Thursday, July 20, 2006

Five days out……and the people, places and trash are all starting to flow together.

The River Gods have certainly smiled down upon us. All whom we meet have either heard of us or are very interested in what we are doing. Short of one broken prop, the equipment has done us well. And the river…..she carries us and fills our smiling faces with bright sunshine as always.

We camp on beautiful sandbars with refreshing swimming holes ; the cottonwoods rise high behind us and sing the wind through their leaves; we take turns making wonderfully tasty dinners; and tell stories late into the night.

Most of us sleep out under the twinkling stars and rise with the cool morning sun. The hiss of the Coleman stove indicates that coffee is on ……one by one the crew arises, stuffs their bags, and starts the methodical migration back to the boats.

Most days start with a brief roundtable about the day to come. We pour over the maps and decide how far we will go. The ground crew makes lists of things the group needs, and gathers writings to pass onto the BLOG.

Media contacts for the day are discussed. Man, have we had good media exposure; 5 TV stations have come out to do stories and a couple of Newspapers. Most of the people we meet have heard of us. The attitudes of the locals indicate a connection to the river and an appreciation of what River Relief does. Does our souls good.

And the mapping of trash is becoming clockwork. We follow our route on fine maps with river miles, towns, roads, accesses and public lands laid deftly on top of air photos. The banks are scanned with naked eyes and binoculars. All concentrations of trash are located with GPS and all reaches are given a trashiness ranking. This all comes together in a database that allows us to show the patterns in trash abundance.

The sun beats down and our tans grow darker. Lovely swimming holes are frequented often to cool our bodies and freshen our minds. Our list of wildlife encountered is growing…..terns, eagles, otters, deer, turkey, and jumping carp amongst many species.

Yet the most interesting species are the humans that cross our path. Interested, red-nosed faces at a Rulo Catfish pub; friendly greetings from the Ponca State Park camp maintenance man; cute TV news girls and their graceful high heeled river rides; enthusiastic Donna at the Sioux City Chamber of Commerce; a family of Omaha Indians that enjoyed their first Missouri River boat ride; barge captains and Marina gas girls; crusty fishermen; and the numerous waving folks passing by in a variety of boats. All make us feel proud to be on the Mega-scout.

They do all flow together into a feeling of satisfaction; that we dared to undertake such an adventure; that it is going so well; and that there is another 600 miles to go……..