8:18) Hope O'Keeffe 28-SEP-97 19:25

In the morning, I wake just before sunrise, wriggling quietly past my gently snoring friend. The canoes are lined up along the riverbank, a few yards down from the gentle ripples that on the quiet Shenandoah count as rapids. I flip over the nearest one, wade it into the shallows, trying not to splash and wake up anyone in the small humps scattered around the clearing. I pause a moment, tiptoe back to my tent and grab my daypack, a water bottle, a couple of granola bars. They'll probably figure out where I went.