The morning was gorgeous, and I only had 16 miles to paddle.  I started listening to Huckleberry Finn, and even though I had read it as a kid, I hadn’t remembered much of it.  I was rather shocked by the fact that every slave is referred to as the N word, throughout the book.  I mean, I know it reflects a time and place, and that the racism in the book is used on purpose by Mark Twain to point out the rubbish people, but still.  Shocking. 

I kept my eyes peeled for the landing to meet Jim Lewis, and was glad I was coordinating my Google maps location on my phone with the paper map.  The landing was hidden behind a swath of reeds, and I only knew it was actually the landing because “Trommald Landing” was painted above the stormwater drain. I pulled in, texted Jim my GPS coordinates and waited in my tent a couple hours as he drove to pick me up.  Jim had already hiked 24 miles today, so to come pick me up after that was really generous.  I thanked him profusely. We loaded up my boat, Jim remarking, “My, that IS a lot of water you’ve taken on!” and headed to his house.  

We stopped on the way in Aitkin, snagging a quick bar meal, and sharing some past adventure stories.  We also stopped at the Lutheran church where his wife, Sharron, is Pastor, to turn out all the lights and lock up.  I enjoyed seeing the space that fills Jim and Sharron’s life with light--it seems like a strong community, doing a lot of good.  Their home was spacious and comfortable—I briefly met Sharron (Jim said, “this is my new best friend, Alyssum!”  Sharron said, “He always has new best friends.”), took a shower and headed to bed.  I realized that a shower in a house is more effective than a shower in a campsite—there was still a bit of toenail polish on my big toes under all the mud that had been caked on for so long! 

For the first couple hundred miles, the Mississippi River, nicknamed Big Muddy, was actually crystal clear.  I could see straight down to the bottom, 20 or 30 feet below.  On glassy days, I actually felt some vertigo from being so far above the river bottom "up high" in my kayak.  Since Grand Rapids, however, the river has earned it's nickname. This could be due to thunderstorms, eroding banks (as opposed to marsh), discharge from paper factory, etc.  Some of the reasons we care about how clear a body of water is (it's turbidity or transparency) are because oxygen has a harder time dissolving into turbid water (making it harder for organisms to breathe), sunlight has difficulty penetrating the water column (making it more difficult for water plants to photosynthesize), and particles can clog gills (making it even more difficult for fish to breathe and reducing their ability to fight disease).  Here's how you use a turbidity or transparency tube.  It's very similar to a secchi disk, if you're familiar with that. 

George Hawkins is an Ojibwe man, living on the banks of the Mississippi south of Lake Winnibigoshish.  More about my meeting with him here.  He provides his personal insights into the health of the river, and some environmental work he's done in the past. Hint: he's my hero and I didn't even know it until I interviewed him!

Sandy Bromenschenkel, texted me last night to say, “was that you passing by? You could have stayed here!” Well, shoot, I missed a great opportunity.  But not to worry; she very graciously and generously brought me some duct tape this morning so I could fix the Mama Raccoon damage on my deck bag, AND some freshly made pancakes (with local fresh blueberries and homemade maple syrup), eggs, lemonade, and strawberries.  What a treat!  She and I enjoyed a lovely morning breakfast together at the picnic table, me sharing my experience so far, her telling me stories of past paddlers that she’s hosted and met over the years.  It feels like a quest in a way.  Each person I meet has a little bit more information to share about what to expect in the upcoming days, and if I missed them, I’d miss out on the info.  For instance, I learned that I can probably get a portage around the dams in Grand Rapids, and that there’s a library right across and upstream from the put-in, where I can likely pitch my tent (and enjoy wifi!).  I think I might do that tonight/tomorrow.  I’m sitting on the dock at Schoolcraft right now.  Some young girls came and went for a quick swim as I was packing up my tent, mindful of my things strewn about the dock.  My phone is charging by the sun.  I’m rested and fed, and now it’s time for me to get packed up and head out.

As I packed up, a young boy and his father came through, to go fishing.  They returned with 3 walleye before I left, and I had a chance to talk with them about my project.  The young boy, Danny, was super congenial and appreciated the plastic ball I gave him (found floating on the river last night) and a couple stickers. The young ladies came back too, more numerous this time, and they were super excited about my project.  I learned they were councilors (Megan, Mary and Josey) from Camp Foley.  They all excitedly asked questions and when I shoved off, they let out a great cheer for me, and shouts of encouragement.  Whoo hoo, what a great send-off!

I paddled 18 miles today, still a long day, and especially long after 26 miles yesterday (my longest so far).  I paddled a lot with my eyes closed, and slumped forward on my deck bag or leaned back on my deck several times for a quick cat nap.  Each time, I started in the center of the river, flowing slowly forward, but woke up lodged in the reeds, still.  It was one of those I-feel-like-I’m-only-using-a-cereal-spoon days.  To exacerbate the feeling of are-we-there-yet?, when I reached the lake on which the Grand Rapids Power Plant is located, the lake was choked with reeds, meaning that what could have been a 2 mile paddle straight across became a multiple mile switch-back paddle as I followed the widest part of the river.  Half-way through the lake, my phone rang, and I gladly used the opportunity to take a rest.  It was a journalist from the Lexington Herald-Leader.  I have to admit, I’ll never get tired of taking “official” business-type calls in the wilderness!  

I also did my first water collection sample for Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation today.  I will be collecting 1L water samples approximately every 100 miles, which I will send to their lab.  They will dry out the sample, burn off the organic material, and use a microscope to take a look at what sort of microplastics are present.  Microbeads?  Filaments?  More on this to come...

I also received a tip from a river angel, Jim, that the campsite at Pokegama (above Grand Rapids) was safer than the library.  Again, an excuse to stop early.  Check!  When I arrived, a very nice man offered his son’s campsite as a place to pitch my tent since the campsite was full.  Again, thank you!  The campground officer, Colin (same guy that helped Dave Roberts on Lake Winnie a few weeks ago) helped me locate wifi nearby.  So I walked half a mile to the LMNOP-za pizza place where I used wifi for ½ hr to check email before they closed.  And enjoyed a whole 10” pizza.

I'm rather embarrassed by all the new gear and equipment I have, but also grateful for the opportunity to be doing this journey at a time when technology, materials science, and engineering play a huge part in the success of such expeditions.  Even 10 or 20 years ago some of my gear and equipment didn't exist or was prohibitively expensive.  For instance, I used to never travel with music because tapes were just too heavy and bulky.  I remember considering bringing mini-discs along in Tanzania in 2001, but decided that part of the traveling experience was leaving comforts like music behind.  And look at me now!  Traveling with my computer!  And ALL my music!  And my phone!  And an ipod!  etc etc etc...  Don't worry, I will still be enjoying the sounds of the river quite a lot.  

In the past few days, in addition to my kayak, I have aqcuired:

• GoPro Hero4 Silver/Surf for optimal video sharing of the experience, with the relief of knowing my camera is waterproof.  THIS IS FOR YOU, DEAR READERS!  I've got deck-mounting, tripod, and head-mounting capability. I can't wait to see how it works...
• GPS Garmin eTrex 10 for marking exact lat/lon for data collection, speed, and waypoint entry.
• YSI Pro2030 sonde (water quality probe) for measuring dissolved oxygen, salinity, conductivity, specific conductance, total dissolved solids, barometric pressure, and temperature. Major shout out and THANK YOU to YSI for lending this equipment for this project.  They went above and beyond by expressing excitement about my journey and overnighting this instrument to me. Looking forward to using it! 
• VHF Cobra Marine handheld floating radio for listening to weather and communicating with lock managers and barge captains.
• Werner camano carbon shaft 2-piece paddle.  I am looking forward to using the greenland paddle that the boat came with; they say the long, thin blades make paddling very easy and efficient for long distances.  It's a paddle that is easy on joints which is especially important for someone like me with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.  It will take a longer time to get up to speed, and doesn't do technical paddling very well, though, so I have the Werner paddle to make sure I can paddle quickly out of the way of barges if need be.  I have also heard that switching between a carbon blade and a greenland paddle is something that my wrists will thank me for. 
• Pelican cases and dry bags.  Pelican cases for my electronics, and dry bags galore for everything else.  I have a feeling that this expedition will be mostly spent pulling things out of bags, stuffing things into bags, and packing them all.  I have already resolved to use all this time as my daily meditation.  I've already managed to scrape my nail across the back of one of my knuckles (scabbed over now) while stuffing something into a sack, so I need to be very mindful and relaxed when I do this activity. Can't have any uneccesary cuts and scrapes on the river!
• Utility cord to tether everything to my boat!  Don't want to lose ANYTHING.
• Transparency tube for measuring water transparency.  It's like a secchi disk (a black and white checked disk that you lower into the water until you can't see it, then measure the length of the cord), but is a little bit more precise because you don't have to worry about the difficulty of measuring transparency in shallow water, or the forward angle that might arise in fast currents, obscuring the true depth of transparency.
• Water proof note pad and water proof pen for writing down my water quality data.  I'm such a nerd, I love this data collection stuff.  
• Two more platypus water bags.  They're virtually indestructible.  I had two already (one of which I've had for 19 years and is in great shape), but bought a couple more to make up for the laundry detergent container that I had planned on using in camp for washing hands and dishes.  (It was just to bulky to fit anywhere in my kayak, so I relegated it to the recycling bin).  The platypus water bags will conform easily to the strange shape of the area behind my seat in the cockpit where they'll live.  
• Lifefactory glass food storage container with silicone molding for holding my leftovers overnight and eating the next day for lunch
• Grand Trunk collapsible camp stool, which I hear is great for doubling as a solar panel platform, where the battery can hang out in the mesh pocket underneath.  I also hear it's great for drying clothes under safety of the rain fly at night.  And plus, every account I've read has said that the camp chair is the one thing everyone was SO GLAD they brought.
• GoalZero Sherpa 50 Solar kit which is rated for expedition type excursions and charging not just a phone, but my energy-hungry laptop (and GoPro, and VHF, and iPod).
• And, perhaps my favorite piece of gear, the Sea to Summit Jetstream Pump Sack for pumping up my sleeping pad each night without getting winded and dizzy.  I'm inspired and impressed with the simplicity and functionality of this small, lightweight, super helpful equipment.
  
  

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!