May 8 2001 4 Tuesday

2001 Race - May 8, 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
Date: May 8, 2001, Tuesday, Day 4

Team Name	Time Called	River Mile	Nearest City/State	Estimated Position
Alaska MSC	Just before 6 AM	Mile 1203	Schoolcraft State Park, MN	3rd, 4th or 5th
Amazons	Just before 7 AM	Mile 1203	Schoolcraft State Park, MN	3rd, 4th or 5th
Double Helix	5:30 AM	Mile 1141	Jacobson, MN	2nd
Kruger	4:30 AM	Mile 1141	Jacobson, MN	1st
Rebels	Around 6 AM	Mile 1203	Schoolcraft State Park, MN	3rd, 4th or 5th

Webmaster writes: You can see detailed maps of where the teams are from the MN Dept of Natural Resources Maps -
Case Lake to Vermillion River
Vermillion River to Palisades

Updates/Comments Received for May 8, 2001, Tuesday AM:
From Safety Officer Elizabeth Tynan:
Between 5 and 7 a.m. (Mississippi River time) on May 8th, the teams made the following reports:
Another exciting morning! This is the information the teams gave me:

Team Alaska: Kerm called at 6:00 from Schoolcraft State Park--river mile 1203-- where the team spent the night (above Grand Rapids). They slept well last night and had gotten back on the river just before Kerm called.

Team Amazon: This must have been the night for subconscious "huddling"--instinctively seeking protection in numbers against the elements--for Team Amazon also spent the night at Schoolcraft State Park, river mile 1203, but didn't see either the Rebels or Team Alaska. Tony called at 7:00 to say that Megan and Cynthia had gotten a good night's sleep after battling rain and cold headwinds all day yesterday, and had started paddling again right before he phoned.

Team Double Helix: Andrew reported in at 5:30. Said Clark and Kurt had paddled all night and just pulled in at river mile 1141--Jacobson, MN--to rest a little before pushing on. As we spoke, Clark was eating breakfast while Kurt slept under the "bubblewrap." (webmaster's note - the "bubblewrap" is a dome built for the front of the race kayak so one paddler could sleep in the kayak while the other paddler kept working/paddling).

Team Kruger: Stan's cheerful voice greeted me at 6:30 with the news that his team had left from river mile 1141, near Jacobson, MN, at 4:30 a.m., after sleeping for 5-6 hours. Verlen felt it was better to recharge and dry out than push on in the cold, rain, and wind. In spite of being so close to Team Helix, they didn't see each other.

Team Rebels: Eric checked in at 6:15 to say that his team had also spent the night at Schoolcraft State Park, but remarkably, they didn't see each other. Yesterday's paddle was challenging--strong headwinds, rain, and cold--but the team is looking on the bright side, rejoicing that they went all day without getting lost. They started paddling from there, river mile 1203, at about 6:00.

Teams called in to Safety Officer between 5 and 7 PM
Date: May 8, 2001, Tuesday, Day 4

Team Name	Time Called	River Mile	Nearest City/State	Estimated Position
Alaska MSC	7 PM		camping at Palisades, MN	3rd, 4th or 5th
Amazons	5:05 PM	Mile 1141	Jacobson, MN	3rd, 4th or 5th
Double Helix	6:49 PM	Mile 1078	MN	2nd
Kruger	4:57 PM	Mile 1067	Between Palisades and Aitken	1st
Rebels	6:54 PM	Mile 1148	Jacobson, MN	3rd, 4th or 5th

Webmaster writes: You can see detailed maps of where the teams are from the MN Dept of Natural Resources Maps -
Case Lake to Vermillion River
Vermillion River to Palisades

Updates/Comments Received for May 8, 2001, Tuesday PM:
From Don Keller, official time keeper:

Team Alaska 7:00 PM River Mile Unknown - He
DOES have river charts for Minneapolis and South.
Kerm Ketchum - Camping at Palisades, Lack of sleep including Kerm, he is going to take a three hour nap now. Going to bed then changing out a paddlers in three hours

Team Amazons 5:05 PM River Mile 1144 Jacobson
Tony Mate said the day started very cold, but by noon started to change to gorgeous. Paddlers are happy, "since they are not getting lost, and the weather is gorqeous" Will be spending the night at Jacobson

Team Double Helix 6:49 PM River Mile 1078
Team is doing well. (Webmaster's note: Tammy Hanson (rett mom) served lunch for the entire team at an old ferry landing north of Palisade, MN. In the evening, the paddlers stopped in Aitkin, MN, where about two dozen people were waiting for them. The paddlers were served dinner, showered, and went back on the river. The paddlers had traveled over 100 miles in the last 23 hours. A banner was on a bridge just downstream of the landing site that read, "Rett Angel Rachel Hanson thanks you!" Kurt paddled for several hours while Clark rested under the dome, and then switched places with Clark. )

Team Kruger 4:57 PM River Mile 1067
Between Palisades and Aitkin
Stan Hanson said the town of Palisades came down to the river with hats, hot dogs, and T-shirts. Seems that the town created a logo based on Verlen and companion and painted it on their water tower after his trip through in 1984. That "logo" has been the town's identity ever since. Pictures were taken for the local newspaper. It was very special to Verlen.

Team Rebels with a Cause 6:53 River Mile 1148
Taking out at Jacobson

END OF SAFETY REPORT

Webmaster writes - I do not have detailed information from all teams, but I do have some notes from logs.... I'll report what I can...

Team Kruger Log - Written by Bob Bradford, Enhanced by Capt Stan Hanson
May 8, 2001 Tuesday
We started the next morning, May 8th, before sunrise. On our way to Sandy Lake Recreation Area, at mile 1108, I saw a small black bear.

We made a stop at the house of Gene Hill, "The Artist," for lunch. It was 9:30 am

Our next town was Palisade. Valerie and Verlen had left such an impression 17 years prior that the town had painted their picture on the water tower. We were disappointed because no one in town noticed as we paddled through. To our surprise, ten miles below Palisade, at river mile 1080, Todd Dseher and Linda Lane were on the bank with our support crew. Come to find out, no one had time to get down to the river in Palisade because we were ahead of schedule. Todd and Linda drove all the way down to present us with Palisade T-shirts and hats, plus a hot meal. What a treat!!

The next stretch had a lot of farmland and some open areas where the wind got to us. The flooding was very evident in this area.

According to my GPS, we were approaching the mouth of the diversion channel. Prior to the race, Stan and Jon had assisted me in programming this location.
According to the race rules, if you could paddle through any cut, it was legal as long as you didn't portage. When we reached the channel, we found lots of water going through it --almost too much. We zipped up our spray skirts and went through the turbulence. We had six miles of straight channel with the sun in our eyes and fighting a head wind.

Dan Cruser was right. Even facing difficult conditions, the diversion channel
saved us time.

Our support team met us on County Road 6, close to where Dan lives. Because of prior commitments, Dan was unable to paddle a stretch with us.

After eating at County Road 6, we paddle planned on while having me sleep until my about 11:00 p.m. while Verlen paddled. Then I would paddle while Verlen slept. During my paddling turn, I would be going through the back waters of Potlatch Dam. I remember waking up cold and seeing a very large ball overhead. The ball turned out to be the type they put on power lines. They do that to keep low flying aircraft from hitting the wires.

It was my turn to paddle so Verlen could sleep. This would be the first night that we would actually paddle all day and all night for 24 hours. Now we would find out how my map reading skills were and at night. Things went well until we were a mile out of Potlatch Dam. I had Rice Lake on my left and there was no detectable current in the pond. I over-compensated by staying right so that I would not go into Rice Lake. This caused me to go into a small bay, which I had to back out of. I considered waking Verlen, but decided not to bother him. Total lost time would only be about ten minutes. It taught me to watch the map even more closely.

End of Team Kruger Log, May 8, 2001

Team Amazons Log, written by Cynthia Belbin, Tuesday, May 8, 2001
Day 4 - This might have been a somber morning for us as I do not remember much happening. It was another wet day. We had team Alaska behind us, now we were on the hunt for Rebels. We got to Pokegama Lake portage and Alaska's support crew was there. I ran to the washrooms that were there and by the time I had returned the Alaskans had helped Megan with the portage. What a great bunch! Everyone was so supportive. It was a pleasure to paddle with them.

Three miles downstream we arrived at the Blandin Paper Dam in Grand Rapids, MN. Someone mentioned that the park warden offers vehicle assistance for the portage. For whatever reason we took up this offer since anyone could have used it. If we would have finished I think it would have ruined our world record chances. Eric met us there in the car and had a hot lunch waiting for us. Famous Pasties! Alaska had discovered them on a previous journey. Megan and I ate them, gravy and all! Little did we know they were not intended for us. Tony screamed over the radio "Get you hands off my Pasties"...too late buddy!

After a cold rainy morning things brightened up in the afternoon. We didn't get lost today, we were getting out of bog territory, and we had caught up to the Rebels! Apparently we all spent the night in the same campground and didn't notice. Today we learned that each time we stopped we lost a lot of ground (I wonder how those guys do it without bathroom breaks hmmm). We tried to eat each hour and on the previous days we would both stop to eat, but we found that it was better if one person paddled while the other ate. The theory being, (Kruger/Double Helix's Secret to Success): "Keep the boat moving."

I think today was the first day my hands started to bother me. I had many blisters on both hands and I was trying to figure out a way to paddle without pain. We paddled to Jacobson Wayside Reststop. The RV is great. We paddled 64 miles today. We still feel the pressure to get the mileage up, but at least we are in contention with Rebels and Alaska. Alaska paddled past us during the night.
End of Team Amazon Log May 8, 2001

May 7, 2001 Mon

May 9, 2001 Wed