What a great weekend out by and on the river! On June 11, 1 2 and 13th, Lance and I visited our friendly AmeriCorps Kellie down in Springfield to help James River Basin Partnership with their annual River Rescue.
Lance and I arrive on Friday night to load up Kellie’s vehicle and prepare everything for the long day ahead of us. We started Saturday morning by setting up Ozark Mill to be ready for the many people who were coming out to clean up the river. After directing all the cars very skillfully, Lance and I were able to put our canoe in the water and start the clean-up. Once on the water we were acting as sweep, staying at the back to make sure no one was left behind. After a while, we were relieved of our sweep position and told we had actually only traveled 1/5th of the route. So we tried to make up time and paddled pretty quickly to catch up with the rest of the paddlers. After an hour or so of bustin’ booty, we came upon a tight spot in the river and were asked to help the other staff direct the boats through this tight squeeze. So we lost all of our headway, but felt pretty good that no one’s canoe flipped!
After the float we had about an hour off to keep cool in a nearby pool before starting our next shift as parking attendants and cleaning up after the concert. Even more people showed up for this great concert than for the clean-up. Honky Suckle, Uncle Fudd and HonkyTonk Renovators rocked!
Overall, this was a great experience to see up close how much work goes into an all day event, and was definitely giving us ideas for MRCN’s big event, Canoe for Clean Water. MRCN spent months organizing this float and festival, only to have the mighty MO flood us out a few days before the event was scheduled. But don’t worry, it’s only postponed! Keep the Canoe for Clean Water on your calendar, just move it to Saturday, October 9th, 2010!
Thanks to my gracious host Kellie and James River Basin Partnership for a great event!
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