The first draft lacked tension, lacked drama, and wasn't about much except seeing the Grand Canyon. In the first draft, for example, the kids never ditched out on their adult leader. Downriver didn't come together for me right away. I had plenty of knowledge about the rapids, the conditions, the plants and animals, and so on, but that doesn't make a story. Not exactly! I wanted to share my love of the Canyon with kids, but didn't know how at first. So, writing a whitewater novel for you must have been like Granite's a 9 on the Grand Canyon rating scale of 1-10. The Grand Canyon is wilderness -no picnic tables, no campgrounds, and definitely no fast-food stops! There are more hikes than you could do in a lifetime, and rock walls at the bottom that are close to two billion years old! It's a 225-mile trip with 160 rapids to run, like Granite Rapid, shown in the photo. These are trips we plan ourselves, taking along everything we'll need for up to 18 days. Each time we go, we travel with a small group of friends, usually four to eight people, although we've done a few trips with groups of fifteen, and one all by ourselves, just the two of us and our raft. My wife, Jean, and I have been fortunate enough to take our own raft down through the Grand Canyon ten times. Both of these stories take place in the Grand Canyon.
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