2001 Race - May 16, 2001, Wednesday
The Great Mississippi River Race for Rett Syndrome, May 2001
We are Going the Extra Mile..... The Extra 2,348 Miles to Find a Cure!
The Great Mississippi River Race for Rett Syndrome, May 2001
We are Going the Extra Mile..... The Extra 2,348 Miles to Find a Cure!
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Teams called in to Safety Officer between 5 and 7 AM
Team Kruger and Team Double Helix are paddling together on closed sections of the Mississippi River per a decision from the Coast Guard.
Updates/Comments Usually Received 5-7AM calls, but starting at midnight this particular day......:
More adventure on the Mississippi. . . Team Alaska: According to Kerm, who called at 7:00 from river mile 715, near lock and dam 7, Kermit is "sliming down the river" with all due speed, happy, evidently, to have two parasitical paddlers along for the ride. They were all in good spirits, even though Kerm and Bud had paddled until 1:30 a.m before stopping for several hours sleep around 4:30 a.m. Team Double Helix: At nearly midnight last night, Andrew called with the news that Team Double Helix and Team Kruger--now traveling together on the closed portion of the river between Dubuque and Keokuk, per instructions from Coast Guard Commander Ramirez--had been stopped by the Sheriff on the water, who demanded to know why they were disobeying orders to stay off the river. According to Clark, who called later this morning, it was a rude "wake-up call" for him (sleeping under the bubble), since the Sheriff's boat actually collided with the Double Helix hard enough to send the bubble flying. Not only were they bumped with a boat from below, but a helicoptor was also angling in from above, hovering much too close for comfort. I asked Clark if he thought he was hallucinating inside the "Happy Hut," what with all the bellowing bullhorns, high-intensity searchlights and such, but he just laughed. This "Drama in the Darkness" was peacefully resolved at 8:15 a.m., when Commander Eric Washburn, filling in for Commander Ramirez at the Coast Guard's Upper Mississippi St. Louis office, told the sheriff our teams could paddle the river unimpeded. Further, he said he would alert all Army Corp of Engineer and Coast Guard officials of our special permission to be on closed sections of the river. With that, the teams were off and running from river mile 497, near lock and dam 15, after spending what remained of the night in a parking lot in the small town of LeClaire, IA. Team Kruger: No one called in from this team, but Clark said they are there with Team Double Helix END OF SAFETY REPORT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Note from Event Organizer/Webmaster, Mary Potter (Clark Eid's wife, paddler from Team Double Helix) I returned home today at 1:30 PM to find a message from Andrew M. Gribble of Team Double Helix and played it....as Andrew's voice explained the Sheriff's boat and helicopter incident my 4 year old son said "Momma, is dad in jail?", "No Noah", I replied hastily, still trying to listen as the recording continued, "Momma, is daddy locked up?", "No Noah", and continued to try to listen to Mr. Gribble at which point Noah ran off gleefully around the living room with his arms up saying "Daddy is in jail! Daddy is in jail!". Andrew never said anything about that on the recording...Noah just surmised this on his own, and asked Clark about it when he called this evening "Dad are woo in jail?" and then asked me about it when I tucked him in....and still asked me about it the following morning at breakfast.......I can't wait to get that note from the preschool teacher today about today's show and tell report. I have received many calls about the race today, some from reporters interested in the sheriff incident and the fact that the teams have permission to continue their journey at this time. Clark did report to me (around 5 PM) that they did an interview with Channel 8 and might be on the local news that night. Special thanks to this sheriff's group who helped us inadvertently "get the word out" about our race much better than we could have :-)
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