This weekend has been a flurry!  

* I passed the 1/3 funding mark in my Kickstarter campaign, an important milestone because it indicates (since I'm only 1/4 of the way through the campaign, time-wise) that I'm 90% likely to be fully funded!

* I secured someone to sub-let my room while I'm gone, and she seems great.

* I took a RAD (rape aggression defense) course yesterday, so YOU BETTER NOT MESS WITH ME, sketchy people!  It was taught by Patty Aya, a Marine and former FBI agent who knows her stuff, should never be trifled with, and is also a very gentle, patient, visionary, curious and fun woman.  She invited my friend Ashley and I to stay in her Mongolian yurt (which was nothing short of magical) at the Wicked Oak vineyard, and then we had class the whole next day, out by the woods, in the fields and (during a fantastic rain storm) in the tasting room.  It was a veritable self-defense retreat, and I highly recommend it to anyone! I expected to learn some helpful skills (and I did), but I was surprised at how empowering it was.  I often think the word 'empowering' is overused...but I really did feel like I found a power inside that I wasn't aware of.  A power to keep me safe and able to continue doing my thang.  You can find Patty at Peaceful Warrior Girl. 

* I connected with a power couple of Wardensville, WV, the owners of Lost River Trading Post who invited me to come give a lecture about my experience down the Mississippi River when I get back.  They're working on revitalizing Main Street, and they're also trying to regain access to the river behind the cemetary so that it can be used and enjoyed by locals and visitors, and so that a sense of stewardship returns to the waterway.  A perfect connection and collaboration to make! So excited. 

I have been running around doing errands, finishing up pendant orders before I leave, talking to all sorts of helpful people who have offered beds to sleep on, a meal or a place to do laundry along the way (keep 'em coming, this is great!!!).  

Yesterday afternoon, these efforts were halted when my roommate mentioned that there was a family of kittens living under our porch.  I spent the rest of the evening catching all three week-old kittens, and trying to nab their wiley, smart mama. She ended up outwitting me and taking the kittens (who I had used as bait in the humane cat trap) off to a new hiding spot before I realized she was not setting off the trapdoor.  So I just had one kitten (below) to bottle feed and care for overnight.  This morning I took the kitten in to a rehabber who will find it a good home.

My mom suggested I take a self-defense class, so I've scheduled to take one this weekend with a friend.  I've also learned that policy regarding general delivery (in case I wanted to pre-send non-perishables to myself along the way) at post offices are not consistent.  I know people have contacted post offices along the Mississippi before, and sent themselves food...guess I should just ask those people which POs were amenable to this!  

Here it is.  I've been working on pulling all this together for the past few weeks, and the KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN HAS BEEN LAUNCHED! I want to thank Nick Lyell and Michael Kahane for going out to the Anacostia River with me recently to film some of this footage.  Thanks, too, to everyone who has already pledged your moral and emotional support, it's been really helpful.  Especially to Mike Lewis who said, "You're doing this.  You know there's no way you're not doing this, right?"  Okay. So, I'm leaving in LESS THAN A MONTH which means this campaign needs to get funded ASAP.  Please PLEASE share the link with anyone and everyone.  And a million times THANK YOU.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1564119377/paddle-on-an-environmental-adventure-on-the-missis

I'm doing some research, and it looks like Janet Moreland was the first woman to solo the entire Missouri/Mississippi river complex (3,800 miles!) at age 57, from April 24-Dec 3, 2013.  Then, it looks like Ellen McDonah, at age 60, was the first woman to solo just the Mississippi River (2,552 miles) starting in May of 2014.  As far as I can tell, that makes me the youngest woman to solo the Mississippi River.  Sort of incredible that no woman had done it before, and here we are setting all sorts of records in just a couple years!   

Wow! Yesterday I created this blog, created a visual image/logo, created a facebook page and announced to the world that I'm planning to do this thing.  The support has already been incredible, and I've gotten requests for artistic collaborations, suggestions for meeting up with legislators along the way, connections to people to talk to who have done similar projects, and tips and hints on how to make sure I do things the right way.  I am grateful and excited by this momentum.  I ordered these business cards today, and booked a flight to Minneapolis.  I am diving in and trusting that I'll be successful in fundraising!  I'm nearly finished with the Kickstarter material; will probably get that up tomorrow or the next day.  Stay tuned...

I'm so excited to be announcing this project!  I will be paddling the Mississippi River this summer while documenting water quality and plastic waste along the way.  This blog is where I will be sharing all progress, stories, videos, photos and journal entries.  Please RSS the blog to make sure you don't miss an entry.  Thanks for joining me!