Paddle With Us

We had an incredibly full and rewarding day. Last night we camped on 12 mile Island outside Louisville and we met a great man Mitch. We enjoyed a fire with him before retiring to our tent. Sleeping much better than we did the night before we awoke and were on the river by 630.  Strangely, last night we experienced something we had also experienced the previous night. We heard a wild animal of some sort killing another animal. Scarier the night before but still a little alarming.  We met Mitch in the morning and he agreed to meet us in Louisville at the community boat club. He was there when we arrived. He treated us to showers at the boat club. And then showed us the city.   Little did we expect when we woke up this morning that today would be the day we saw our first horse race at Churchill Downs. And little did Maggie know that it would be the first time she got a senior discount anywhere. There’s something to be said for turning 60. Though it was a compliment that the woman at the ticket booth didn’t believe any of us were 60.Mitch treated us to a late breakfast followed by a tour of the city including many sites but the highlights were the Louisville slugger Museum and factory and Churchill Downs the home of the Kentucky derby. More later but for now we are settled in on a rock outcropping into the river having passed through the only lock we will go through this time. We have a fire going and will soon be in our tent to escape the mosquitoes.  Sorry if my grammar and punctuation looks weird but I’m reading this into my phone.

The birds are a twitter and it’s time to get up and on our way for our third day.  The bodies are creaky and sore but we press on.  We put 26 miles on the journey yesterday.  It was a beautiful, sunny and calm most of the day.  But it was hot!  By by mid afternoon we were done in and stopped at a marina hoping to find ice and shade.  What we found was a great couple, Joe and Sue, who took us into their beautiful home with AC and gave us drinks and chocolate!  This photo was taken yesterday from their deck.  Thanks Sue and how for helping us!

21 miles down river and stopping for lunch on our first full day. Found a great city park in Westport Kentucky. Some shade and bathrooms are always a bonus.  Lots of boaters as it is the holiday weekend.

I’m in a motel room near the Cleveland airport. I’m waiting for Karen to arrive with the red canoe on top. Then we have a days drive to get to our put in place in Madison Indiana. It’s been a long haul to get to this point. I left my office at 2 PM yesterday Friday. I was driven to the Manchester New Hampshire Airport by Char Delabar one of our volunteers at my work.  She earned the distinction of being the first angel on our trip this year. My flights from Manchester to Cleveland were OK. The second one was an hour late so I didn’t get into Cleveland until 12:15am.  The hardest part was that I was not well directed, in fact I was not directed at all, to where to wait for the hotel shuttle so it was 1 AM before I got the shuttle and 2 AM before I went to bed. I set the alarm for eight not realizing that accidentally it was also set for 5:15. So just over three hours later I was awakened. I managed to fall back to sleep for a couple of hours but then finally got up.   I showered for perhaps the last time in several days. Then went down and had a nice breakfast. And then spent the rest of my time while waiting for Karen trying to figure out how to fold the sailing unit I bought to experiment with this year. The attached pictures show that this device has to go from a big round circle to three little circles.  It’s hard to picture it without somebody actually taking a picture of me battling with it but after many attempts I feel competent to do this even within the confines of a canoe. So happy sailing is an apt wish for us and may the wind be at our back.

It is, to date, the coldest day of the year in West Windsor, VT.  Our outdoor thermometer registers -12 degrees F but that does not include the windchill factor.  Though the cold wind is blowing outside, we are sitting by our woodstove, our only source of heat in our new house, with the indoor temperature reading 72 degrees.  It’s hard to fathom an 84 degree difference between inside and outside.

The cold wind does not keep me from thinking about our emerging plans for paddling another 100+ miles on the Ohio River this summer.  Karen and I spoke on the phone last weekend and we began our planning for 2016.  I now have my flight booked on May 28.  I’ll fly to Cleveland where Karen will pick me up, our faithful red canoe Wonder atop her van. It is a high point of my trip to see Karen rounding the bend to the arrivals doors of whatever airport I am flying into.  It is then that the adventure of the year begins.

Last year we were both particularly tired by the time we got started on our trip.  In the van on the way from the airport to the Ohio River we were reminiscing on previous trips.  We ended up laughing so hard we nearly had to pull off the highway.  Moments like that are what remind us why it is so important that we do this crazy and wild thing each year.

We ended in Madison, Indiana, last year.  We pulled in just about an hour before a deluge hit the river.  The kindness of strangers once again helped us find a nice motel with a typical large “Southern” style porch from which we could watch the rain with gratitude that we were not out on the river nor trying to set up a tent along its banks.

We will find our way to Madison again on May 28 and perhaps pitch a tent in the yard of the kind man who let us leave our canoe at his house while we stayed in the motel.  Or maybe we will stay in the motel again.  Either way, we will be back on the banks of the mighty Ohio River in just over 3 months, wondering what adventures will present them and what kind of people will greet us and cheer us on down the river.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was when we moved to Santa Fe in 2004 that I first learned about the Camino.  I was intrigued by such pilgrimages that drew people from all over the world to Spain and France to walk on ancient paths to a common destination.  However, I did not feel that I had to do it.  I still don’t feel that I have to do though when my daughter mentioned it the other week I did volunteer to walk with her some day.  And maybe someday I will walk part of it with our friend Alexander Shaia who is leading a walk this fall.

But for the time being I am happy with my own version of the Camino.  I’ll call it my Rio as that is the Spanish word for river. The Rio has become a powerful week in my life.  Sharing this experience every year with my good friend Karen Yeversky is a large part of the beauty of the week.  We paddle together, much as the walkers tale strides along the various routes of the Camino. Sometimes we are quiet.  Sometimes we are reflective.  Sometimes we debate and wonder and make up why things are the way they are.  Sometimes we laugh until we cry.  Always, always, we test our physical and emotional endurance.  And every year we end up further down the Ohio River. no matter what.  I love to write about our journey and usually I hope to do that on the river.  But this year I found it hard to write anything on my little iPhone more than an update of the highlights of a particular day or two.

So now, having been back for nearly two weeks, I will start to write some more detailed reflections on our powerful week in the gorgeous Ohio Valley, the people we met who helped us, the animals, birds and flora we saw and, this year in particular, the food we discovered.  The food was a hit on Facebook.  I think some people didn’t believe we were actually camping.  It was fun to find the seasonal floating restaurants along the more populated parts of the river.  We just never know what we will find on our annual journey.

In the weeks to follow, I hope to be faithful to our journey by recounting stories that let you know why it has become so important.  What I fear is that no matter how articulate I may be, you may not fully be able to experience the power.  I assume this is similar to my friends’ stories as they recount their steps along the Camino.  In the end, each journey is our own.  I suspect  that even Karen and I, though paddling in the same canoe on the same river, have different versions of the beauty of the week.

Today was really too awesome to describe in detail on my iPhone but in brief:  we were drenched by 7:30, we had a great breakfast in Rising Sun,Indiana, we had an accidental private tour of a harp makers shop, we paddles another 26 miles in mostly sun and some wind, on and off difficult, we found a nice couple by resting on their dock and they gave us a needed lighter as we had given ours up to a smoker in need, and we are now camped in a beautiful marina under a shelter which is good because it is due to rain tonight!  Whew.  

it was only drizzling when we headed out from the camp ground but before we got to Rising Sun , IN, just two miles down, we were soaked and got out to find a cafe!  We are now sitting finishing it up.  I had to order biscuits and gravy since we are in the south!  We have paddled a total of 80 miles and this is the fist day the rain has taken us off the river.  We are soaked through but our spirits are still high!

One more update:  we paddled past these fascinating composite rocks on the river…different from a anything we have seen.  Oh, and one more thing…we enjoyed fried Danish in Aurora, IN, yesterday.  Also pictured here.

We just made it to the 490 mile point on the Ohio River. That’s the one half mark on the Ohio with 740 miles in total that we have peddled since we left western New York 14 years ago. We still are having pretty weather and are making about 25 miles a day. Here’s a picture of our little memorial to our momentous day the 490 mile mark on a 980 mile river.