Thunderstorms, a man who almost drowned, a naked guy and a busted innertub. Just a day in the life of leading a group of people tubing down a river in Indiana. Just want to preface this post with the fact that this LivingSocial event was a BYOB event. LivingSocial encouraged drinking on the river and people took full advantage of that.
Yesterday morning, I showed up outside of Hop Haus bar in downtown Chicago to meet my fellow LivingSocial experience coordinators. This was my first LivingSocial event and I really did not know what to expect. I should have known it was going to be one heck of a day when the meeting place for everyone was outside of a bar. The event was a lazy river tubing event down a river in Indiana and you had to be 21 years or older because you could bring your own booze. And people did. In large coolers. There is nothing like seeing 120 people show up with coolers of beer, wine and liquor on a Sunday morning. Living life to the fullest, that's for sure.
We boarded 2 huge charter buses and our bus driver started the day off with giving a 5 minute lecture on not using the bathroom to well, you know. He said if it was an emergency, he would be more than happy to find a rest stop and let someone relieve themself. It should have just been a 30 second plug. But apparently someone broke this rule the past weekend and the bus drive was stuck with the smell the rest of the day. So, it turned into a 5 minute speech. Thank goodness he got to everybody before they started drinking. Otherwise, all bets are off. We had a 2 hour bus ride to Indiana and I was hoping everyone had listened to Vince and his speech.
I spent to 2 hours getting to know Lance, my new co-worker. He is a total bro. He went to school in Hawaii, loves to surf and spent 3 months back-packing through Europe after graduation. Fun fact: If he could live in any city outside of the United States it would be Barcelona. Sounds like a great choice to me. He was great, though. He was so laid back about everything and didn't treat me like it was my first event.
What's important to note is that the people on the bus were allowed to bring drinks on the way TO the river. As you can imagine, the partiers went directly to the back of the bus, beers and jello shots in hand. I had to burst their bubble at one point when Vince told me they were not allowed to have a beach ball bouncing around in the back. They didn't yell at me too much - I blamed it on Vince so that helped. The front of the bus was a little more reserved, with people reading books and listening to their ipods. We had people of ALL ages. We had groups of twenty-somethings who all came out with their friends to middle aged couples who just wanted to spend some quiet time together. Unfortunately for the latter group, that peace and quiet didn't come until they were halfway down the river.
So, two hours later we finally arrived in the middle-of-no-where Indiana for our tubing adventure. We had not been off the bus for more than 7 minutes when we got hit with torrential rains. A huge thunderstorm snuck up on us and the rain was coming down horizontally. And it was NOT warm rain. I was in a bathing suit shivering to death. Others used the opportunity to use the mud, rain and tubes as a giant slip-n-slide. I decided to huddle with some of our guests to use body heat as warmth. After about 20 minutes of waiting, we were given the OK to head into the river. No lie, as soon as we got into the water, the storm stopped and we didn't see another cloud in the sky for the rest of the trip. It was pretty wild.
As far as responsibilities, I was in charge of staying at the front of the pack and making sure people didn't get too far ahead. Some how though, I ended up with the group who had the jello shots. Some girl made over 75 jello shots and was sharing with everyone. Yes, even though I was working, I was still allowed to have a drink or two. So, I took Lauren up on her offer for a couple of those delicious treats. After about 30 minutes of floating with Lauren's group, I noticed that 2 groups had really gotten a head of the pack, so I tore myself away from the jello shots and floated closer to the front. For about another hour, I actually just floated by myself and took in the sights and sounds of Indiana. Not much to see, but the area was absolutely gorgeous. After a long alumni weekend, this was just what I needed.
I finally caught up with the group in the front and it turned out to be 4 girls who had been friends since high school. They all went to high school together, went to separate colleges, and all ended up moving back to Chicago at the same time. They reconnected and now have weekly girls nights. Such a cool group of girls. They were so laid back, very welcoming to have me join their floating group and invited me to eat with them at dinner at the BBQ.
After about 3 hours, we reached the end of the tubing part of the adventure. Since I was in charge of the front of the pack, I had to help people get out of the river and up to the buses. This sounds easier than it actually was because....
PEOPLE HAD BEEN DRINKING FOR THREE HOURS ON THE RIVER!
My most difficult challenge actually came with a middle-aged man who wasn't drinking. Him and his wife were on the trip together and we were a little worried for them from the beginning. He was VERY big - probably 6 foot 5? And he wasn't a thin 6 foot 5. He wife was not a great swimmer and proceeded to wear a life vest for the entire trip (the whole time, the water was waist deep). The trip ended after we floated under a bridge. We were supposed to go directly right after it. Well, he drifted towards the left. So, I walked out the middle of the river and helped pull him in on his tub. About halfway to the river bank, he decided he wanted to get off the tube and walk. Problem was, he could not, no matter what, get his footing. So, he tried to swim. He asked me to just let him swim, and I watched him for about 20 seconds. He was doing NOWHERE except further down the river with the current.
I made the executive decision to NOT let him swim any more. He told me he has swallowed too much water and couldn't swim for much longer. It took all my strength to get this man to the river bank. Jillian Michaels - I owe you a big thank you. Your workouts helped me save a man :) His wife met me at the river bank where he was still on his stomach holding himself up with his hands. It took both of us to get him to his feet. He still had NO balance at all and literally stumbled back down and landed on his face. At this point, I really started to question whether or not he had been drinking. I think he might have been completely dehydrated. It was just a very strange situation.
Getting every body else out of the water seemed like a breeze. Once I realized the guy from the tubing company was there helping people out, I high-tailed it out of there back up to the buses to get my towel. Apparently this caused me to miss the "highlight" of the trip. About halfway through the river trip, some guy decided to use the bathroom on one of the embankments. And when he got back in the water, he lost his bathing suit. He actually lost his bathing suit and had nothing with him to cover up. He spent the rest of the trip floating naked down the river. For the most part, he stayed under the water, but there was an issue when he had to get out of the water. He was so drunk that he didn't stay in the water while his girlfriend went to go get his towel for him. Lance saw the whole thing. He saw him just come right out of the water without a care in the world.
We had another incident with a guest who was smoking on the river and accidentally put a small hole in his tube with his cigarette. He slowly started to lose air in his tube, and by the time I left his group to head to the front, he was halfway under the water. Thank goodness the entire time he could touch the bottom of the river. Regardless, when he showed up at the end of the trip, he some how had a fully inflated tube. His exact words to me: "Please don't ask me how I managed to fix this." Yeah, he didn't have to worry about me asking after that comment..
We finally got everyone out of the river and onto the buses and were able to head over to the BBQ. We had a good hour to just sit and eat. A few people were able to sober up some, which was nice. Only problem: there was only one bathroom for EVERYONE at the park. Some people spent half of the time waiting for a bathroom instead of eating. The food was great and everyone was relatively calm. We boarded the bus and headed back to Chicago right around 5:00. Within 10 minutes, half of the people on the bus were out like a light.
We hit a huge storm coming into Chicago, lost AC on the bus, then ran into traffic right outside of the city. But, our bus driver has been doing his job for over 20 years, so he knew all the short cuts when traffic arose. Out of no where, he spoke these exact words when someone commented on his ability to get us out of traffic via back roads: "I can get you to O'Hare in 40 minutes when the traffic has you backed up for and hour and a half. I go through the hood where you white people don't go." We lost it - it was the funniest thing we had heard all day. It outweighed the naked guy incident by far. Because it was true.
Vince got us safely back to Chicago and we successfully got everyone off the bus and on their way. Thank goodness for public transportation because most people were in no condition to be driving. But, I survived my first LivingSocial event and had an absolute blast! Lance actually commented that this was the best group he has had, which made me wonder what the heck the other weekends were like...
Also, I got paid $80 to do it. I love you, LivingSocial.
I couldn't help but think about how amazing these past couple of months have been while I was floating out there on the river. I was in Indiana, enjoying a gorgeous summer day on a river without a care in the world. I just laid there, reflecting on how the heck I got to where I am today. Thorugh LivingSocial, I am going to be able to meet so many new people and try things that I wouldn't normally think of doing. For example, tomorrow, we have our training session for paddleboarding. As simple as that might sound, who would have thought I would be on Lake Michigan paddleboarding and getting paid for it? I feel like for the first time, I am really putting myself out there and living life the way a 24 year-old should be. And that's not just the river talking.
I hope everyone had a great weekend and I am going to try to post another blog BEFORE 2 weeks go by!
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