Days Blur Together

Mon-Tues (25th-26th)
East Liverpool. My favorite people thus far! 80+ doesn't mean a thing, because all the people still have that swing--keeping their community clean, protesting against the largest hazardous waste facility in the nation and supporting local businesses. One man told me that they were all 'potters'-- that at one time the city held more than 100 pottery shops/artisans and now only 2 remain.

Potter's Restaurant, East Liverpool (mile 44)

The mayor of Ohioville and his biggest fan, partner Linda caught Mimi twice that day--their enthusiasm is off the charts and I am pretty sure we'll see them in Cairo! East Liverpool's dock is a place of pride in the town...the man who has volunteered for 25 years to maintain the dock used to do so with his best friend. When his friend passed 2 years back he raised the funds to get a bronze memorial plaque to place above the wharf. I love these people, I know I already said it, but I think I must come back to see them!

As Mimi was to end in Toronto, a little squirt might have suggested that a certain dock was the endpoint at mile 60. Upon realizing that it was mile 59, Mimi jumped back in to swim the last mile...lesson learned. She did this despite being the most polluted swim day she's ever had--later that night came rashes and other complications--locals told me that on the news and in their local papers they had reported on her story and then followed the swim by news that field and sanitation lines were being dumped directly into the river and that it was 400 times the safe level for swimming.

Mimi's clutch was terminal, then it was miraculously healed, which meant that Connie and I should make a late night rescue journey. This sort of 10:30 pick up would not be so bad if I existed in regular time, however 10:30 pm drives in the West Virginian woods is equal to a few shots of tequila due to our 6am wake ups.

Wed. May 27th
Stopped in Stubenville for a tetanus shot after passing one too many rusted steel plants that peeked my interest. I thought of the close call on day 1 with a piece of rusted barbed wire, and thought that forking over a few dollars might save me from death to lock jaw.

Sweltered on a personal stoop high above the river in Mingo with a shirtless man who gave me a popsicle and his wife named Pam. I never met the man who owned the stoop.

Thurs. May 28th

Connie and I rode on the Jakester, a massive and lulling houseboat owned by Rick, a manager at a coal plant and the owner of a local marina. It was great to meet him (having had a few exchanges by phone)--especially since his employee/friend who had picked mimi up at mile 80 the previous day at his request was a crotchety old man--the ignorant sexism he spewed was an endurance test (I had been lucky enough to spend 2 mind numbing hours with him)... But, now Rick was around and he was kind enough to take us to Pike Island lock as we shadowed Mimi upon her arrival where the media and lock master waited to greet her.

Wish it were all houseboats and hangin, but we arrived to a jeep's shrill. AAA, re-packing for the third time, beer, candy and my saviour, Connie (she was supposed to leave!) and we had a momentary solution. Mimi didn't realize that Connie and I were on the dock as she arrived at mile 100!--she thought that the Wheeling fire dept. who had followed her for the last 4 hours had picked up some random chicks at mile 98.

Currently, in Marietta, OH (mile 172) where the local kayaking and biking club are sponsoring us. Not only have they gotten a place for us to stay, but people like Kitty and John Clark are sags-or support crew that are transporting Mimi and the kayakers to their entry/exit points daily! Someone even visited all of the points and photographed them...very thorough. I was lucky enough to hang out with Kitty, who is a filmmaker who began making film in the 70's and now enjoys being on the river as a dragon boat rower. Marietta is beautiful!

Now that its a few days later, the jeep is back, but I am afraid to touch her...fear of a car is not healthy! But I will avoid the car another day as I will kayak for the first time on the trip tomorrow. It's only on one of the busiest weekends of the year...should be interesting...

By a mile (well, sort of)

Since I've been spending my time filming, taking stills have been a great, but brief pause... It's strange to look at some miles of the Ohio by my landmarks and realize that I've been obsessed with location and objects.

0 mile, pittsburgh, pa

-1/2 mile, starting point

6.5 mile, Emsworth Lock and Dam

Lock Master Don's Drawing

13 mile, Dashield's Dam

20 mile, Aliquippa

roughly, 24-25 mile

Off She Goes...and black toes...

6:15 am at the stunning Renaissance Hotel (an awesome gift from Pittsburgh's strong women, strong girls), and I am the late riser. Mimi and Connie are both in the zone as I linger a little too long at breakfast--having let the chat monster out on a surprising guest, a woman named Charlotte Rubenstein. She's brings her coffee over to my booth and tells me that she wrote the history of American women artists and sculptors. Amazing! I have to leave, but Connie hooks her up with some of the swim's awesome bookmarks.

It's a gray day along the point where the Mahahhhahhhaa (not the Allegheny) meets with the Ohio River, but die-hard supporters come out to see Mimi take off. Photographers, journalists and friends surround her with love and Connie, still in the zone makes sure that all of the checklists are taken care of. Our new friend, George (also the reason we have a warm bed and meal) is ready in his yellow fisherman attire. I don't know how else to describe it--as a Californian I am without such vocab--yellow rain overalls and safari hat. All of this is necessary, as it pours on and off for the first few hours of the swim. George's wife, Robin goes on a real safari with me as we chase them along the river. Her local knowledge is not a match for the poor weather and between lock masters and uncertainty we miss them the first few times...which turns out not to be too bad, since we cheer and see Mimi at 4 points later in the day.

She looks so graceful, and Connie says she admires her stroke up close. Mimi says she feels for her kayakers since the rain doesn't bother her, she's already wet! Robin, George's parents and I follow the swim team like something straight out of Twister, but instead of sophisticated equipment, we have photographer's tripods and zip-lock baggies. His parent's are a riot--mom's clad in matched leopard attire and channels 50's demure, but oh, who she is in the way she tells stories. In Silence of the Lambs, look for her, the lady in the window. She was staring outside at the crew of the film and the director asked her to stay in shot. She said she'd agree, only if she could run up and make herself decent. At 16 she saw George Sr. and decided that he was the one for her--a few years later, she let him know just how he could spend his summer job earnings. 55 years of marriage, and the love just surrounds them.

George sr. and I decided we would scale a sharp rocky hill alongside Dashield Damn, the second of the day. That meant rusty barbed wire and open train tracks (as everywhere has around here), and as I climbed, a near miss of some of the wire (this is where I reconsider my mom's insistence on a tetanus shot). Mimi walked on the Damn's platform accompanied by an employee and gave us a hoot--Mile 14--only 6 to go. In such a rush to go down the hill to catch Mimi's departure from the lock, I hadn't realized my feet. Black charcoal, tarish sooted messes!

These messy toes met Mimi and the rest of the gang at mile 20--a random mile 20. Walking on train tracks (scary!) down to a small embankment, and the fun job of bringing the kayak back on the path for loading. I need to lift weights! Delicious ice cream out of a random pink punk shop and a baby detour to kind host-mother Shirley's home, and here we are in Beaver Falls to gear up for another day on the Ohio River. Whoa... Day 1.

Day 0-1 was the jacking of Mimi's laptop and Day 0-2 was the discovery of said event and even with Mimi's frank statement that all of Day 1 pretty much sucks to swim as her body gets used to the idea of doing 20 miles in a chemically-ridden river with a mild current, I would call it a success. Adventure, again tomorrow and it's Mimi's birthday!

Glitch Heaven

"Oh, My!" Except, exchange the 'my' with something more appropriate and that is how I felt a couple days ago as I was packing for my flight to Taft, TN where Mimi Hughes resides, and the beginning point of our 60 day journey along the Ohio River.

In between the swift (and slightly chaotic) departure of my mother and sister to Nairobi and my Emma's college graduation, I was half-consciously organizing my belongings at such a sluggish rate that it's surprising anything was accomplished. Never having packed so light in my life, I weighed each sock with a seriousness that one should never do. 5 pairs of underwear. Oh, (My)!

But, I'm backwards, you don't worry about packing Tupperware with clothespins and string, you check your equipment list. So, like I had for the last few months, I took out my shiny toy--a Panasonic HMC-40 camcorder and turned the power on.

Then came the message:
"POWER TURNED OFF DUE TO FAN STOPPING"

Before I could comprehend, my camcorder shut off--never to turn on again. OH, MY MY MY!!!
My camera equipment, that I had accumulated over the last few months, and painstakingly researched for 6 more, was basically obsolete.

Well, this isn't the worst thing that's ever happened, but it's not looking too good I thought to myself. Wasn't it just last week that my laptop I was to bring on this trip decided to crap out? Hmm, if ever there was a sign to quit, this might be it.

But, I guess I'm not superstitious. Here I am in Taft, TN staying in a house among the Tree's and literally, "Tree's House"--Mimi's husband, Forrest, has the best nick-name ever!

After a morning of desperate calls to automated 1-800 numbers, I finally reached Panansonic, who in gently announced that my model is kinda a scam-cam-or a version illegally sold in America. Great! Kansas service center repairs at full cost, or nothing. Plan B--local repairs/av techs.

A kind gentleman was surprised by my ill luck and decided he would impart all that he knew...which was the number of another place--they too were sympathetic, but broke the news that they have never seen one of these models nor have the parts because it's too new! Plan B through out Bre's Plan C... short dresses in case we had to slut it up to get my camera repaired.

Bre's a married woman with a mischievous sense of humour and also happens to be Mimi's daughter. She's really the connection I have to all of this Ohio River amazingness. We met in 2005 when we worked and lived in China together teaching English, but by living in our city, Linyungang, we experienced so much more together than most friends do. So, it makes since that since it's been over 4 years since our last rendezvous, that we are still so connected.

So, it was an 'Oh, My' kinda day, but after resigning myself to the limitations of my over-the-phone negotiation powers and accepting the use of Tree's camcorder, I could just sip a beer with my friend, laugh and take in the surrounding splendor of Tennessee's lush greenery.

We visited Fayettville, TN and the kindness continued. Free marbles from the Magnolia Mall--they don't apparently have a price for 4 marbles, and we got a piece of carved cedar that the old bench dwellers make. Bre says that the old men sit on the same benches in the town square and whittle sticks day in and day out. One man, turns 92 on June 6th, the other, told me that if I kept travelling, my man may not want to marry me!--pretty wise.

When we returned to the house in the trees we set off to pick wild strawberries and cilantro (or coriander) for those English folks on a neighbors plot of land. A visit that might have been 20 minutes turned into a 2 hour exploration of their friend, Connie's life and land. We tasted wild vegetation, heard stories about how to grow your own mushrooms (first instruction a. cut down a tree). Connie shared her personal journey from Art to Alaska, electrical engineering to jewelry designer-- which is AMAZING -- http://www.connieulrich.com/

If these local encounters are any indication of some of the experiences to come on the Ohio River, glitch heaven and anxiety considered, I am all for it! ...and it never hurts to end your day in a dark open field, watching nature's brilliance unfold as the lightning bugs seek out their mates.