May 21 2001 17 Monday

2001 Race - May 21, 2001, Monday, Day 17
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	7:45 AM	115	Chester, Illinois	3rd
Amazons	Withdraws 5/12/01		Stops near St. Cloud, MN	5th
Double Helix	6:45 AM	585	Port of Rosedale, Mississippi	2nd
Kruger	7:30 AM	496	Mayorsville, Arkansas	1st
Rebels	Withdraws 5/13/01		Stops near Monticello, MN	4th

Updates/Comments 5-7 AM calls
Mary Potter, Webmaster and Event Organizer:

Team Alaska - Kerm called at 7:45 AM CST and reports the paddlers are at mile 115 below St. Genevieve by Chester, Illinois. Everybody is fine and healthy.

Team Double Helix - Andrew called in at 6:45 AM CST from the Port of Rosedale, Mississippi, mile 585. Team slept on shore last evening. All are well, paddlers have left and are on the water at this time.

Team Kruger - Stan and I talked around 7:30 AM CST from Mayorsville, Arkansas at mile 496. Team is in good spirits and family members are rallying in support of the team.

Teams called in to Safety Officer between 5 and 7 PM

Team Name	Time Called	River Mile	Nearest City/State	Estimated Position
Alaska MSC	7:30 PM	40	Commerce	3rd
Amazons	Withdraws 5/12/01		Stops near St. Cloud, MN	5th
Double Helix	5:10 PM	528	Greenville, Mississippi	2nd
Kruger	4:30 PM	437	Vicksburg, Mississippi	1st
Rebels	Withdraws 5/13/01		Stops near Monticello, MN	4th

Updates/Comments, 5 to 7 PM Calls
from Steven Landick, Race Director, written by Mary Potter

Team Alaska - Kerm called from Commerce at river mile 40 around 7:30 PM CST. Kerm said they are all getting ready for a big spagetti dinner. All are well and feeling fine.

Team Double Helix - Andrew called from Greenville, Mile 528 at 5:10 PM CST. He told Steve that at one point the GPS read that the kayakers were going a speed of 18 mph this day. We wonder just how fast that current is going. Steve suspects the lead teams have now surpassed the crest of the flood.

Andrew emailed the webmaster later to say in Mayorsville they have received food and drink donations from local grocers and much southern hospitality!

Team Kruger - Stan is reporting the paddlers at mile 437 aroudn Vicksburg, Mississippi at 4:30 PM. Stan reports both Bob and Verlen have had family members joining them in support of their final part of the journey and that Dana (Stan's wife) is taking care of all the maps and Stan is very happy to have all the support! He can finally kick back occasionally! In the mean time, Verlen and Bob plan to go non stop now except for occasionally stops to get food. Team Kruger doubts they can make record time given all the delays, but nevertheless, are "going for it".

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

Team Kruger Log - By Bob Bradford, Enhanced by Stan Hanson
May 21, 2001, Monday, Day 17

By 1 :00 a.m. on May 21, it stopped raining. I was wet and cold. I told Verlen to finish sleeping as I pushed off and started paddling. Near mile 938, the storm came up again. I pulled into another sandy area. This time, I could not make contact with the
support team. Verlen was still asleep in the storm. I once again crawled into the bow to sleep and try to keep dry.

At 4:00 a.m., I was shivering so bad I couldn't hold still. I drank some coffee from my thermos. I thought about changing into my dry clothes, but it was still raining hard. The thunder quite a distance away, so I felt it would be safe. I turned on my light and something caught my eye. About 30 feet away, I saw a large animal. It looked like a large greyhound, or was it some type of cat? At any rate, it ran when it saw my light.

I decided to change into a dry poly-shirt and jacket and start paddling hard to get warm. When dawn broke it was the morning of May 21. Day 17 of our race.

When we left Cairo, Illinois, the afternoon before, our team had planned on meeting us at Hickman Ferry. Our problem now was that we had to cross to the left side to meet them. The flooded river was over a mile wide at this point, and I was bucking a strong headwind. Verlen was asleep in the stern, but that would be okay, because I wanted to paddle hard to get warm anyway. I planned on hiding behind the lower part of Wolf Island Bar for protection. To my surprise, I could only see the tops of bushes that had been on the bar.

I made it to Hickman Ferry by 7:00 a.m. It had taken 12 hours to go 32 miles! What a night! We also found that the Double Helix had not passed us yet.

During breakfast, the support team told me about Angie's dream. At Hickman Ferry, Angie had parked next to a corn field. During the night, she dreamt we had paddled past the ferry, so she started honking her car horn. While the part with us passing was dream, the part about her blowing her horn was for real! I guess she had the whole crew looking out over the corn field to see what she was blowing her horn for. That's the daughter I remember!

After breakfast, we left Hickman. Our river crew got a free ride across on the
ferry. Even though the ferry was free, I hear they spent a lot of money buying shirts and caps from the captain of the ferry.

By 2:50 p.m., we were at New Madrid. It had taken a long time to get there. No matter which way the river turned, we seemed to be getting a headwind. We had a hard time getting back into the channel after the food drop at New Madrid. There is an island just down below the town. We had a strong current pushing us into the island that we had to go left of.

Finally after New Madrid, we ended up with a tailwind. The tailwind was great, until it got even stronger. By 6:00 p.m., the wind was up to 40 miles per hour out of the north. We pulled into the left bank at river mile 872. Our support team was only a mile down river, and they would meet us in a few minutes. It was just after 6:00 p.m., and because of the wind, we decided to eat in the trailer. We were just below Tiptonville Ferry landing right. We ate in the trailer as the wind howled. After dinner, we decided to wait it out until the wind let up. We looked out the window and saw a tug going up river. He was being blown against our shore, and he came close to where our canoe had been pulled up. Verlen and I thought it had been good that we weren't out in the storm. It was raining now, along with the wind. If we weren't going to paddle, then we should be sleeping, so we stretched out.

After dark sometime, there was a knock on our door. It was Clark from the Double Helix. They had just arrived. It must have been a terrifying trip for them. Clark asked us for a cup of hot coffee. Stan was glad to oblige him and we talked about their trip. Their crew was down river just a short distance. It was extraordinary racing like this, being able to help out the competition. There were more times than I can remember when Double Helix's support crew fed Verlen and I. It also worked the other way when we fed them or let them sleep in our trailer. At one point, it was discussed if we should just paddle the rest of the race together. I do believe it would have slowed our pace to do this. There were many times that Double Helix could just paddle away from us. There were also times when we just stayed in the canoe and only made short stops. At any rate, I felt Verlen and I had done a very good job of pacing ourselves. I know Verlen could stay in a canoe forever, and I felt comfortable myself. Chuck had given me the back strap out of his canoe. I had started using it off and on since Minneapolis. I had also learned to eat more food, more often. Verlen says you have to feed the engine.

End of Team Kruger Log