READ THIS FIRST! By opening this letter, I, the reader, have agreed that after reading this letter, I, the reader, will have a few fun Things to do:

  1. I will immediately Send to the 1997 Raft Trip Czar the balance I owe.
     
  2. Even if I owe nothing, and, indeed, even if I'm not even coming on this year's trip,

    I will surely return anyway the final page containing a complete list of names in my little clan, my latest addresses (email and otherwise), phone numbers, Pet Names, Etc…..All to enable the     grand 1997 updating of the GSP files.
     
  3. I'll energetically Recruit any GSP’s who are not yet listed on this year's Roster page….confident that perhaps they really want to come along and just haven't realized it yet! There may still be some time left to add a few folks to the list.

 

AND NOW, ON WITH THE LETTER!
FOR THE TIME IS NIGH, G.S.P.'s !
Or, as they say it
    when they say it this way,
     "IT'S NIGH TIME!"
So, you've coughed up the big bucks,
you have some vague notion that you're
gonna be busy in early july doing some
"GSP Raft Trip 1997" kind of thing.
but you'd like a little more information.
So here's what you're in store for!

FIRST, EVERYBODY BE SURE TO BRING SOME BEER

Home-, micro-, or craft-brewed, whatever. No sam's, pete's, or harvey's will be refused.

Rough Schedule of Events….(Subject to spontaneity)

-Late June sometime    The first GSPs open the first beers and hit the road.

-Friday, July 4      Ducky/Piglet Trip on the upper new river….maybe watch the fireworks fired over the Kanahwa river in gauley bridge. Drink beer.

-Saturday, July 5     Beer-Tasting in the late afternoon, including beer…followed by the "Chili-or-anything-that-goes-with-chili" Pitch-in dinner. In turn followed by the MOTHER OF ALL 1997 CAMPFIRES….which just might include beer this year.

-Sunday, July 6    RAFT THE LOWER NEW RIVER

followed by the "afterglow" campfire….and beer, perhaps, too.

-Monday, July 7     Break camp, maybe a hug or two, maybe biscuits and gravy at "the western pancake house" down the road (b.y.o.b.)

 

Random Narrative, perhaps rife with information

   for those newcomers and forgetful oldcomers, a map to the mountain river tours ("MRT") "campground" is enclosed. Arrive whenever, find the GSPs near the back of the campground. Wander up to the c'ground headquarters, greet Ray and Dren and pay 'em what you owe 'em: $5.00 Sunday thru Thursday and $5.50 Friday and Saturday nights (per person per night).

   Friday's ducky/piglet trip is being overseen by my brother, Rick, the very tallest of the Boebingers. Trip prices and times are to be worked out at the last minute, as usual… since it all depends on numbers and how many hardboaters there are, etc., etc. (estimates are $60 for adults and $30 for piglets). The plan is that post-trip meal tickets (hotdog/ hamburger) will be included, which can be saved and used on Sunday night if preferred.

   It's looking like there will be two cool gifts this year….in which case the first cool gifts will be handed out at Friday's campfire (once we, or as we're known in other circles, "THE 1997 RAFT TRIP CZARS", get back from taking our kids to see the July 4th fireworks in gauley bridge).

   Saturday is free for hiking, swimming, rock-hopping, and related Fare. Those new to the area can contact any of the veterans for ideas. We, ourselves, have quite a collection of books, pamphlets, flyers, and random scribblings listing countless amusements adequate to bemuse even the most jaded palate. (we even have directions to the "road kill cafe"!)

   Late Saturday afternoon, should it develop as in past years, there will be a beer tasting contest pitting our group's finest homebrewers in gullet-to-gullet competition, as we, the judging bodies, become more drunkenly irreverent with each passing sample. This festivity will blend seamlessly and without notable pause into the now-traditional pitch-in dinner. Be sure to bring a big-family-sized serving of your finest Chili or your finest something-that-goes-with-chili that you can offer up to your fellow drunkenly irreverent GSPs as they saunter by.

   Saturday night is the MOTHER OF ALL 1997 CAMPFIRES which will include……hell, we don’t know….did it ever look planned in the past??? We will certainly be giving out Raft Assignments, Cool Gifts, and meaningless-or, at the very least, incomprehensible-liability release forms which you must sign to go on the river. Be sure to advise your 1997 RAFT TRIP CZAR or CZART with any raft assignment preferences. ("CZART"-noun-the preferred feminine form of "CZAR", short for "CZARETTE")

   Here's an idea, you be the judge! Past trip organizers who still might have a closet full of cool gifts from their year at the heady apex of GSP power might want to consider bringing them leftover cool gifts along this year. One can imagine that some GSPs might be interested in acquiring additional copies of cool gifts from yesteryear, to replace those lost or damaged….or just to complete that special holiday collection!

   Sunday we will gather at MRT at 8:30am to hit the river in 6-man rafts. A complete and thorough safety briefing will accompany our seemingly endless bus ride over the seemingly very high new river gorge bridge. As in past years, the trip price includes a videographer to record our every faux pas and faux paddle. The price per video should hover around the $10 (or $15) mark, if we have our way. Also included is a hotdog/hamburger meal which will await us back at MRT at the end of the trip….immediately following our relaxingly hot (or bracingly cold) shower (their choice). Sunday Daycare, for those piglets abandoned by their parents in favor of a calm, quiet day on the river, will be once again masterminded by the esteemed Dren St.Clair, as has become the GSP raft trip custom.

 

Campground and Daycare related questions:
Ray and Dren St.Clair (304) 658-4386 (home) (304) 658-9944 (MRT campground)

Air Mattress (or something/someone soft to sleep upon)
Beer, Bug Spray (keep these items separate and clearly labeled)
Bottle Opener, Buns of Steel (to impress your friends around the campfire)
Canteen, Compass, Condiments, Condomants, Cooler, Cookstove (and fuel)
Cooking tools (Pots, Pans, Griddle, Coffee Pot, Carafe…for the beer)
Chair (lawn-type for sittin' round the campfire), Clothing (optional), Clothesline
Day Pack, Dishwashing tools, Dining Fly and/or Tarp, Drinkin' Beer
Eating tools (spoons, knives, and them pointy things for stabbin' stuff)
Electric curling iron (to look your very best for the Keeneys)
Flashlight (and batteries, for whatever) and Flipflops
Food for the "Chili-and-stuff-that-goes-with-chili" dinner on Saturday
Gravy, Hats, Hiking Shoes, Homebrewed Beer
Jacket or Sweatshirt for those cool evenings
Lantern, Lights (blinking optional)…or other things to illuminate the moon
Lawn Ornaments (to mark your turf….since public urination is discouraged)
Microbrewed Beer, Money (For beer, Food, Souvenirs, what have you)
Personal effects (if we knew what they were, they wouldn't be personal)
Plastic Bags (for wet stuff, dirty stuff, stinky stuff, garbage stuff)
Props for any campfire entertainment you plan on providing
Raft Trip Clothing (Sun-Protecting, Warmth-promoting clothing…..and Footgear, too)
Shampoo, Soap, Shaving Gear (whatever that is), Smile (vertical optional)
Snacks, Store-bought Beer, Stolen Beer, Sunglasses, Sun-tan lotion
Sleeping bag, Swimming Gear (and waterwings)
Something with Which to Suck Gravy
Tent and/or Trailer and/or Towels
Underclothing (optional), Wacky Headgear, Water Jug (keep these items separate and clearly labeled)

Don't worry about buying any camping gear that you don't have….generally one can beg or borrow just about anything other than a tent or lawn ornament.  And Don't bring Firewood, Ice or Picnic Tables.

swim suit         t-shirt                 old sneakers or cool footgear               cap with a bill
sunglasses           sunscreen          sunglasses/eyeglasses            retainer          more sunscreen

waterproof camera

waterballoon slingshot, water gun/cannon/howitzer

windbreaker

paddling jacket or wetsuit

kayak gloves

long "keep-the-sun-off-my-pasty-white-thighs" pants

medications (the guide has a place to keep them dry)

inflatable sportspouch (if you want to keep them dry yourself)

a "new-river-map-on-a-handkerchief" (sold by mrt) to keep track of the trip

food (mrt feeds us an awful lot….literally)        extra condiments               alcohol (illegal on the river)

shower supplies               dry clothes (and shoes) to change into

The Roster Page

Fellow enterprising new mooners, we're looking like a smaller crowd this year….a tad DOWNSIZED, one could say! The various vagaries of life have depleted our ranks….including a couple of Pregnancies and relocations….and there ain't nothing like a pregnancy to relocate one….or at least certain parts of one.

[Roster omitted]