May 21 2001 17 Monday

2001 Race - May 21, 2001, Monday
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				3rd
Amazons	Withdraws 5/12/01		Stops near St. Cloud, MN	5th
Double Helix				2nd
Kruger	7 AM	Hickman Ferry, per log		1st
Rebels	Withdraws 5/13/01		Stops near Monticello, MN	4th

Webmaster's note: I will check with teams on this date, I lost this safety report in my email after the race when doing updates (I wrote over it accidentally). Teams still have their own stats. I believe both teams Kruger and Double Helix stayed on shore the previous evening, as did Team Alaska.

Teams called in to Safety Officer between 5 and 7 PM

Team Name	Time Called	River Mile	Nearest City/State	Estimated Position
Alaska MSC	5-7PM	Locke and Dam 20	Lock and Dam 20	3rd
Amazons	Withdraws 5/12/01		Stops near St. Cloud, MN	5th
Double Helix	8 PM	Mile Marker 870 waiting, paddlers at 9 PM	Tiptonville, TN	2nd
Kruger	6 PM	Mile Marker 873, Paddlers arrive	Tiptonville, TN	1st
Rebels	Withdraws 5/13/01		Stops near Monticello, MN	4th

Updates/Comments Received, 5 to 7 PM Calls From Steve Landick, Race Director
Team Alaska -
Mile Marker 343, Lock and Dam 20. A local college has offered free rooms to the team tonight and the team is happy to accept!
Team Double Helix -
Crew calling in at mile 870, paddlers not there yet but expected by 8 PM. High winds and storms are continuing for the evening, whole team will stay on land tonight.
Team Kruger -
John called in at 6 PM CST, Mile 873. Support crew had a free ferry ride that saved them 50 miles of driving! Heavy winds and rain this evening, very bad storms now and more expected so team is stopped here tonight.
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Note from Event Organizer/Webmaster Mary Potter - Clark called around 9 PM, paddlers just getting there at mile 870, very tired, very bad winds and storms all day. Clark said today we earned every inch. He was going to walk over to Team Kruger's camp to see how everyone was since they were about 200 yards away. Later called back to say all is well, everyone is fine and tired.

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

May 21, 2001, Monday, Log from Kent Spading (webmaster note, Kent remains captain but is not with the land team at this time)
8:30 AM Eric Marshall called, working on fixing camcorder, 2:30 PM Andrew called. It seems that they will have to run at night for a few days in order to break the Guinness world speed record. Clark called and asked if I could come down later in the week to man the zodiac at night. I would probably meet them near Jackson, MS. They were at room 951 last night.
Steve Varek called - a tow can push 30 barges below St. Louis - Big tows = Big waves
End Kent Spading Log, May 21