 2003 World Record Set: 18 days, 4 hours, 51 minutes! |
The
Mississippi River Challenge for
- May 10, 2003 6 AM to May 28, 10:51 AM 2003- A 2,348 Mile Marathon to Support a Marathon of Research! |
 Bob Bradford, forward position, Clark Eid, in the back, approaching L & D 24 |
May 16, Friday
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Approximate Location May 16
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Paddlers just arrived at boat ramp on south end of Winona, MN (4:12
AM). They had a 55 minute wait at Lock & Dam #5. _______________________________ Bob & Clark just left the boat ramp (5:06 AM). The automatic position
reporting system (APRS) is working! _______________________________ I just what to say what a great job both Andrew and Clark have
done on the Automatic Position Reporting System. This is really
great. I can't believe you can actually watch them moving down the
river. Great job guys! It is so cool to have real time information
on TEAM HOPE. _______________________________ Paddlers are now locking through at Lock & Dam 7 just north of
La Crosse, MN.
--AMG _______________________________
Sounds like the road crew is holding up well overall.
That is a rough job for the road crew who do a great deal of work,
and spend much anxious time waiting for the paddlers. Special thanks
to the road crew! Clark said the food has been incredible and the
road crew has been great. I told Clark the website maps from Where Are They
Now? were once again updating very quickly and often now. Special
thanks to all who helped with that. When I look at the Where Are They Now Page, it shows
the team is almost at the Iowa border and moving quickly. Looks
like Dubuque is the next "big" city on the map.... I hope the storms
in tornadoes in the midwest are quiet tonight - I will check the
National Weather Service next. Clark said he would try to call in tonight, depending
on what is happening. _______________________________
Flood Statement for Dubuque, Iowa area:
FLOOD STATEMENT...CORRECTION TO INFORMATION FOR DUBUQUE DAM 11 ...FLOOD WARNINGS CONTINUE FOR THE WAPSIPINICON RIVER NEAR DE HEAVY RAINS OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF WEEKS HAVE LED TO RISES ON
AREA
...SPECIAL NOTE FOR THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER... THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IS EXPECTED TO RISE TO BETWEEN A FOOT BELOW
TO A FLOOD WARNING HAS ALREADY BEEN ISSUED FOR THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER
AT _______________________________ Clark just called 2:15 PM CST, they are literally at Lock and Dam
8, in Genoa. Moving well, current is good, weather is good... Bob's
finger is infected but he's ok.... I spoke to Janet briefly, she
sounded great and said they are all running their tails off :-).
They all sound great though, I could hear the kids in the background,
and spoke to Chuck Evert (rett dad) briefly....More in a minute,
I have to get Noah off the bus.... _______________________________ Stan called at 5:30pm. First words out of his mouth
-- "I don't know where the rest of my team is!" They split up
after Lock & Dam 7, and somehow hadn't found each other. He wasn't
too worried -- yet. Today the guys bought "stuff" for Clark & Bob
at Cabella's. Stan is in hopes that the ladies were able to
get all the laundry done while the gents did their shopping. Then when they approached Lock & Dam 9, the lockmaster told them
that due to construction, they couldn't access the river from
there. They'd have to go downstream a few miles to a nice campground
that had good access to the river. But when they got down there,
the campground was flooded. Back to L&D 9 they went. The lockmaster
then told them to try upriver 3 miles in Linksville. So that is
their new meeting spot. Three miles upstream from L&D 9. Stan
feels there's no way the paddlers could slip by them without seeing
them -- unless, of course, they somehow arrive in the middle of
the night. Suddenly Stan shouts "There they are!" But this time he's referring
to the other support crew vehicles! He's getting concerned about
when Angie leaves, because she's been such a great asset to the
support team. Really knows her stuff. If they get to Guttenburg this evening, they've been told they
have a lasagna dinner and hot tubs waiting for them! Kinda makes
me wish I was there, too! Unfortunately, it's beginning to look like they won't be arriving
in St. Louis until sometime in the evening on Tuesday -- possibly
even as late as midnight. The cheering that we looked forward
to at the base of the Arch may be much less than we hoped for.
We'll have to see once they get closer to St. Louis. _______________________________
At L&D 8, Clark Eid is sitting in the back, Bob Bradford in the front, 5/16/2003, picture by Lisa Evert
Road Captain Stan Hanson, in front of his sporty "newly fixed" Ford Explorer, with our official race crew vehicle sign as well as Angie Phelp's window work....5/16/03, picture by Angie Phelps _______________________________
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