you don't really want to mess with me tonight It was a bit of a hot weekend here in Calgary. Our rafting adventure yesterday was good - we finally did a full course, from Bowness Park all the way down to Inglewood.

Things got off to a bit of a shaky start when we discovered a leak in the main raft. froo and Devin drove off in search of duct tape or a patch kit, and Persuade ended scoring some interim duct tape from some passers-by. The patch held for most of the ride, and we typically carry an on-board air pump for such situations, so we resorted to an emergency in-flight re-pump near the end of our journey, under the Centre Street bridge, just to keep Chamber #3 solidly inflated. Other than a near-tipping of the Club 100 (Persuade's 1-man vessel) just after launch, things went smoothly. That was an odd situation, where we actually collided with a bridge support - oops! We're pretty vigilant navigators most of the time, so I'll attribute that mishap to the miscommunication between team-members. Sometimes when you're towing a smaller craft behind you it changes the way you navigate the mother ship.

We even engaged in some bartering during the float. The river was pretty congested with boats, so occasionally we found ourselves bumping up against some new neighbours. In one case, the folks were admiring our craft, the Pacesetter 400, and we were lamenting our tendency towards over-loading her with chips and beer (we travelled with a beer cooler and everything yesterday). The girl in the other boat complained that she wished she had some chips, so I decided to offer some of ours (we had too many). In exchange for a bag of zesty cheese Doritos she offered up a Vex cooler for Persuade, who wasn't so interested in the beer. A fair trade, I declare.

We concluded our day with the first grilling on froo's new BBQ. An M&M feast of stuffed potatoes, steakhouse burgers and garlic shrimp was enjoyed by the boat crew and Mom & Dalt. Yum. Photos are here.  | ¶ 1:38 a.m.