May 23 2001 19 Wednesday

2001 Race - May 23, 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!

Teams called in to Safety Officer between 5 and 7 AM

Team Name	Time Called	River Mile	Nearest City/State	Estimated Position
Alaska MSC		258	Arkansas City, Arkansas	3rd
Amazons	Withdraws 5/12/01		Stops near St. Cloud, MN	5th
Double Helix	5 AM	767	north of Memphis TN, nearest city Covington, TN	2nd
Kruger	7 AM	729	south of Memphis, TN	1st
Rebels	Withdraws 5/13/01		Stops near Monticello, MN	4th

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

Team Alaska - Kerm called about 6 AM CST from Mile 258. Kerm called in his usual tremendous humor and wanted to know when the party in New Orleans was so he could make sure all of Team Alaska would be there to celebrate! Kerm said when it gets closer to the party date (June 1, 2001, at the Hard Rock Cafe in New Orleans, 6 PM) their team was going to pull off the water, get ahead of Kruger's team and then get back in the water and "let" Kruger's team pass them :-) Kerm is not looking forward to the barrage of river traffic "just waiting" below Lock and Dam 25 to go upstream but as usual, I suspect that sturdy Alaskan living experience and perseverance will guide this team through just about anything.....

Team Double Helix - mile 767 at 5 AM. Andrew called at 5 AM CST sharp. Andrew reports the whole team stayed on shore last night and was at the Ed DuVall Boat Lake in Tennessee, the Volunteer State. Andrew did a great job of explaining who Ed DuVall was but I have no recollection of what he said at this writing (sorry Andrew!).

Andrew said the paddlers were eating oatmeal on the shore and I asked to speak to Clark (my husband). Clark said yesterday during the daylight they had some headwinds and had run into a very strange section of water that was full of erratic popping waves that danced about the race boat (kayak). He said there were stacks of waves travelling constantly in all directions - like true Brownian motion. Thank you Clark! for that molecular analogy :-)
Clark sounded tired to me, but well, and reports that he and Kurt will continue on to make the best time possible although the World Record for best time on the Mississippi is extremely unlikely at this time. He indicates he doubts they will travel at night at this point due to the dangers of barges, bad weather and at times, very dangerous river conditions due to high waters and flooding (which can change rapidly as seen in the example from above).

Team Kruger - Stan called about 7:20 AM CST, mile 729, south of Memphis by about 7 miles. Stan reports it's a beautiful day! Paddlers left this mile at 7 AM. Verlen and Bob paddled through the previous night, all night. After finding there was no landing in Memphis (due to flooding) the team stayed at Tom Sawyer RV Park and had a perfect site - not more than 50 feet form take out. Stan reports the paddling goal for the next 24 hours is about 150 miles, and will have to stay at that pace every day to beat the current record. Stan remains hopeful but not optimistic that they can hold that pace for the remainder of the race unless all conditions are literally perfect.

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 to 7 PM	180	St. Louis MO	3rd
Amazons	Withdraws 5/12/01		Stops near St. Cloud, MN	5th
Double Helix	5 PM	688	Mhoon, MS	2nd
Kruger	5 PM	672	St. Louis, MO	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 180 at the St. Louis arch in Missouri! All in good spirits, as usual :-)

Team Double Helix - Andrew M. Gribble called at 5 PM and said they were at mile 688. Closest city is Mhoon, Mississippi.

Team Kruger - Stan called at 5 PM at mile 672. Stan said a big raft of 21 barges had just passed - 21 in one tow - the biggest raft he has seen yet..... Stan reported paddlers paddled all day and were going tonight. Weather and water are excellent, and they expect the same to continue tonight. All wing dams are under water which significantly makes night time travel safer at this time. Paddlers can simply go right down the side of the channel without having to worry about threading between the tugs and wing dams.
(Webmaster says: Wing dams are rock jetties that extend from the bank out towards the channel. Wing dams help keep the flow/current of the deeper water to stay in the center of the channel to help the tows and barges.).
Stan also reported a rudder report set the team back a little bit.... all are well now and the team is in good spirits.

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From Webmaster/Event Organizer note - Mary Potter:
I received a phone call from Andrew Gribble on May 24 saying that Team Double Helix was on the water the evening of May 23 (this report) and got caught in a sudden lightening/rain storm around 11 PM and had to seek cover under the trees. It was a difficult situation, but the team did finally get off the water and - get ready for this! - stayed at the Isle of Capri Casino in 2 rooms graciously donated to the team for the night. Tait Seldon of Tunica, MS met the crew at the Mhoon, TN boat ramp, and, after hearing about what the team was doing, called his friend Penny Franklin at the Isle of Capri casino (near Lula, MS) and arranged for two rooms for us.
I found out just a tad bit later (on May 24) from Stan Hanson of Team Kruger that Team Kruger paddlers were caught in the same storm this evening. Stan Hanson reported that the road crew literally happened to be right there when the sudden storm hit, got the paddlers off the water, let the paddlers sleep about 3 hours, then Verlen and Bob resumed their paddling for the rest of the evening beginning around 2 AM.
The lightning/rain storms can occur very quickly and with little warning. Very dangerous, especially at night. See May 24 report for more info.
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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 23, 2001 Wednesday

By 5:00 a.m., May 23, I was at the first bridge in Memphis. The support team would meet me at a park below the city. It was on river right at mile 729. When we arrived, I was happy to see that Mick Wood had rejoined the support team and would be with us until the end of the race. Mick had shaved his head and was sporting a beard.

While we ate breakfast, Mick repaired the rudder for us. He was amazing. He did it with a pair of pliers, hatchet and a couple of big rocks. When Mick finished, we pushed off with me sleeping and Verlen paddling. I had said goodbye to Angie because she had to return to Michigan. Angie would be sorely missed by the land crew; however, she decided to let her son David stay. Angie had been in touch with home and found out more family were on their way. My son Mike and my wife Janet would be joining us soon. They planned to go to the end with us. Jon Young would be going home with Angie. This would be good to have two drivers. The support crew would miss Jon very much as he was a valuable member and had been with the support team from the very beginning. His abilities and personality held our team together when things got tough.

By 1 :12 p.m., May 23, we stopped for a feed. It was river mile 693, Star Landing. It was hard to find. The river was wide here, and there were islands out in front. David was waving his shirt so we could find them.

In the afternoon, we went through Helena, Arkansas. The wind was out of the southwest and had picked up a Jot. We hugged the right shore for protection as long as we could.

Late that evening, the wind let up, but you could see lightning in the sky ahead. Our support team would be meeting us on river right, mile 644. They had found a grain elevator but had to get someone to open the gates in order to get to the water. When Verlen and I got about 3 miles from the feed, we could see the Superior Grain Dock light. We decided to stay to the right. When we got closer, we could no longer see the light. We didn't know why, because it looked like a straight shot. Soon we found ourselves up against a six-foot high sand bar. We were soon to find that by staying right, we had paddled over Kangaroo Point. The flood had almost made it an island, but not quite. We had to backtrack about oneeighth of a mile, then pull out into the channel.

We finally arrived at Superior Grain at 10:50 p.m. We ate in the trailer. Later that night, we had a light rain. Verlen was sleeping, and I was again navigating at night. I'm becoming a very good "night navigator".

End of Team Kruger Log