Experiment in Flight
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Onto Cairo
Friday, July 16, 2010
Our Daily Planet
Lending a hand
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Past the Dredges
Dredge=Dread=Fear=Anxiety Really, the 'dredging' machines were only a few days, but as Mimi and Kelsey entered the glaciated part of the river, the Ohio became a vast desolate lake where they were lucky to average about 1.8 mph. Emotionally and physically challenging, the 12+ hour stretches of mind altering swims left mim hanging on by a thread. I became less of a filmmaker a more than ever the best support I could. Tough to watch, more difficult to talk about. Only in hindsight is it that I believe I can even touch upon it, but never accurately describe--really, to create a new phrase and bottle up the last 10 days in it seems just about right--The Dredge.
There was A LOT of good in the middle of the dredges, but mostly, it was long and difficult. Even when Mimi and Kelsey would get to an awesome place, I doubt they could even look around along enough to take in the ambiance--pillowcase to pillowcase. Right before she left, Tess endured a long day with Cannelton Dam at the end of it. What was amazing is that along the side of the dam where the highway hugged the river, a growing group of onlookers, people who had followed Mimi and even our little friends, Miss Mon and her owner from the day before gathered to watch Mimi traverse the dam. It was an amazing sight to see a trail of people follow her around. Unfortunately, my journey cut short as Mimi was barefoot and took my shoes to climb down rip wrap (they were soaking!!)
In an attempt to catch Mimi and Kelsey at Lewisport, KY I chatted with some kind folks on a boat unloading a passenger at the city ramp. The two women on the boat said that they had waited all day and just seen them on the river about a mile away. Not ten minutes had gone by and I was on the boat with the retired teachers--one a principle, the other had taught since she was 18 (even taught the principle in middle school--pictured above), enjoying the evening breeze and waiting to haul the kayak out of the water. I rode with them for 2 hours, enjoying the outdoors and hearing about their amazing lives--on a whim one day watching television the two of them and another friend had a reflective moment--thinking, there must be more to life than this. They challenged each other to get their phd, picking a school out of the air--Vanderbilt. Some years later, all of them received their phd at vanderbilt.
Mimi pushed herself to keep a 4 mile lead for the 4th of July. Even though it was 16 miles, it took 10 hours! There were so many small boats and no current. She made it by 6pm to Little hurricane boat ramp where a small group of people had been waiting for her all day. The three ladies and male friend were so excited and had been waiting all day long to meet Mimi--asking the surrounding boaters (most of them clueless about the swim), You here for the river swimmer? Two of the ladies were twins, one of whom had suffered from medical problems and spoke about life with such respect. There may have been four of them there, but their energy and enthusiasm were enough to fill a stadium. Surprisingly, Mimi had an unexpected guest, her massage therapist, Jeffery who had randomly been in Owensboro on vacation. He didn't even know she was swimming into town if not for the newspaper.
Fireworks, not really. Sleep, yes.
Back to the National Writing project from Louisville, KY where teachers wrote poems, quotes. One in particular a poem entitled, 'Today I Swim' by Sandra (last name would be a guess) has been the read during the dredge times. The poem really captured the mission of the swim and the hardships Mimi faces.
Kelsey took to driving as sitting on cardboard in the back of the jeep was not really a relief when one has been sitting in a kayak for 12 hours a day. I silently enjoyed this break from driving.
As though the days were not enough of a challenge, then came some storms with headwinds, which tend not to help a 1.7 mph average. Things were steadily slow and Kelsey was just about to hand the baton over to Mike Russell, who was set to kayak the next two days, when a call out of nowhere came. Kelsey, calm, but serious broke the news that Mimi would need to come out of the water at noon. I was shocked--this is a person that would rather have gooey eyes and achy shoulders than to pull out. But, I listened further. She lost her tooth!? What? My thoughts went to acid water, pollution, but with more information I found out it was a capped tooth and a nut in her food (how logical!). Thanks, to Crystal, our savior in Morganfield, KY off we went to the dentist to find a temporary solution. But, the shocking thing was that at 3:30pm, Mimi and kelsey were back on the water, determined to swim until sun down.
Morganfield, Ky demi-goddess Crystal--who is the head of the Morganfield YMCA as well as the co-founder. Her brother dreamed of bringing the YMCA to their hometown--and so she continues to work to bring opportunities to her community. We had a 'Crystal' in Henderson, named Marcia--who worked hard to get our dinner and helped us with a place to stay--the days were so hard Mimi never even met her and so that had been for the entire week--in and out of places and a blur of faces. Luckily, I was able to meet some of the people who helped, even if briefly.
(morganfield is inland of Uniontown, Ky mile 842)
The interesting part about this area along the river--cornfields. Since Mimi wanted to swim until sundown and our relief Kayaker, Mike and awesome wife, Sharon were in town the two had no idea what they got themselves into when they volunteered to be the trackers of the day. That is a story that only they can tell. Let's just say that it involved cornfields, honking horns, and missing sandals.
(mile 858)
For our day off we stayed at Cave in Rock near the river and part of the Shawnee National Forest. It was a beautiful cabin and we were helped endlessly by Kim, the Manager of the lodge. Mimi swam and I kayaked on our day off in order to put us ahead for the final week.
As of yesterday morning we had a few tasks to deal with-- to change our lodging to stay on the Illinois side and figure out how to pull Mimi out of the water where there was no river access. Lucky us, because we were connected with Donna, the owner of the general store in Bay City, IL with an amazing apartment on the top level. Donna's little granddaughter, Sadie was my pint-size tour guide. Fake casino games, a portrait drawing session, pink bubble gum, hair braiding and mazes a plenty. Nothing better for the soul. I felt like we make quite an impression on each other. She said, 'Now Grammie, it's quiet time. Joanna and I got things to do.'
Smithland Locks and Dam (mile 818)
Sue was a huge help along with Lockmaster Denny--they all brain stormed with every issue imaginable of the day and one of the core members found us lodging at the General Store!
First thing this morning, Donnie was there to help us in and even shuttle a car--he's taken being a pal to the next level. Rant fin.