On the final day we hit all the rapids perfectly again. We all got to take turns commanding our big raft and the small rafts (called ‘duckies’). We had steer through a rapid & deliver water. In the big raft was 5 gallon water containers, and we had to serve water to the people in the other rafts.
The 3 Merit Badges we earned were Rowing, White water rafting, and canoeing.
To earn the Rowing we had to row the big boat.
To earn the White Water Rafting we had to steer through rapids, flip the boat, and get back on.
To earn the canoeing we had to flip the duckie and get back on.
Some kids had a hard time doing these things.
But we did it quite well, even better than some of the older troops. (We were a 12 year old scout patrol.)
The river guide, Kim, said I was the best steer-er that she had. Steve, the guy in the water boat, said that I was better than all of the other scouts that he had previously, including the 18 year olds. Dad even verified this with them, and they weren’t just saying that. They really meant it.
So maybe I’ll be a River Guide someday!