Cole was just an average, baseball-playing, public-pool-lifeguarding, horse-tending, farm boy until he came across two free kayaks and a microwave oven on the side of the road. Goodbye base-running; hello river running! He found the river, taught himself to kayak, figured raft-guiding was better than lifeguarding (“way better” are his exact words), became a guide, and is now working on a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health so that he can become a badass helicopter flight nurse. And where would he be today if he’d grabbed the microwave instead?