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under the structure so they wouldn't show up in the movie shot. As we got ready, we did some more cosmetic effects to the raft and had it covered with slabs to look like a Huckleberry Finn- type raft, only far bigger. It was hauling a brand new 1973 Ford LTD, with air conditioning and all the extras. Underneath the boat we built a cockpit from where I was supposed to run a mo- tor and guide this raft down through the Grand Canyon. There are six major rapids in the area we planned to run. The first one was really mean, called Travertine Falls. We scouted the rapid in a helicopter to see exactly where I could take the car. Then we stopped and let six cameramen out, three on each side of the river, to climb up into the rocks to take the shots. They wanted to get this right the first time, so they had the camera- men at different altitudes. One was on ground level, one in the middle of the canyon, and one up about 1,500 to 2,000 feet on the cliff. It was a good thing we had the helicopter, because it would have taken all day to climb up there with the camera gear. When we got to the top cliff, there was no place to land, but this copter pilot was really good and he went right to the edge of the cliff and just put one skid on the cliff and held the copter out with one skid out in the open air. He told us to hurry and jump out, which we all did. We got the cameramen ready on that side and then the other side. Then he came back and got us and we went down to the raft to start the run down Travertine Falls. I immediately realized you can't see very well when you're under a car, so my approach to Travertine was pretty cautious. I knew I could tip everything over and wondered how I would get out if the car did tip over because if it broke loose from the raft and went to the bottom, I'd be tangled in it. But I ran the boat down through the rapids anyway. Luckily, I entered the slot in the right place, but when I hit the big waves, the raft just went up in the air, came down hard and my handle broke. I couldn't steer, and here I was underneath the car going through the tail end of the rapids. I was afraid I'd wash into the cliff and wreck the car. I finally climbed out. They'd made their shots. We were still in fast water and the raft was toward 15