This third day contains a lot of fun! Joe actually does have to earn a living here so all of what I post for this day will be basically a day in the boring work life of Joe. Stick around, it is good.
There is a place on the Arkansas called Zoom Flume where rafters are liberated from their rafts with some frequency. It is a wild and remote place and makes for beautiful pictures. Josh set up a business photographing every
person who floats by everyday. (Like Kilboy) He used to send film with runners three miles out back and forth all day. Then digital had the runners carrying memory media out. Soon Joe helped him set up a wireless base so the media could be uploaded to the net through the day. Now they are cooking something faster up. This required a trip in for experimentation. River Betty is a great four-wheeler and got us miles in toward Zoom Flume. The last mile had to be hiked. Here are a few shots going in. So beautiful.
The cliffs beside the river are 200-300 feet high. I found a rocky overhang that made a pocket of shade and hung out there while Joe and Josh did their jobs.
Two feet above the river. My toes did get sunburned.
There is a hole in the river right in front of me. This was a very fun place to hang out because for some reason the river guides were not avoiding this hole.
When the river has a drop of several feet, it creates a situation where the water is shooting down stream into the hole and making a backwards wave that flows hard upstream back into the same hole. Several things can happen.
1.You can pass right over it safely because your raft is aimed just perfectly.
Backwards works too!
2. You can take a sudden load of water into the back of the raft which shoves it under while popping up the front. This is called a highside and everyone must throw themselves at the high side to prevent a flip.
3. Frequently a rafter becomes a swimmer if they are on the low end. A fall into a hole can leave one pinned at the bottom. Usually you pop up and sweep down stream and get picked up. Or you get a guide going in to yank you out.
4. You can get the raft stuck in the hole and basically surf in place. My camera has to recover between shots, so you can see how long this raft is in this hole. Count the people on the raft...6
Now there are 5. And no head popped up. The guide is watching 360 degrees and barking commands to get the boat out of the hole. His guy is under them.
The boat doesn't budge.
Next boat in the trip shows up making the same mistake of heading for the hole,
but safely knocks them both loose and the swimmer pops up.
OMG! I am so gorgeous!
I thought it strange to see two people in wet suits walking along the river in such a remote spot.
I had a lovely little visitor. Can anyone ID this bird? Zoom in. Bright yellow body with a red face and black and white on the wings. About the size of a sparrow.
Here is some fun. Hold my beer and watch this.
Joe did the trek in and out 4 or 5 times over the cliffs, you know, all in a days work. Josh's wife handed us a plate FULL of homemade chili relleno and a bag of jello shots when we got back to town. I was exhausted and slept under the stars that night. I snore so I fear no animal attacks.
Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! 
Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to 
Curtis
220 miles and you could have gotten into the IBS 1K!
