Saturday afternoon was the annual skydiver whitewater rafting trip on the Merced River. I’d come down for it a couple years ago – which was the year that a massive rock slide blocked the road to the put-in point, so we did the South Fork of the American River instead. Water levels were quite high this weekend, so the river was extra-exciting.
After an early, early start (5:15 a.m.) we made it out to the meeting spot by about 8:30, looking at gorgeous weather and a great group of rafters and guides. Our boat managed to stay intact the entire trip, though others weren’t so lucky and had some “swimmers.” Everyone was safely rescued quite quickly, and the only casualty of the day was a single paddle that went for a swim on its own.
About 3/4 of the way through we stopped for lunch – sandwiches, potato salad, chips, and cookies. Nice to get some fuel in us (more on that, later … dum dum dum … foreshadowing!). We finished up, and after taking some riverside photos, loaded up the vans to drive back to the meetup and our cars. On the van ride back I started feeling slightly “off” though i couldn’t quite tell what was wrong. Slightly nauseous, slightly lightheaded, but … just “off.” My wet clothes (though polypro) were getting blasted by the A/C in the van, so I was alternately chilled and warm.
I was glad to get out of the van and back into the fresh air. We changed clothes, and I sat for a few minutes, glad to be on a non-moving vehicle. Felt okay so we hit the road back to civilization. We stopped about 10 minutes in to get some sodas – I thought perhaps something fizzy would help. About five minutes after that, I had to tell Sean to pull over – unfortunately, with the lack of shoulders on the 2-lane road, he wasn’t able to do so very quickly, and I deposited a small portion of my lunch inside the car before I got the door open. I continued making “deposits” (seven times in all, I think) till there was nothing left, and felt remarkably better. We drove a little ways further till we could pull over and got to work cleaning me (fortunately I had an extra shirt in the car) and the car (I had almost a full gallon jug of water, plus lots of paper towels and Wet Ones that got the job mostly done).
The rest of the drive home was okay but I never felt quite right. We stopped once at a rest area and spent about 10 minutes just sitting in the fresh air, which helped, then stopped again so Sean could pick something up at Lowe’s. Still I was very happy to get home to solid ground. I slept and slept and slept some more from Saturday evening till early afternoon today, getting up a few times to sip some water or sports drink. I nibbled on food today, and though I never threw up again, most of it passed rather, um, quickly through my system. I did make it out in the afternoon to take the car to the car wash (it had needed it anyway, but especially after yesterday), and to dry my laundry at the local laundromat (since all three dryers in the apartment building are simultaneously broken!).
All in all, no idea what happened – the only thought I have is that I ingested some river water which is known to have some nasty stuff in it. It’s hard when you get splashed that much to avoid swallowing from time to time.
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