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Day 39 & 40: Rest and Prescott WI

8/10/2015

1 Comment

 
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I felt like there was a tickle in my throat, like I was trying to get sick, so I just took it easy today.  I slept until 1pm, so I decided the whole day was just for rest.  My friends back home decided I needed to participate in GISHWHES (the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen) even though I live on a river in a tent from a kayak. So, I spent some of the day collecting plastic trash on my little beach, and recreating (sort of) an image by astronaut Chris Hadfield, tweeting it to him, and also recreating an optical illusion in sand.  In the afternoon, I was interviewed by Katie McKy for Canoe and Kayak magazine.  She had solo paddled the Mississippi 30 years ago, and made it most of the way to New Orleans.  She suggested not stopping in any of the Illinois towns, and reminded me to be careful of the wing dams as the river gets bigger.  She said 39% of the river’s volume comes from the Ohio River, so my speed should be faster after I reach the confluence with the Ohio.  It was great talking with her, and she very encouragingly said I was doing great.

The following morning, I packed everything up, and headed into town to do some blogging. Prescott has a public dock, so I used my lock and headed into town to get some water and find some wifi.  Prescott is a very small place, and I was worried I wouldn’t find what I needed.  I first went to what I thought was a hotel, but it was an apartment building.  “WELCOME” read a big stone out front.  But the doors were locked to anyone who didn’t live there.  Ironic, I thought.  As I walked down the main street, I followed a sign for coffee (usually coffee=wifi) and was in luck!  The Twisted Oak was a great little spot for me.  I indulged in a strawberry smoothie and sat to work on their cozy couch. I stayed until closing, and finished what I was working on outside the coffee shop (yay, their wifi still worked), found some water, and headed back out.  I had only meant to stay 4 hours, but I stayed nearly 7…so the sun was setting, and I only managed to paddle a total of 4 miles today.  But I shot the photo at the top of this post, which made everything worth it.

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Eroded tree roots. Sad for the tree, but really beautiful
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Munching on lunch and scouting for plastic trash
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Plastic recreation of Chris Hadfield's photograph, made from trash I found on the beach today.
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"Undoubtedly one of the coolest space sights on Earth, the Richat Structure of Mauritania." — Chris Hadfield Photo: Courtesy Visualnews.com
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One doesn't just find plastic on the beach
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Notice the white snail shell near the center of the image, and the almost identical white bottle cap in the lower right. Diagonally from lower right to upper right are geese foot prints. Guess what geese eat? It is entirely possible that they could mistake a bottle top for a snail and injest it.
1 Comment
Brooke
8/9/2015 04:22:42 am

Several:
1.That tree pic will be excellent for further coastal education!
2. I have a pic of me in the boat munching something next to the icebox. My hair looked just like yours (same age). I guess you know what's in store for you!
3. Fabulous interpretation of Chris's pic. "One man's trash..." I'm thinking instead of Art in Bloom, UK Art Museum needs to consider and add this idea for awareness. YES!!
4. What kind of fish?

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    Alyssum Pohl is paddling the Mississippi River and documenting water quality and plastic waste along the way.

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