May 18 2001 14 Friday

2001 Race - May 18, 2001, Friday
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!

Teams called in to Safety Officer between 5 and 7 AM

Team Name	Time Called	River Mile	Nearest City/State	Estimated Position
Alaska MSC	7 and 9 AM		Below L&D 11, Dubuque, IA	3rd
Amazons	Withdraws 5/12/01		Stops near St. Cloud, MN	5th
Double Helix	6:30 AM	Mile 301	L&D 22, Hannibal, MO	2nd, sometimes tied 1st/2nd
Kruger	6 AM	Mile 301	L&D 22, below Hannibal, MO	1st, sometimes tied 1st/2nd
Rebels	Withdraws 5/13/01		Stops near Monticello, MN	4th

Updates/Comments Received from Elizabeth Tynan, Safety Officer, 5-7AM calls, summarized today by Mary Potter since Elizabeth reports slooooow computer problems today:
Team Alaska - Kerm call Mary Potter around 9 AM, could not get his phone working earlier, and now got a busy signal at Elizabeth Tynan's, and didn't want to wait - Kerm said "Well, I didn't want anyone sending the coast guard to look for me!" Kerm was paddling below Lock and Dam 11 and reports he is "floundering down the river". He laughed quite a bit as we spoke and said at night the team tries to dry things out and generally gets 6-8 hours of sleep, although Kerm reports getting 2 to 4 hours a night himself. They are all doing fine!
Meanwhile....somewhere on land, Eric called Elizabeth Tynan around 7, more to chat than to report in and indicated yet another main attraction to Team Alaska - they have a great! cook who continues to make excellent meals that everyone is enjoying thoroughly! So now we know the whole story about Team Alaska, also referred to as Team Glob and Team of One Hundred since they seem to readily attract newbies!
Team Double Helix - Andrew called in at 6:30 AM, Lock and Dam 22. Paddlers are expected shortly.
Team Kruger - Stan called in at 6:00 AM, Lock and Dam 22 Mile 301, below Hannibal, MO. Paddlers are expected shortly.
END OF SAFETY REPORT
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Webmaster's NOTE.... As I was listening to new messages in the last hour, one began, "Hello, this is the Sheriff's office" and I thought, oh no, someone is really in trouble or they want me take that last sheriff incident off the website...." and he continue "from St. Cloud.", (St Cloud, MN? I wondered.....), "We have a kayak that we believe one of your teams lost! Please call us at...." When I did call, not only did they have the Team Alaska's long lost yellow kayak, the officer reported the kayak had all sorts of rigging on it, the GPS and marine radio "as if it were outfitted for a really long trip" :-). Thank you St. Cloud Sheriffs! Kerm Ketchum will pick up the boat that tried to get away on his return trip home to Alaska after the race has ended.

Teams called in to Safety Officer between 5 and 7 PM

Team Name	Time Called	River Mile	Nearest City/State	Estimated Position
Alaska MSC	5:18 PM		L&D 13, Iowa	3rd
Amazons	Withdraws 5/12/01		Stops near St. Cloud, MN	5th
Double Helix	6:59 PM	Mile 240	L&D 25, MO	2nd, sometimes tied 1st/2nd
Kruger	6:30 PM	Mile 240	L&D 25, MO	1st, sometimes tied 1st/2nd
Rebels	Withdraws 5/13/01		Stops near Monticello, MN	4th

Updates/Comments Received, 5 to 7 PM Calls From Don Keller, official time keeper:
Lost Kayak Recovered.
At approx. 5:00 PM this afternoon the St. Cloud sheriff's department notified Mary Potter that a yellow kayak was found. "It looks like it's set up for a really long trip" On May 12, the Team Alaska "Yellow Banana" capsized and out intrepid paddlers swam 75 yards to shore, as the kayak headed south by itself. Kerm said "I think it might have gone over the falls at the St. Cloud dam"
Here it is six days later, and the St. Cloud sheriff's department got a call from a citizen. They investigated, thinking that there might be a body nearby. No one had reported anyone missing, so Sgt. Jeffrey Janssen made a trip to Toy R' Us, and someone there, another miracle of miracles, knew about the lost kayak, and put Sgt. Janssen in touch with Mary Potter. The kayak was recovered with a GPS and marine radio.
Team Alaska 5/18 PM Support at Lock and Dam # 13, waiting for paddlers. Kerm Ketchum called in and I asked him "Well do want to hear something interesting" I then related the story of the return of the "Yellow Banana" Kerm has contacted the Rock Island CBS affiliate TV station and they will do an interview tomorrow. They are planning to camp tonight at Lock and Dam # 13 and tomorrow night at Lock and Dam # 15. quite near Rock Island Ilinois.-Davenport Iowa
Team Double Helix 6:59 River Miles 240
Both teams have just been fed by the unbelievably skilled and resourceful Team Double Helix cooks Edith and Johann. As Andrew put it "Edith continues to provide 5 course meal with just a spatula and a cook stove" Andrew said "We are standing in a light rain, so I'll give the phone to Kent". Kent and I have been comparing the daily distances made on this trip, to those recorded during the 1984 record.
Team Kruger 6:30- Stan called to say that Team Kruger is changing up support teams . He will meet up with the crew in St. Louis.
END OF SAFETY REPORT MAY 18, 2001

Webmaster says - I don't have logs from every team, but I will share what I have:

Kent Spading, Co-Captain, Team Double Helix May 18 2001
4 AM Clark called me on the cell phone in my hotel room and Stan called too – they are past Hannibal.   We will meet them at LD 22 (Jeff and I). We left Hans, Edith and Andrew sleeping.   5:35 AM they arrived at L&D 22, very remote location, bayous!
6:45 AM paddlers left L&D 22
7:05 AM We are heading back to Hannibal to get our gear at the hotel.
Arrived at LD 24 at 9:30 AM. Met Stan and crew.
10 AM Kruger boat called, they are 6 miles out I called the LD on the radio – he said go over the spillway on the left side.   I bought some groceries. Some ferel dogs tried to get our food off of the stove.
11:30 AM they arrived at LD 24.   Verlen, in 1984, tood 315 hours 20 minutes to reach LD 24. It took us 317 hours 50 minutes.    Left LD 24 at 12:50 PM.
Vans left LD 24 at 1:50 PM. On our way to LD 25.
2:35 PM in the town of Foley , cloudy, bad weather.
We will go over spillway at L&D 25 on left side.
5:07 PM waiting for guys below L&D 25 at an old marina
5:30 PM The boats arrived at Mike Frost’s Marina.   All under water.
7PM Raining, the sky looks bad.   Clark and I drove up to the ask the Corps people if we could sleep in their garage tonight at L/D 25. Yes they said, and we can shower and everything. Clark did a good sell job or was it arm twisting?   Really bad looking sky.   Not a good time to go in the water.   Both teams/paddlers stayed in the garage tonight.
10:40 PM In bed in the GMC van.   No sleep pad for me.   I slept in the front seat. Cold , raining, wet.
When Edith, Hans and Jeff were pulling into the Frost’s Marina area a guy in white truck pulled up and told them to get lost.   He was a neighbor to the Marina area.   Another guy got involved, the two were talking, I was worried we would be kicked out. After a while I went over and talked to them.   They had mellowed out.   They said we could stay, and I gave the some literature on Rett Syndrome and the race.   I suspect that the Corps folks at L&D 25 called and told them we were coming.   L&D 25 recommended we go to Frost’s for the take out.
I calculate at this point we are about 5 hours behind the Guinness World Record at Jefferson Barracks (around LD 24) today.
End of team Log, Kent Spading, Team Double Helix May 18 2001

Team Kruger Log - By Bob Bradford, Enhanced by Stan Hanson  May 18. 2001 Friday
By approximately 1 :00 a.m. May 18, we arrived at Lock and Dam 21. The lock master told us to go over the levee on the right side, which we did. We were still traveling with the Double Helix at this time. Near Hannibal, Double Helix pulled over to change places so one of them could sleep. Verlen was already asleep, so we kept going. They would soon catch up.
At 5:06 a.m., we arrived at Lock and Dam 22. The Double Helix was somewhere behind us. The lock master said we had to go to the right of the lock. It was still dark, and there were a lot of trees, brush, and a fence. We arrived at the road that led to the lock, and paddled our canoe into the right bank. The road going to the lock was flooded. The lock master had been using a boat to get to the lock, which was now an island. Our support team was not there yet. They said the road from Hannibal was flooded and they had to backtrack. Team Helix support team arrived next, and so did team Helix. Their support crew fed us, too. Shortly after, our support team arrived, and we got extra provisions for the canoe.
At Lock and Dam 24, we were told by the lock master to go over the levee on river left. After the lock, we had to cross back to the right because our support crew was in Clarksville. The town was flooded near the river. At this stop, we found that Chuck would be leaving our support crew and heading back to California. We would miss him, but by St. Louis, Missouri, Stan's wife Dana would join us. The plan would be for our support crew to head for St. Louis after this stop, and we would get fed by Double Helix's crew.
Late afternoon on May 18, we arrived at Lock and Dam 25. The sky looked bad, and the marine band radio said a storm cell was moving in from the southwest. The Double Helix support crew met us just below the lock on river right. We pulled our boats up along the levee and went down to the car to eat. The levee at this point had sand bags along it. All of the houses on the river side of the levee were flooded -- at least the ground floors were.
After eating, it began to rain. We decided to spend the night here and let the storm blow over. Everyone would sleep in the workshop of lock 25, except me. I would stay with the two boats at the levee and sleep under the dome of the Double Helix. At first, it was too hot under the dome. Clark had thought of everything! The dome had a small, battery-operated fan which I used. By 3:00 a.m., I was too cold, but I was dry.
End of Team Kruger Log - May 18. 2001 Friday