Sacrifices to the Canyon Goddess

Casualties
Grand Canyon Rafting Expedition 6/22-6/27

One pair Teva sandals, vintage 2001. Past destinations include Australia, Uganda, and the entire world on MariesWorldTour.com. (These are the ones in the frequently seen Marie cartoon.) Fate: Split soles. Left one repaired by Elk the trip leader, who bore a hole through the sole and threaded it together with a zip-strip. Ingenious. I surrender my MacGyver title. Right sole still a'flappin.'

One compression bag, vintage 2007. First and only use was fleece compression. Currently split and in trash at world's largest Super 8 in Las Vegas.

Two Ziploc bags, torn asunder by a moisturizer bottle a little too large for the bags.

One zipper on black "Go" brand duffel bag, vintage November, 2003. Purchased to store excess luggage in Heathrow Airport. Past destinations include Uganda and Colombia.

One long-sleeve shirt from Pay/Half in Newport Mall, 2007. Never worn prior to this trip, now worn five days straight. Fate: trash.

My ego. The first morning, I nearly missed the shuttle to the plane when my taxi didn't show. Then I lost my boarding pass in the airport. (Sue, another rafting passenger, found it.) My hat flew off and landed in the Colorado (Elk and Chelsea the "swamper" retrieved it—floatable as advertised). Last, while wearing my bargain-basement purple raingear, I was addressed as Barney.

My modesty. I learned to undress or dress without shelter, walk away to poo in a metal box with everyone knowing exactly where I was going, wade into the river hip-deep in front of the group to pee through my bathing suit (the park service instructs rafters to pee in the river to avoid wrecking the land ecosystem), and wore a life jacket as a diaper to slide down a natural water slide at the Little Colorado.

And last, I lost a lot of skin on my face, which flaked off in the dry heat. I also got a dehydration headache on Day One and a strange rash on both upper arms, but these are added value rather than losses.