Thrill Of A Lifetime

Eight-year old George Scott was a fun-loving kid. His family of three girls and two boys lived in Delta, Colorado. He was a straight A student at school. He enjoyed many recreational activities. His favorite thing to do was go swimming in the spring and summer. His dad, Larry, taught him to swim in a pool when he was three. He learned to swim without using any kind of floating device. He had a lot of fun diving for rings and sticks. He owned a yellow Labrador named Sam who loved jumping in the pool for the toys also. His parents gave him Sam as a puppy when he turned three. He enjoyed taking Sam to the park and teaching him to fetch when he was six. Besides George's dad, Sam was his best friend. Sam always knew when George was having a bad day.

He learned to ride a mountain bike when he was five and could ride it with no hands. His dad took him on ten and twenty mile motorcycle rides after he turned eight. His dad owned a Harley Davidson two seat motorcycle. He wanted to own a motorcycle after he turned fifteen. He looked forward to that time.

Nothing in the world scared George. He enjoyed going to the Elitch Gardens Amusement Park and ride on the Twister Gardens storm chaser thrill ride, mind eraser, and brain drain as well as the rides that were not thrill rides. His parents loved his willingness to try anything. His dream was to be able to jump from a plane with his instructor. In Delta they have a skydiving program called Ultimate Skydiving Adventures.

He learned how to skydive with three jumps in ten days with his instructor. During those ten days, the weather was pleasant with a few fluffy clouds. He learned how to skydive with the skydiver's son, Franklin who was also eight and didn't seem to be afraid of anything. The maneuvers George did in the air before landing on the ground with a parachute gave him a thrill. He loved the opportunity to jump solo from an airplane.

His family enjoyed picnics along the banks of the Colorado river in the spring and summer and trips to the Denver Zoo. George was fascinated with animals and loved watching the beautiful birds that resided around the area of the Colorado River. These included falcons, eagles, woodpeckers, alder flycatchers, and more. His family saw raccoons, opossums, and armadillos. They even saw white tail deer, coyotes, and wild turkeys.

When he went scuba diving with his dad, George's eyes lit up when he saw turtles, including river cooters, red-eared sliders, map turtles, soft-shell turtles, and common snapping turtles. Water moccassins, diamond-backed water snakes, and blotched water snakes inhabit the river.

They ran across guadalupe bass, blue, channel, and flathead (opelousas) catfish, freshwater drum (gaspergou). largemouth bass and sunfish in the backwater pools.

The Scott family enjoyed fishing in the Colorado River. They learned to fish before they were ten years old. On one of their fishing trips in the lower Colorado River the children caught a few razorback suckers, which are three feet long and a few bonytail chubs which are twenty inches long. As soon as they felt a tug on their fishing pole, they reeled the fish in. They couldn't believe the size of the fish they caught and shouted for joy. The fish were put in tall buckets. They laughed with delight when a Colorado River Toad jumped in three of their buckets with their fish.

The biggest fish in the Colorado River is the Colorado pikeminnow which grow up to eighty pounds and are six feet long. The humpback chub grows up to twenty inches long.