Wasson Adventure Blog (formerly Collins and Hall): 2013 MR340 success!

We made it! another successful MR340 run.
This was our plan of attack, Sam modified last years spreadsheet with updated averages and i boiled it down to this cheat sheet.

COLLINS AND HALL 2013 TEAM PLAN

the following is my recollection, i believe it's pretty accurate but you never know.

coming into this years event i really felt physically less prepared, we had only paddled 150miles up to the race and that was all done in the month prior. the wet spring coupled with schedules and work and other life events just didn't make it easy to get out much this year, which is probably everyone's situation in the summertime. such is life. in the few days since the race i have been doing some compare and contrast with last year, leading up to the race last year it was alot of unknown and nerves about being able to get it done. this year i knew what needed to get done and i was still nervous about making it happen.

tuesday - day 1.
again we got to kaw point early and crossed the river at 6am. it was either less crowded or better organized this year? there was no line at the boat ramp and it was nice to get across the kaw to a sand/mudbar, finish my coffee- in the same mug i used last year that still has the stickers that henry put on it- and be able to try to relax for 2 hours. we were ready, i kept looking at the forecast to see what the wind was supposed to do but finally had to stop cause i wasn't going to be able to change it anyway, no use getting all worked up over it.
the start went well, watching the leading teams paddle into the missouri and around the bend was impressive to say the least, almost immediately it felt like they were 1/2 mile in front of us and then they were out of sight. we settled into our seemingly normal pace, everything smooth sailing right up until we got past missouri city. missouri city seems like it's always windy, probably because the first "long" paddle we took last year was to missouri city, we misunderstood where the boat ramp was and thought we were done when in acuality we had 2 more miles to go- the most miserably blazing headwind worth of 2 miles in our history of paddling. this day missouri city was quiet, we were feeling good and we talked about pushing through to glasgow that night and about how the day was going so well, we were quite pleased with ourselves. but at the next bend the headwind started and it stuck around for the next 8 hours. that put us in our place a little bit. once the wind let up we resumed happy talk of getting to glasgow, evening was upon us we had seen our spectacular ground crew, ate some food and were feeling good again then at 10pm the head winds came again and tormented us all the way to miami. when we arrived at miami we were ready for a break. the Minn.III is a pleasure to paddle but with only 2 people and no spray skirt (seemed like a spray skirt might help but that is just a guess) the wind had its way with us. we were beat. we pulled in around 1 am. slept 4 hours and back in the water just before 6am. still fairly on schedule.

day 2:
sunrise on the river is just about one of the best things to experience, especially on the missouri river below miami. i really feel like the river below miami, maybe even from waverly, to katfish katy's is one of the best sections of the river- it feels remote and wide open. then coming around to boonville you start seeing the bluffs and once you get up close to them you realize just how small you are. it feels like you are somewhere other than the middle of missouri. (except for the I-70 bridge). the weather was spectacular for the most part all day, little pockets of wind hear and there but the temp was a pleasantly bizarre 80 degrees, sun was out, smooth paddling. this was where the Minn III really shines, we were able to get into a rhythm, corrective strokes at the stern were minimal, making pretty good time and enjoying the day. at this point it was all deja-vu, our pace and schedule thus far was approx the same as last year and we have paddled the stretch to miami a fair amount times in the last year and a half. last year we stopped for a snooze in glasgow, which wasn't as refreshing as we thought it would be. a sign to listen to your biorhythms i suppose. this year we stopped for a snack and water, a cold washcloth to rinse with and we were back on the water. when evening came we were seeing things in the daylight that we paddled in the dark last year. the whole stretch from the i70 bridge to katfish katy's was great, it was a tough spot for sam last year and it felt like a mini triumph to be feeling pretty good at that point this year. coopers landing was a treat, band was jamming and we had noodles waiting for us courtesy of our spectacular ground crew. it was a funny scene, people dancing and drinking beer and zombie paddlers milling about eating thai noodles from a semi-permanent noodle truck. the ground crew was ready to get down! but they were good in getting us back on the river. we said it last year but we really need to come back here maybe as part of a katy trail adventure? i was close to suggesting we call it a night there but we got back in the boat and back into the midge hatch. i was not prepared for this. they were not biting flies nor did they even really stick to you but there were alot of them. alot is an understatement. i had to paddle with my head down to keep them out of my eyes which made our course bizarre, i tried wearing sunglasses, no luck, no bugs in my eyes but i couldn't see anything. without a hat on and my head down it felt like raindrops on my head, for miles. in our noses, in our ears, in our eyes. not sure how many i ate/dug out of my ears-eyes-nose but it was about 2 dozen too many. i guess the fact that they didn't really taste like anything was good. while in our misery we pondered all sorts of fly killing techniques, flamethrower being at the top of the list. giant electric tennis racket mounted to the bow was another favored fantasy. we survived, barely. we caught up to a couple of boats a few miles out of jefferson city, it was a nice distraction to paddle with them and take turns pointing out the shapes you could see in the kudzu covered trees on the shore. we all rolled into jefferson city around 2am. couple of interesting things, this was the longest stretch we have paddled at one time, if only by about 10 miles. there was a taco boat, i wish i would have gotten a taco.

day 3:
leaving jefferson city thursday morning we were advised that there was fog 18miles down river and that 4 empty barges were getting ready to head down river behind us. as we got about a mile out we could see the fog lifting, looked pretty cool but we never caught up to it. our stay at jefferson city was a bit longer than planned but i think if we would've left any earlier we would have been sitting on the shore anyway so it worked out good. the stretch of river from jefferson city to hermann seems particularly slow, the bends are big and mellow, with the exception of lisbon bottoms and maybe another spot?, and any small marker in the distance is surely 7 miles away. day 3 is a little bit of a blur for me, i had an instance where i went a little long without eating enough then ate a bit too much, then fell into a weird slump that i struggled to recover from. finally sam and i switched places in the canoe, for a change of pace, maybe get a little break. not so much. i'm not real sure how we ultimately settled on our canoe positions, the first day we paddled together last year we tried both ways and it just landed where it landed and we have been happy with that. i always thought that if we needed to switch the change would be easy, oooh boy. typically i'm in the back (is sternsman a word?) and sam is up front. i got up there and was a total mess! this sounds strange but i couldn't find something to focus on, looking right at the bow was a bad idea, made me sea sick, just looking out at the open water was odd for some reason and as sam was getting aquainted with the steering system ,i.e the modified j-stroke, i would find myself trying to correct course which was just causing more problems. this whole thing lasted about 15 minutes after which we were refreshed to be back in the comforts of our respective positions. and it gave us fodder to laugh about for the next hour or three. back to river life. saw a few people, chatted with them, realized the stretch coming into herman was the longest stretch ever, i'm pretty sure you can see the herman bridge for about 10 miles and it just lurks out there. we passed a barge heading upstream but it didn't leave too bad of a wake. crossed paths with the boat-acious blonde boat, reminded me i want to download their book about last years MR340 from amazon. had a nice stop in herman, clogged up the rv commode. that was pretty sweet. we met up with the ground crew again at, i believe the portland boat ramp, got some gatorade in me, that hit the spot. (i'm not sure if this was the gatorade stop or if it was the prior day? either way it was refreshing) for some reason water just wasn't tasting good, even though i was thirsty? lemon -lime gatorade saved the day and we paddled onto klondike. at this point we were going to be getting into klondike at 11:30pm, and had decided that we would rest a few hours and get up, paddle into the final sunrise for the trip and cruise the remaining miles to blanchette landing, arriving at 7:30am.

(EDITORIAL NOTE HERE- after reading this later on I felt like it sounded critical of peoples involved- I am not a writer and did not intend any of this next paragraph to be critical of anyones actions. At the end of the day we were glad to help and glad to be helped!)
at klondike we had to make a river rescue, the ramp there is facing downstream but is on the current side of the river. another boat had lost a light or something and one of them leaned to get it out of the water and just spit both of them out. they had pfd's on and were floating by the ramp, one of them had ahold of their boat and the other was just floating, somebody said jump back in the boat so sam and i hopped in and got the floater over to our boat then got his buddy and their canoe with this whole crew holding on to our boat we paddled back to shore which was not easy. by this time a volunteer john boat had come around to help and everybody is tired and not thinking clearly but we were all standing on the shore. the john boat guy comes by and the paddler that is holding the boat swims back out to grab onto the john boat. then the john boat dies and he can't get it restarted. by this time we had the 1 rescued paddler and ourselves back on the boat ramp. and the john boat eventually made it back to the ramp with the 2nd rescue and their canoe. wild times! i was officially whooped after that, ready for a nap. they were a bit wild eyed looking but were ok.
i know the layover at klondike was not a very competitive race choice but it was a great way to end this event, the 3 hours of sleep was just right, and that last leg was near perfect conditions- cool, no wind, amazing sunrise.as we paddled on in it almost felt like a victory lap, of course we were smack dab in the middle of finishing times but we felt good. courtney and steph were there, the shower was open at the lewis and clark building. it was pretty sweet. i ate the lumberjack slam at denny's and the rest of the day was a mix of feeling energetic and taking naps until the ceremony.

the challenges this event, and for us i believe it is more an event than a race, are interesting. the physical aspect is obvious but the mental aspect is the true struggle. sitting in one place for 18+ hours is not easy to do, to not count every single mile marker is tough. telling yourself to keep paddling even though those muscles between your shoulder blades are telling you to stop. it's interesting, all of it. after the fact it really felt like a mental reset, totally clearing the cobwebs out of my brain and drains any restless energy that gets stored up.

i found myself getting choked up on a couple of occasions at the ceremony, when scott mansker did the memorial about the gentleman who passed away at miami in his camper after pulling out of the race the day before. he spoke of a life well lived. i couldn't help but think of my father who passed at way too early an age, 16 years ago now. he loved adventures. i feel fortunate to have had an extremely well lived life with him while he was here. this trip reminds me of a story my uncle mike likes to tell of my dad when he was a young boy. he would gather up a few supplies and go sit in the closet, he would document this in a journal, that i now have, he set out a goal- 2 hours. then later you see where he filled in his result -45 mins, with notes on what to do next time, an exercise just to see if he could do it, really no better reason is needed. now when i think of the times we spent with him in the context of my son, i realize teaching is more about doing than it is about talking about it. i was fortunate to live some great adventures with my dad, and he was good at it. he would be the first one up the tree at the creek to jump in but not before checking to make sure the water was clear. he loved peeling thru the chat piles on motorcycles but also taught us to clarify what was on the other side of that hill you were climbing. living a life of quality is like anything else, it's needs attention and work to make it happen. it feels good to take on things that seem out of reach, sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. take notes, make changes and try again. or try something else. i missed my dad alot on this trip, he would have loved being on the river.

i can't thank sam and steph enough for sharing this with us. i have to thank my mom, dennon, steve and whitney for taking such good care of little henry for us! he had a blast down there, and was probably glad to get away from mom and dad. thanks to andy, and william lezlie for watching the animals while we were gone. and steph's mom in st. louis for letting us crash overnight. thanks to sam's dad for the sweet finish line pic.

looking forward to another adventure.

--phil