Dale, Maryellen, and I arrived at the studio pretty early. We got to know the receptionist well enough to ask her to take a picture of us while we waited.
I enjoyed doing a quick chat with Mary Beth and Alex on WREG TV in Memphis last Friday, October 18, the day after I arrived in Memphis.
Janet Moreland is woman on a mission and is paddling her way down the Mississippi River.
She actually started on this Missouri River in Montana and is making her way to the Gulf of Mexico.
Before she’s done, she will have traveled more than 3,700 miles on her exciting expedition
Posted on: 11:24 am, October 18, 2013, by Nancy B. Allen
I had a fantastic welcoming when I arrived in Memphis.
Members of the Bluff City Canoe Club and the Wolf River Conservancy. And, Maryellen Self traveled in from Kentucky!
I am laying over at Dale and Meriam’s beautiful home in Memphis.
Dale and Meriam Sanders’ home in Memphis, TN, where I am laying over. Sweet!
I went on a great overnight camp/guide party with Wolf River Conservancy, on the Wolf River.
The Wolf River with a little misty fog on top. This is part of the swamp section of the river. It is awesome!This camp/moonlight paddle event was to recognize and appreciate the Wolf River Conservancy Guides for their selfless efforts on the river. Half of them paddled in after dark and appeared as a stream of little lights in the misty fog. It was surreal and magical. Then, half of them left in the full moon light but were challenged by a denser layer of fog around midnight. What an adventure for them! Then, a couple of guides stayed but had no overnight gear. We fixed them up warmly.
The rest of us had a great time hanging out around the fire, and spent a leisurely morning breaking camp. What fun it was paddling through the swamps of Ghost River and into Spirit Lake, where Cypress trees make up 65% of the forest, and Tupelo Gum trees the other 35%. Just incredible scenery!
And, tomorrow I fly to Bend, Oregon to co-present at the Conservation Lands Foundation Friends Rendezvous for the entire weekend. WOW! From solitude on the Mississippi to LOTS going on.
I will try and post some Mississippi River photos from the last few weeks. What a fantastic river to paddle, and a whole new adventure. I probably won’t be going back to post the Missouri until after the expedition is over, which I anticipate will be close to the first of December.
The day has finally arrived. I have been losing sleep for nine months since I made the decision to paddle down the Missouri. Once I decided to take on this challenge, it was another month, or two or three, before I made the decision to start at the source. I knew I would regret not making the extra 298 miles if I started at Three Forks instead of Brower’s Spring.
The base of the mountains Norm and I will be coming out of after our ski into Brower’s Spring. (Photo by Norm Miller)
The time is 3:23 AM. My alarm is set for 4:30 AM. I feel like I have an extra hour so I’m trying to get in one last “quick” blog post before we take off. Now, THAT’s a challenge!
The Columbia Daily Tribune, our local newspaper, is supposed to publish a story this morning. I just checked on it. Yep, it’s there. Here is the link for “PRIMED TO PADDLE: Kayaker ready to tackle river’s entire length.” I will post the story under my Media page once the article becomes NOT available online, unless you have a subscription.
Yesterday was a very busy day packing. I actually spent two days hard at it. Three and one half months requires thinking through all of your needs, and wants, then trying to downsize the load. I’m not very good at that. Thankfully, Haley arrived after lunch and really helped me accomplish this daunting task. She is very organized and more rational than me when it comes to, “Is it really a need, or merely a want.”
We took a moment to take a picture with our matching “Say YES More” T-shirts. ‘Say Yes More’ is Dave Cornthwaite’s campaign, of which I am an ambassador. The first medium T-shirt was itty-bitty, so I gave it to Haley and he sent me a larger one. Find out more about Dave’s exciting adventures on his Website.
T-shirts for Dave Cornthwaite’s “Say Yes More” ambassador program.
Last night we enjoyed spending time with my niece, Rene Freels, and her husband, Kyle, and son, Sam. We enjoyed fabulous food (as usual) at El Maguey, not to mention their $1.25 margaritas. This is my favorite restaurant in town.
We then enjoyed going down to the river to meet a lot of my river friends who were enjoying a campfire, pot luck barbeque, and acoustic guitar music. We have access to a spot right next to Cooper’s Landing where we have get-togethers sometimes. We also stopped by Cooper’s and I was able to introduce them to many more wonderful people in our river community. We had a great evening. I was happy to introduce them to a little slice of my world. Unfortunately, no photos.
Once home again, I began to round up all of the little loose-end items such as dental floss, water bottles, hairbrush, shampoo and other things that I actually use until I leave. I started a batch of strawberry/banana fruit roll-ups in the dehydrator, too.
This morning I will do one last batch of laundry, gather all of my food and try to sort some of it out into portions. I need to make my custom trail mix as well. Then, once light starts dawning on this part of the earth, the kayaks will go on the car, and I’ll pack the car with all of my stuff. We just left everything on the porch since the weather is good and we have Minnie, our wonderful, and loud, watchdog. No one can approach the house without her approval.
Minnie
The weather looks rough for the next few days in this area, and on our drive up north. It is my understanding that snow has been falling in Montana. I try not to let the weather reports get me emotionally stirred up. I am taking things one step at a time, and making decisions as opportunities present themselves. You might say I am “Going with the Flow.” Yes, I like the sound of that. Here is my awesome road crew, Haley, Jeannie Kuntz, and me.
Haley, Jeannie, and Me: Hittin’ the road this morning at 10:00.
My extra hour has turned into two after posting photos. Still, not bad. But, gotta go!
Cheers! See you on the water! Montana here we come! YeeHaw!
Pelicans Dancing (Photo by Norm Miller)
(One hour, 30-minute blog post! That is a new personal record. That is good, real good.) 🙂
The blog reality is: I wanted to post a page about River Relief clean ups before I leave, and I did that today. The page is all about the St. Charles clean up last weekend. But, holy smokes, Batman, blog pages/posts take a lot of time and tender loving care, hours in fact.
To my blog followers: check my FaceBook Expedition Page often because blog posts will be more brief and less frequent once I’m on the water. I will be updating, but not blogging so much. Just wanted to get that out there.
Yikes! 3 days to go!! Tribune interview on Saturday. Send off at Cooper’s on Sunday!
Live fast ~ Paddle slow
Getting a little nervous now, and must work efficiently. Countdown 12 days, YIKES! I am scheduled to substitute teach the next three days. Then, off to St. Charles for the Missouri River Relief clean-up (arrive Fri-leave Sun), plus a crew meeting tonight at 6:30. Next week I will be putting all the puzzle pieces together, practicing packing the boat, and hoping that I get called for a teaching interview which will, ideally, land me a job for the next school year.
On Saturday night, April 13, my daughter, Haley, and my niece and her family, Rene, Kyle, and Sam, and I will be attending the Dance Showcase at the Columbia Performing Arts Center. My cousin, Jen Lee, teaches dancing there (she taught there when Haley was in Junior High) and puts together the grand finale of all the dance classes, the Showcase. Also, several of my students will be performing that night, Lauren, Kaylin and Rachel. They will be happy to see me there. They are such great dancers!
Sunday send-off will be the next day at Cooper’s Landing, April 14, 10:00AM. Wow! Ya, I’m a little nervous. Here is a list I composed between midnight and 2:00 AM last night. I keep paper and pen bedside. Every time I think of a little to-do item, I have to write it down, there are so many. These are just a few of the things that came to mind last night. Oh, and add American flag for the boat onto that list.
Midnight To Do List-April 2, 2013
I conducted a loosely traditional christening ceremony before dropping Blue Moon in the water for her first voyage with her new name. This was last Sunday, March 31, and a fun time despite the fact I forgot my really cool christening script I found online. Technology prevailed and I was able to access the first paragraph, which I had posted earlier in the week. The rest was improvisation, and seemed perfectly acceptable to all present.
The, the flotilla had a most wonderful paddle under blue skies and mild temperatures. My Eddyline Shasta truly is a dream boat. Blue Moon, Sweet Dream. We bonded. Ya, we got this!
Blue Moon (next I have to apply the blog address, maybe today) handled tenderly by Joe Kellenberger and Michael Stacy.Megan May setting up cameras for her Missourian video story. She has been following me around getting footage.Reading the script off my iPhone.First time in the water as “Blue Moon.”The christening cruise crew, L-R: Amanda Faith and Theo, Alison Kellenberger, daughter Hannah, Janet Moreland, Joe Kellenberger and Talia, Michael Stacy, Jonathan LautenTally, riding shotgun? With Joe.Theo, first time on the river, with Amanda.We met up with The Joseph M. LaBarge, Roger and Barbara Giles’ vessel, at Eagle Bluffs.Ahoy!
Wednesday evening, March 27, we had a wonderful heart-warming turn out for the Love Your Big Muddy Blues Benefit. Many of the finest musicians in Columbia played Red Hot Blues that night. Heidi Branaugh organized the event, with help from our committee, and things worked out beautifully. $1600 was raised to help with my expenses, and for that I am enormously grateful. Certainly, the evening was incredibly special and a memorable one for all. Much love in our community shined forth that night. And Shane Perrin, The Stand Up Guy, came to the event! What a wonderful supporter and inspiration. He planted a few seeds in my mind while visiting together! 😉
Talking with Shane Perrin about paddling rivers. Likin’ it!!My daughter, Haley, will be part of my support for the first week or two.Johnny D’Agostino and Alan Loshbaugh, so great!L-R, Scott McCullough, Charley Waddill on drums, Tony Lotven with sax in hand and Alan LoshbaughCharlie Brown Boogie Down Dance ContestL-R, Dennis Ternamian, Charley Waddill and Jim QuisenberryL-R, Zed Zardov, Scott McCullough, Dave Bandy, Charley Waddill
And our most gracious and talented host, Heidi, announcing the raffle winners.Lovely raffle items donated by beautiful people.Complimentary appetizers
Media interest has picked up, which I suppose is to be expected. Ciera and Megan, journalism students at the University of Missouri, are working for the Columbia Missourian to get a story out soon. Ciera is working on a written article and Megan is working on a corresponding video story.
Ciera started her story awhile back. Should publish soon.Megan May getting shots for her video story. Here, we applied the new name to the boat in the house since the temps outside were too cold.
Loved talking with Elizabeth Labauch, who wrote a blog post about the expedition for Footprint Magazine. Footprint Magazine is produced by Sustain Mizzou, an environmental student group at the University of Missouri. Tina Casagrand does a great job of keeping the magazine vibrant. Liz did a great piece from a somewhat different perspective. You can read her article posted to the Media Coverage Page on this blog.
I met with Simon Rose and Rene on the KFRU Morning Meeting yesterday. Be sure and check out the on-air interview, also posted on the Media Coverage Page at the top of my blog.
Right now I am waiting for Philip White to call. He wants to interview me for The SUP magazine online. Cool. He also writes for Canoe and Kayak. Doubly cool.
Just got off the phone with Philip. Great friendly conversation. I’ll keep you posted.
And finally, Leslie Kolovich and I did a podcast for her SUP radio show, Paddle for the Planet. Most enjoyable conversation with her, on and off air. Leslie is passionate for paddling AND the planet. Check out our podcast interview in the Media Coverage drop down list. And, check out her SUP Radio Show where she interviews, and supports, the paddling communities everywhere!
Leslie Astin Kolovich
Well, folks, got another blog post out here, didn’t I? That wasn’t even on my ToDo list. I will strive to keep you faithful followers updated during my trip. I anticipate I will be very busy taking photos, videos, charging up the laptop, writing in my journal, paddling onward, and keeping my hands clean. They don’t call it the Big Muddy for nothing, you know!
Feel free to suggest, inspire, encourage, and entertain by leaving a comment any time. Always appreciated! Cheers!
loveyourbigmuddy expeditions 