On heat waves, sandbars and millipedes – Melanie Cheney
River Mile 421, below Atchison
July 25^th, 2006

It was a full and sunny 90ish degree day. Hot! We stopped for as many swim breaks as we could squeeze in, which turned out to be about three, not enough! By the end of the day (5ish) we had to stop & swim as we were all becoming deliriously tired.

We set up camp on a gorgeous sand bar, continuing our nightly ritual. As the sun set, a bright and already huge white cumulus cloud grew before our very eyes, turning into a monstrous and brilliant pink anvil. We chattered the night away, and sang ourselves to sleep under the clouds, despite the 30% chance of rain. Well, the lightning caught Dan & I's attention at once, and we set up his supposedly 4-man tent in no time. Then we allowed the steady wind to lull us back to sleep, outside. It was just too hot to sleep in a tent. So when it started raining, we reluctantly crawled into the moist and sandy tent, calling to Anthony who was also sleeping nearby outside. The 3 of us couldn't help but giggle loudly at our impending situation. It was a rough night for all of us.

In the morning, we woke up to thousands of millipedes crawling all over the sandbar, in our tents, and on our persons! Like I said, it was a rough night for all. Tim will gladly give you his re-inactment of this stormy night.