Ready....Set......Westwater

Aarrrr! It's Pirate Day. And my first post has been deleted by this darn website, so here I go again. I am going to make this shorter since the first already took awhile and it was a wasted effort. First weather is predicted to be Sunny and around 80 during the day with temps going down to 50 at night. Flow is at 3950 cfs and I'd expect it to hold close to that. WHERE TO MEET: Westwater Ranger Station, located one hour west of Grand Junction. There is camping right there. Take I-70 west and go through Grand Junction, after you cross the Utah border you will come to the Westwater exit in about 10-15 minutes, head south from there along the Westwater access road and you'll be at the river in ten minutes. WHAT TO BRING: lifejacket, drybag, coffee mug, plate, and eating utensils, medical information, flashlight or heaplamp. ITINERARY: Friday morning breakfast will be served at ranger station camp (pirate flag will mark location), next pack your drybag and take it to designated gear pile by launch ramp and prepare for shuttle. Shuttle will commence around 9am, we will launch on the river between 11am and 12. TRIP VOLUNTEERS: Teams of 3-4 (cooks and cleanup) will be arranged for each meal. Lunch duty will include prepping at breakfast, making sure lunch is easily available on river. RAFT PASSENGERS: Arrangements will be made at launch for a sear on a raft, since it looks like cancellations and additions are happening now. MENU: Friday breakfast; grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches, yogurt and granola, coffee, tea, cream and sugar. Friday lunch; peanut butter, banana, and honey open-faced sandwiches, celery and carrot sticks, lemonade and juice. Friday HAPPY HOUR and apps; IMPORTANT FUN I'd like to have a homemade cookie bake-off contest. Meaning I'd invite anyone interested to bring 2 dozen small cookies for a pot-luck spread where everyone will vote on their favorite cookie. Friday dinner: Beef Strokinoff (stroganoff) applesauce, coffee, tea, chocolate cake and strawberries for dessert. Saturday breakfast; apple pancakes, link sausages, coffee,tea, orange juice. Saturday lunch; bagels and cream cheese, chicken salad. lemonade. SAFETY; a safe trip is a happy trip. I'll need a volunteer to be chief medical person. From everyone I'll need a note on a piece of paper, listing pertinent medical information and current medications which will be kept by the chief medical person and be kept as private as possible. This is a wilderness trip and emergency evacuation is slow. If you take a hike out of camp, please inform me when you leave and return so we can be aware. MOST IMPORTANT THING; bring a great attitude. Let's have some fun! I'll be adding more information to this string as we go along this week, so keep tuned. Shiver me timbers!

Ahoy.....Already remembered the one thing I forgot. Rafters... Here's what I have for gear Rick: I'll bring the groover and groover hand wash, kitchen box, propane stove, small lantern for top of propane tree, dish wash system, ash can and firewood, 12 gl. water, trip repair and first aid, pump, spare lifejacket. Scott; table, 13 gl. water, propane tank, stove, propane tree, firepan and blanket. Laurie; table, 5 gl. water David; I forget what you have or have offered. If you want to pick something out of my pile, let me know. Boz: If there is anything you want to take care of, let me know As for coolers and food storage, I think Rick, Scott, Laurie, and David have big coolers on their boats, the problem might be the amount of cold food I'll be bringing from Denver. I might need some storage space on the way out to Utah, so I might need to rendezvous with someone out of Denver, Thursday night to transfer some stuff over to their cooler. Other food can be divided into rocket boxes and coolers at Launch. I know you'll all want to bring some repeated stuff for your own peace of mind. We'll just work things out here and at launch. Thanks for all your help. And if I forgot something, let me know.

Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of rum! I'll be bringing my best rum balls. Oh, and I'll be sure to bring me own "refreshments" to drink this time so I won't be beholden to pirates like you. Avast matey, sign me up for some breakfast duty - Friday AM perhaps?

Gee, I guess I could be the medical person/ volunteer.....if you think I can handle it:)

Rick, I'll also bring a hand-wash setup for the kitchen area. And I have a fire-blanket I may as well tote along.
Let me know if anything else comes up.

Rick,
Sign me up for some kind of duty where you need me.

Arrrrrrrrrr! Throw me in ye galley or on any ship- a- rowin the flag a skull n bones! Twad please me so if I be of saaaarvice to any scallywag dutys thar be aslong as the grog n booty flows rightly! Hoist the colors! Tis a good day to be livin the life ofa Jolly Roger squadron witha buncha scurvy dawgs an saucy wenches as thee! May the winds'n'Gods be servin up prayers for thar seas and beasties that lie in wait of our comin!

PS: I coming in on Tom's guest spot.

Sign me up to volunteer for dinner duty! I have to be in Glenwood Springs for work on Thursday so I'll be driving to down from Glenwood bright and early friday morning. I can't wait!

Two questions: (1) I'm looking for a spot on a raft/duckie, should I bring my kayak paddle? Or does this require another kind of paddle? (2) Does anyone have a dry bag I can borrow?

I'm so excited! See you all soon!
Rami

Hey Rick, yes I'll bring a big cooler, and a 5 g water. I can bring a roll-a-table. And I've got room for a passenger.
David

I have a ton of dry bags. Will bring a few just in case.