. Over the course of my career I achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

In my travels with the Army, I served in many different parts of the world. I try to repay my debt to our Father in Heaven by treating others with compassion and dignity. Today when I share my love of God with others I always think of the time when he proved that his love for me is as solid as a rock. I owe him my life.

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