Mississippi Challenge 2011

This year I was lucky enough to do the Mississippi Challenge again. This challenge is designed to raise money for the "Friends of the Mississippi" non-profit whose goal is to educate, enhance, and protect the Mississippi River here in Minnesota.  On Friday night we dropped off our luggage and kayaks at the Coon Rapids dam.  We turned in our pledges ($250 minimum) and received our t-shirts.  On Saturday morning, I was up at 5:30 so I could get ready, commute to Shoreview, and carpool to a gravel business on Grey Cloud Island where my sibling would leave her vehicle. We boarded a school bus back to Coon Rapids.  By 9 a.m. I already felt like I had been on a long journey.  We chose a beany baby donkey as our mascot and he (she?) was attached via bungee cord to my sibling's green kayak. Our departure from the dam was delayed but by 9:30 we were on the road river.  This year I borrowed my sibling's kayak.  I paddled a Old Towne Otter XT.  I loved this little kayak. Not only was it orange (my favorite color) but the seat and back were most comfortable.  Even after 44 miles of paddling, I was still comfortable in the seat.  I set the foot rests to fit my legs just right.  We paddled downstream.  Our first rest stop was at Islands of Peace park in Fridley-river left.  The river is about 6 feet higher than it was at this time last year.  That means fewer beaches and more difficulty getting in and out.  We saw osprey and eagles, vultures and crows, chickadees and blue jays, robins and goldfinches.  We were expecting to see the wakeboarding competitors in Minneapolis like we saw last year but they must have been on a lunch break when we went through.  The higher water made for a faster trip for us.  Lunch was near Bassett Creek (river right) and we had Chipotle (yum!).  After lunch we headed into the inner city.  The air was muggy and the heat was hot. My sun hat and a long-sleeved shirt is a requirement for sun-sensitive me but, holy cow, it was hot. We went through the first lock and dam and I was glad we could paddle right in without having to wait in line.  By the time the water level had lowered enough for us to get out of the lock, it was like an oven in that deep cement box.  Not a single breeze could reach us down there.  So many kayaks and canoes were crammed together we were like a jig saw puzzle in there.  The boats nearest the lock doors had to go out first so the rest of us could disentangle ourselves.  Here is when canoer's have the advantage.  They can paddle when things are tight while us kayakers have to wait because our paddles are so much wider.  Five minutes later we were at the second lock.  This gives us a nice chance to rest our arms, readjust our foot rests, apply more sunscreen and drink water without slowing down.  The water was choppy after the second lock and our kayaks got spun around as if an invisible hand reached up from below and turned us sideways. After a long while the currents straighted out again for the most part and we could make better progress with fewer collisions.  The next rest stop was at the Minneapolis rowing club.  We chose to rest up while still in our kayaks by choosing a shady spot at the side of the river.  This is where we finally met up with our other fellow kayaker. We were wondering where she had gone to. I was happy to start seeing airplanes close overhead because that meant we were getting close to our destination.  We kayaked to Fort Snelling.  Whew!  Our first day of travel was over except for walking up a mile uphill to the fort.  We found our luggage and set up our tents.  I went to the ladies room and washed up in the sink as best I could. Everything in the fort is old.  The gates are old.  The walls are old. The buildings are old. And they have no showers. But in the bathrooms they have automatic sensors on the toilets and the sinks which is strangely modern. I was happy to use the running water.  They treated us with root beer floats and a delicious dinner of grilled burgers and hot dogs and salads.  The food they serve us on this trip is delicious and satisfying; most of it is organic.  I can't remember the name of the band that played in the evening but they were really good. We walked up to the tower on the fort to watch the sunset.  Clouds obscured most of our view.  We tried to go to bed when it got dark but the heat and humidity were very oppressive. We could see lightening in the distance.  Suddenly the air temperature dropped quite a bit but before we could really enjoy that and get some sleep, a storm blew in.  We heard a tornado siren.  We heard the two little girls in the tent next to us ask, "Daddy, what is that noise?"  Daddy lies and says it is a 9 o'clock whistle.  "Daddy, why haven't we ever heard it before?"  Then the wind came and attacked our tent.  The wind pushed from all four directions.  Sometimes the wind blew from two directions at once.  Our tent was only a few feet from a twelve foot tall, two foot thick wall.  You wouldn't think it could get that windy next to a large wall.  The scariest times for me is when the wind seemed to come up from the ground and try to pull us up into the air.  The rain flap on the tent stretched so high above the roof of the tent I thought we were going to loose it entirely.  I am sure the elastic cords that held it to the stakes were stretched to the maximum length.  The wind blew and blew and blew and blew.  Lightening illuminated just how much our tent was being knocked around.  I held my hand to two sides of tent as if that would help at all (it didn't).  At the very worst of it, we heard the two little girls scream in terror, "Daddy!  Daddy!  Our tent is blowing over!  Daddy!  Daddy Daddy Daddy!"  They were terrified.  Their Daddy calmed them down and restaked their tent.  He offered reassurance.  Then the storm quit. The wind stopped blowing and the rain fell more gently.  If the girl's screaming ended the storm, why the heck didn't they start screaming earlier?  I could feel that some water got into my tent.  It probably didn't help that I touched the sides during the storm.  I was too tired to care.  Later I was awoken by some miserable pain.  This pain was not my usual back pain and not a headache.  This was a double dose of knee pain.  My knees were killing me.  I've never had such knee pain before. I think I readjusted my foot pegs too far away.  My legs were totally extended. When I paddle with the right side of the paddle in the water, for example, I pull with my right arm, and push with my left arm and left leg.  Vice versa for the other side.  I think I was pushing hard with my knee too straight when it should have been slightly flexed.  I tried to ignore it but I couldn't.  I had some aleve and my water bottle in the tent with me.  Have you ever tried to line up the little arrows on a child-proof container in the dark?  It's not an easy task but eventually I got the bottle open.  I wasn't getting a good night's sleep on this night.  Stay tuned for the second day of our journey.