In October 1986, my wife, Anne Marie, and I took a cruise to Alaska. During the cruise, we were given the opportunity to go down the Mendenhall River in a raft. I was not sure that I wanted to do this, but my wife was raring to go. So I reluctantly agreed to go with her without really knowing what I was getting into. I soon found myself standing on top of a glacier. I was in a line with a bunch of other people, who had also been forced by their spouses to take the white water raft trip. First, the guards told us that we were required to sign a three or four page legal document before we could get on the raft. This document seemed to say that there is a risk that I may die on the trip and that they wanted me and my heirs to forever give up all rights to sue the operators of the raft for my untimely demise. Then they had us put on bright orange and green life jackets and rubber outfits. Then they told us that the water was 32 degrees Fahrenheit and that we would die very quickly if we fell into the water. I guessed that the bright outfits were to help them find our dead bodies after we fall into the water. By that time, I knew for sure that this trip was not for me. However, I was already sitting in the front seat of the raft and the raft driver was pushing us away from the dock. At about that time, I was thinking that this was all a bad dream and I was hoping that I would soon wake up and find myself safely in my bed on the cruise ship. But then some part of me realized that this was really happening and that I was about to begin a terrifying journey into death and destruction. The raft began to go faster and faster down the river dodging huge rocks, which kept looming up in front of us. I noticed that ice water from the river was splashing into the raft. I could feel that my feet were in about 3 inches of ice water. After what seemed like six hours of torture, well maybe actually it was only about 15 minutes, but it seemed like six hours, we docked at the side of the river. We got out of the raft and were given coffee and snacks. I was hoping that this was the end of the ordeal but my hopes were dashed against the rocks when someone said that this was only the halfway point. We then all went back into the raft for more torture. The last half of the trip seemed less torturous and went a lot faster than the first half. However, I did not feel good until we docked at the end of the river and we were able to get permanently out of the raft. I was glad to be still alive, although I had the thought that perhaps I had been killed on the trip and I was only dreaming that I was still alive.