May 29 2001 25 Tuesday

2001 Race - May 29, 2001, Tuesday
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	5-7 PM		Memphis TN	3rd
Amazons	Withdraws 5/12/01		Stops near St. Cloud, MN	5th
Double Helix	5:10 PM	Mile 190	White Ferry Landing, LA	2nd
Kruger	6:30 PM	Mile 76	Belle Chase, LA	1st
Rebels	Withdraws 5/13/01		Stops near Monticello, MN	4th

Updates/Comments 5-7 AM calls , from Elizabeth Tynan, Safety Officer:
This might be it, the final day of the Great Race, the fabulous finale at the finish line! Bring out the troops in the big Parrish boat, Don, and your binoculars, too. Here's what's coming:
Team Alaska:
And now for the real--and completely unexpected--news break: The real winner of this race is not going to be Verlen and Bob later tonight, or even Clark and Kurt. Kerm says they expect to be declared the winners this afternoon after they complete the walk through the one-mile built-to-scale model of the Lower Mississippi at Mud Island in Memphis. It is realistic in every detail (mosquitos? fish flys? snakes?) and even has a little boat at the end, which Kerm and his hundred-member team are going to try to get into for a group shot. Don. . . . I have a feeling you'd better take some kind of emergency measures--you're the closest official. All that black pepper is. . . . well, who knows what's happening. Send us an immediate bulletin as soon as you have the details.
Team Double Helix:
Andrew called at 5:10, from a "perfectly calm" spot in Louisiana called White Ferry Landing, river mile 190, to say that all is well, and that they had dined on "pasta with pesto sauce" last night. Clark and Kurt continue on their way to the finish.
Team Kruger:
I have never heard Stan sound more jubilant than he did this morning. Verlen and Bob had just reached Belle Chase, LA, river mile 76, at 6:30, and fully expect to steam (stream?) into Venice before dark.
END OF SAFETY REPORT MAY 29, 2001, MONDAY

Teams called in to Safety Officer between 5 and 7 PM

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			Audobon Park, stays night	2nd
Kruger	11:51 PM	Mile 0	Venice, LA	WON 1st place
Rebels	Withdraws 5/13/01		Stops near Monticello, MN	4th

Updates/Comments, 5 to 7 PM Calls from Elizabeth Tynan, safety officer:
Team Kruger: The whole nine-member team was thrilled when Verlen and Bob arrived at river mile 0 at 11:51 last night, and all of them are looking forward to enjoying some relaxation together after they catch up on their sleep. True to his promise, our illustrious Official Timekeeper, Don Keller, was there with the big Parrish Boat to cheer them on to the finish line and share in their elation at having finished a truly remarkable race. Verlen, Bob, and Team Kruger, we congradulate you! Stan said he sprang for an expensive bottle ($4.59) of the most "exclusive" champagne, which they all sampled on the Parrish boat.
Team Alaska - Remains near/at Memphis, TN
END OF SAFETY REPORT MAY 29, 2001, MONDAY
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Webmaster/Mary Potter says - I don't have logs from every team, but I will share what I have:

Team Double Helix - Entire team stays on shore at Audubon Park for the night. Audubon Park is on the river in New Orleans.

Team Kruger Log - By Bob Bradford, Enhanced by Stan Hanson
May 29, 2001 Monday
May 28 or 29 during the night/early morning - I found several smaller watercraft cruising around in this area. They were quite fast. Verlen said they were used to taxi sailors from the ships to shore and back. Once I turned the bend at mile 85, I was out of the bright lights. I stopped paddling long enough to read my maps again. My head hit the bow of the canoe! I had fallen asleep. The lack of sleep was starting to show on me.
As I completed the right-hand turn at mile 81, I moved out of the channel to the right. I had spotted a big freighter behind me and decided to give him lots of room. It as still dark and very early, May 29. Just as the freighter passed on my left, I stuck my paddle on a sand bar. It was only about two feet deep. I knew I would be in big trouble when his wave got to me. I turned to head into the wave which now had started to crest. I got wet, and the canoe shook violently. Verlen never woke up.
May 29 - We arrived at Belle Chase Ferry at 6:35 a.m. on Tuesday, May 29. We only had 76 miles to go. That should have been easy, but it got hot. Our plan was to paddle 51 miles without stopping, but that proved to be too long in the sun. About mile 40, I saw paddles flickering in the sun. I told Verlen, "I bet it's Mike and David." They were about a mile away padding up river. Sure enough, soon Mike and David came along side.
They knew we would need a boost because of the heat. They had four peanut butter sandwiches and two gallons of ice tea. The tea was half ice cubes! Mike said he and Janet had driven along the levee looking for a place to get to the water. They had just put in one mile below us. I don't know how Mike hit it that close.
In these last several miles of the race, the river slows and straightens out. In many places, it's over nine miles between cuNes. At mile 30, we heard watercraft calling Empire to open the locks. Empire is a small town on river right. They have a lock at the levee. With high water, the Mississippi was higher than water on the outside of the levee.
We made it to Fort Jackson, mile 20, by 6:30 p.m. We met Don Keller, the race's official timekeeper for Mile Zero who had joined our support crew. We ate at the trailer while Don briefed us on where the escort boat would meet us. When we left Fort Jackson, I think we picked up the pace. It had cooled down to about 70 degrees and the sun was almost down. The first shrimp boat passed us when it was still light enough to see. They were headed up to Empire. The next three shrimp boats passed us after dark. Verlen and I think the first shrimp boat must have warned the others to look out for us. As they approached us, after dark, they would almost stop until we got passed.
When we reached Venice, it was very dark. Venice is the end of the road for cars. Our escort boat was to meet us here for the ten-mile run to Mile Zero. We had some difficulty contacting our support team. When we did make contact, we still couldn't find their exact location. At Venice, the Mississippi River splits up. There is a branch that goes right called Grand Pass. In order to find our escort boat, we actually had to paddle a short distance down Grand Pass. There was ship traffic everywhere, and now there was a lot of current sucking us down Grand Pass. Ship captains and tug captains refer to this split in the river as "the jump."
After several minutes, the escort boat found us. The boat was about a 60-footer. They had our families and all of our support crew on board.
We now had ten miles to paddle down a delta which was almost a mile wide. We were tired, but very excited. Just when I thought we would be out of the bright lights, we came to Pilot Town. It's on river left, and there are no roads going there. Pilot Town is a string of islands with petroleum storage tanks and other docking facilities on it. They have several range lights and dock lights at the shore line. A range light is a set of at least two lights. The light that is farthest away is higher than the one closest to the water. When these two lights line up in your sight line, you can tell where you are in the river.
At Head of Passes, the Mississippi splits up again. This time, it goes three different ways. The width of the river at this point is two miles. Mile Zero is right in the middle of them all. Lucky for us, we had. a captain on the escort boat who knew where Mile Zero was! One thing for sure, I was a little confused on which spot was Mile Zero.
To make it even more difficult, there was a dredge at work rear the finish line. The dredge had several lights on board which would not even show on our charts.
We arrived at Mile Zero at 11:51 pm on May 29, 2001. It took several of us to pull our canoe up onto the deck of our escort boat. I remember getting sprayed by champagne and getting a lot of hugs. It was a great time. What a race!
We later found that the Double Helix was about 130 miles behind us when we finished. After Double Helix, none of the other teams would finish the race. Team Alaska, after losing their kayak in the rapids, had purchased another one. They were only 300 miles from the finish line when the race ended.
I consider myself lucky to have had Verlen as my partner. Without his knowledge of navigation, his design of a canoe, and determination, I would not have made it. Our support crew and family support were fantastic. There were many times when this crew got less sleep than Verlen and I. Our support captain, Stan Hanson, fit all the requirements. He was able to get gates open or permission to get to places that would seem impossible. I wouldn’t want to to do it again without all those people. They were so many things getting done behind the scenes. I did not always know who got them done, but I do recall some. Chuck swapped batteries in our phone, head lamps, and canoe bow light. Jon wiped out our canoe and put in sleeping pad and bags. He stocked our food and water. Dana took over numbering my river charts. She also added information notes. She gave me river miles and miles from last feeding point. Mike repaired things and secured our canoe when were on shore. Stan cooked and even his “old family recipes” which were great. Stan also got the ball rolling prior to the race. He got sponsorship and details of the river and worked with the race officials getting us signed up and collecting waivers and all the paperwork involved. He provided the support boat and the trailer.
When our families joined us, they would pitch in and do these tasks, too, but just having them there meant so much to us.
Now the question comes, “Would I ever do it again?”. I would answer that with another question -- Did we break the record?
End of Team Kruger Log May 29 2001