Saturday, May 28, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
It's a small world, after all
My stay at Cooper's Landing was enjoyable but too short. I pulled in around 5:30 p.m. yesterday afternoon and by the time I set up camp, showered, and ate the evening was pretty much spent. Cooper's is located on both the Missouri River and the Katy Trail so they get a mix of boaters and bikers coming through. There's also a population of hippies and river folk that appear to live at the landing and just kinda hang out and live life for living life. All in all it was a pretty cool place to be. The owner tried to talk me into staying a day or two more to take in the music they were putting on over the weekend but I was already packed and I wanted to be sure to stay on schedule. I did enjoy sharing the tent camp area with Ed, a chap bicycling the Katy Trail. We stayed up late solving the world's problems and kept the conversation going so long this morning that I didn't get started until after 11:00 a.m.
The river rose about two feet overnight and I was awoken several times by large logs slamming into the channel buoy about 20 yards in front of my tent. The rising water let loose all sorts of logs, large and small, that are now marching downstream to St. Louis. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of that mess after I pushed off from Cooper's Landing. The current was again fast but I had a strong wind in my face and was working hard to stay clear of all the debris. A few times I did run over a smaller piece of wood but that created the problem of it catching my rudder and flipping it in the up position. The rudder is bound up and won't drop by itself so I had to pull over and put it back down, not an easy thing to do with the high water and fast current.
I arrived at Jefferson City mid afternoon. Joe Wilson was waiting for me at the landing. Joe is kind of the self appointed mayor of Noren Access. He has brought in sand to form a beach area, installed raised bedding planters, created nature trails, and put up bird feeders and a "miles to..." crossroads sign. He and I had been exchanging emails for the last week about my arrival and what I could expect. He got my name from Steve at the Brickhouse Deli in Jeff. City and Steve got my name from Carol Snow, his cousin, that happens to live in Lincoln, NE (thanks Carol!). When I pulled into the landing (on a sand beach, the best landing I've had of the entire trip) I took one look at Joe and my jaw just about dropped. If my father ever had a long lost twin brother I'm certain I found him. The two not only share a physical similarity but also a personality that has a healthy skepticism of the competency of elected officials.
While Joe and I were chatting a couple, Bruce and Kathy, pulled up to the landing. The next thing I knew I had an offer for warm bed at their place. Since tomorrow is my rest day I seriously considered the offer and then the thought of spending a day at Noren with the wind and rain that's predicted sealed my decision. I went ahead and accepted the offer as I figured I couldn't do any worse! They had to run some things home and then came back and picked me up. After we unloaded my gear at their place I changed and then we went out to dinner at a new Mexican restaurant in Jeff. City with Kathy's cousin and his wife. The fun part of the story is that the cousins are from Wyoming and he was chief of police in Cheyenne and his wife graduated from LCCC (where I taught for 7 years). I never would have guessed at the beginning of today that I'd be eating dinner and comparing notes about people I knew 10 years ago. What is it that they say about six degrees of separation?
Today was my seventh day of paddling without a break. In the last three days I've clocked over 120 miles. I'm ready for a day of rest and glad for some friendly hospitality. One thing I keep telling myself on this trip is to be open to the kindness of others (balanced by a healthy skepticism). I marvel at how helpful people have been. It's good to know the good olde U.S. of A. still has such good people (yes, I did use good three times in one sentence!). We could use a few more stories on the nightly news about the good versus all the rotten crap that gets reported.
I'm not sure what the rest day will hold. I do need to take apart the rudder assembly and see if I can clean it and get it to work properly. I seem to remember Austin (the elder and evidently wise son) saying "what happens if that breaks" when he first saw the canoe. Well, I have an answer, carry a spare replacement. Unfortunately, I didn't think of that little tidbit until I was 200 miles down the river!
I'm currently canoeing down the Missouri River from Nebraska City, NE, to St. Louis, MO. Check out my location and blog at canoequest2011.blogspot.com.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
A big mileage day
The weather here turned a bit nasty and cold overnight and I awoke at about 4:00 a.m. to rain and a temperature in my tent of 52 degrees F. I've had colder nights on this trip but not any as damp. I was freezing my tail off the rest of the night and most of this morning!
I got up and had a cold breakfast since I didn't cook last night and didn't want to set up the stove this morning. As I was finishing my packing Troy, the Army Corps of Engineers guy, pulled up and updated me about the river conditions. He also gave me a copy of the new river map book the Corps just published on the lower Missouri. Overnight the estimates for the high water mark for Glascow, MO, had risen from 30 to 32 feet. I'm not surprised as the water had also risen two feet in the few hours after I went to bed.
I had to hoof it quite a distance from my campsite back to the river. I have to make about four trips to get all my gear down to the put in point so I can pack the boat. Troy had hauled my gear in his truck up to where I camped yesterday so that wan't too much of an effort on my part but this morning's packing time was a different story. It was 8:30 a.m. by the time I had everything at the landing. I went to fill up my water bottles when a local fisherman pulled into the landing and launched his boat. The problem was that he left his truck and boat trailer parked in the water at the landing. I was able to load my canoe but I couldn't launch it in the small space left a the landing, especially with the high water we have. He returned but not before I had lost 30 minutes of paddling time.
I finally got on the river just after 9:00 a.m. It was clear from the get go that things were flowing fast. I pretty quickly realized that I had traveled 2 miles with little paddling. My original goal for today was to do 31 miles, a respectable day, but I had that done by the time I stopped for lunch. At lunch I mulled over my options. I could stay at that day's destination, even though it was an ugly little spot, or I could paddle on. Since I was in a groove I chose the later. It was 15 more miles down to Katfish Katy's and a full service campground.
When I got to Katy's I looked at the landing and the barren landscape and said "no way." I wanted a place with real character for my final destination. I knew Cooper's Landing was 10 more miles down river but I thought what the heck, It's only 4:00 p.m. and I'll be there after 5:00, 5:30 p.m. at the latest. So that's how I ended up paddling 56 miles in one day. It's kinda crazy considering I did 36 miles yesterday and it nearly killed me. When the wind and current are at your back it's best to go with the flow.
Today I think I may have met the person today with most amazing life story of anyone I've come across on this trip. As I was finishing my lunch at Booneville, MO, and about to depart for another few hours of fun a chap pulled up to the landing site. I've noticed there's a steady stream of people coming to the river to see how it looks, especially since we're at such high water levels. Tudor got out of his Jeep and had a look around and then came over to talk to me.
We talked a bit about what I was doing and then he asked what would happen if i fell out of the boat. That's not something I plan to do but I told him I'd swim to shore and hope I could collect my gear. Tudor then started to tell me the story of how he got hypothermia when we was swimming to freedom from communist Romania. Of course I had to stop him and hear the full story.
It turns out that he was a 26 year old member of the Romanian military and suffering from the feeling that "there was no air" and wanting freedom. He and a friend decided to swim the river between Romanian and Yugoslavia and make their way to a free country. As soon as Tudor got in the river he went numb and nearly passed out from hypothermia. If his friend hadn't been there to help him to shore he would have drowned. Of course, they were both quickly caught and spent a month in a Yugoslavian prison only to be returned to Romania where he sat in prison for another eight months. He said that during that time he talked to all the other prisoners that had failed in their attempts to flee the country and learned what they did, what they saw, and what he should do different the next time he tried to escape. When he was released he and his wife made a second attempt and were successful using the knowledge (he called it mental images; "I could just see where I had to go and what do to do") he learned in prison. He made his way to Italy and was granted political asylum to live in the United States (Jefferson, MO).
When I got to Cooper's Landing one of the owners looked at my canoe and decided it was a kayak and that my canoe paddle was all wrong. He forced me to take an old paddle of his because it's much better and I'll love it. So, I have a second hand paddle that would be fun to try out except for the big water I'm passing through. Not a time to try new things. I won't complain, though, as this is a real river camp with a lot of soul. And there are a bunch of odd characters here that give it an odd Jimmy Buffett kind of vibe.
I got another hot shower tonight and had Tai food (why there's a guy here running a restaurant here I have no idea). I did a load of laundry and spent time talking to my campmate Ed who's peddling his bike along the Katy trail for the Memorial Day weekend. He's an Iraq vet that served two tours of duty that now works for the USGS.
The water is still rising on the river and will do so until next week. The folks at Cooper's Landing expect to be flooded out in the next five days. I'm beginning to think this river just doesn't want me on her. I hope to stay a few days ahead of the major flooding event but it's clear now that my decision to pull out at St. Louis was in the cards all along, no matter how much I wanted to go on paddling this summer.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Weather, weather, weather!
Last night we had rain early in the evening. I ate my dinner and then crawled in the tent at 8:30 p.m. to rest a bit and listen to music. I must have been pretty tired because I woke from a deep sleep at midnight to the sound of thunderstorms moving into the area. I listened to the weather radio and it was clear the worst of it was to the east. We did get some hail and about a half and inch of rain.
I overslept this morning and didn't wake up until 7:00 a.m.; not good since I wanted to get on the river "early." I was packing and almost ready to haul the canoe and equipment to the river when Mike, my neighbor in camp, came over and offered me a hot cup of coffee. It was too good of a deal to pass up so I went to his campsite and chatted a bit. Another round of thunderstorms was predicted to come through before 9:00 a.m. so I was actually being good by being lazy!
Mike is one of those guys that looks a bit like a character out of Deliverance and a customer at your local Walmart (actually, I bet he shops exclusively at Bass Pro Shops). In my usual life I doubt I'd ever have spoken to him as he's a tall, rough around the edges kind of guy. It turns out that he is one of the most kind and soft spoken gentleman that I've met on the river or in any other walk of life. It's clear he loves fishing (but hates eating fish, he only does it for a big fish fry he throws for up to 500 people every year) and easily makes friends with the people in this area.
About the time we were having coffee "Eggman" drove up in his four-wheeler golf cart thing (I'm not sure what to call it but it seems everyone in every town I've been through drives one). Eggman owns 700 chickens outside of town and harvests 30 dozen eggs a day that he sells to local stores. He also has the place just up from Miami landing with all the rabbit cages.
After I got on the river it was clear it was going to be one of those days that never seems to end. My mileage goal for today was 36 miles. I'm getting to the point where I know my body and the physical challenge of paddling that far and I wasn't in the mood to do it. That, and the fact the river rose 6 inches overnight, put me in a bad mood. The high water has flushed all sorts of debris loose and it's all traveling with me. I spent the entire morning dodging huge logs, small logs, and garbage. By noon I was tired and ready to stop. That's when the storms rolled in...
I pulled off to eat just about the time the thunderboomers were approaching. I listened to the weather radio and it was clear I needed to wait it out for at least an hour. After everything passed I got back in the boat only to face even more flotsam and jetsam. Then the wind kicked up with gusts of 30-40 miles an hour. A real grind.
I did make it to Glasgow, MO, my goal for the day. I surveyed the scene and looked for the highest campsite I could find. Mike, from Miami, warned me that the entire parking lot and camping area will flood tonight with the forecasted river rise. I carried my canoe up to a spot above the rest of the camping area and was just about to get the rest of my gear when a chap stopped to talk with me. I told him my usual story about where I was headed but that I was worried about the river rising and getting wet in my tent tonight. I asked him what time it was and it turned out it was after 5:00 p.m. Darn, I missed talking to the staff at the Army Corps of Engineers office in town about what to expect here in Glasgow and down river. He responded "30 feet here, no more." How did he know? Turns out he is the Corps here in Glasgow.
Troy filled me in on conditions and says he thinks I'll be fine all the way to Jefferson City. He also recommended I go into town and eat at Beckett's if I wanted a good steak or hamburger. After a hot (did I say hot!?) shower here at the campground I hoofed it into town and had one of the best hamburgers of my life. I poked around a little and then came back to camp to check emails, etc. Glasgow is a quaint little town that appears to be holding on quite well. Quite a contrast from the other old river towns I've been through in the last few days (although Miami, MO, holds a special place in my heart).
So here's the quote of the day from Troy: "I've seen lots of canoers and kayakers come down that river. They all say the same thing, after a while it just begins to grind you down." Damn, I hope he's not right! I'm looking forward to another day of paddling tomorrow...
I'm currently canoeing down the Missouri River from Nebraska City, NE, to St. Louis, MO. Check out my location and blog at canoequest2011.blogspot.com.
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