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After leaving the library yesterday Tom and I found a ride back to our kayaks that were hidden behind some weeds on a steep muddy bank of the river.  We both nearly fell in trying to get back into them and paddle/drifted to the next bridge where we saw two police officers on motorcycles and asked if we could camp underneath of it.  “The only ones who would have a problem with it would be us, and we don’t have a problem with it.”

They informed us of an Aerosmith concert taking place within a mile of the river and told us we would be safe there for the night and that they would alert the other officers.

Tom not being a fan of arguably one of the greatest rock bands of all times wanted to stay and watch the boats.  I didn’t fight him in this want haha.  I purchased one of the last 94 remaining tickets and found myself in the nosebleed section next to two big fans, Robert and Judy, who bought me a beer during intermission.  The rest of the evening resulted in what normal concerts are known for…drunken people falling in the stands screaming at the top of their lungs to words they can’t hear because the noise is so deafening…and I was right there with them, minus the drunken part.

Afterwards I walked back to the bridge in awe that they can still rock for no less than 2 ½ hours after over 30 years of touring to find Tom wide awake on his deflated air mattress (it’s had a hole in it since the first week, I told him to buy a Thermarest but he didn’t want to listen :p).  I heard music coming from a bar near buy and decided to check it out.

Eventually I found myself playing bongo’s (I play a variety of different drums at home) to Latin music and eventually dancing with a group that meets there every Thursday night to dance until 1am when I finally decided it was just too much for one day and I needed some sleep.

I awoke this morning to the sound of thunder and the mist of rain water blowing in the wind.  I love waking up under bridges, especially in the rain.

Currently I am back at the Omaha Library after waiting outside with the mob of homeless people for it to open to update this site one final time before we push on, though the weather doesn’t seem to want that to happen right now.

Once again – I spend the days dreaming of all the things I want to do in life and the nights dreaming of waking up, literally living the dream.

-Charles

TOM

The miles fly by. After a very enjoyable visit with my parents (thanks for dinner mom and dad!) we made 35 miles just drifting! After Sioux City we have to be a bit more careful because there are numerous hazards in the water (buoys, whirlpools, dikes, debris). Unfortunately the wind has been a constant southeast wind. On the otherhand the weather has been much cooler and we’ve slept remarkable well in the last few days. As miles glide by we rapidly approach the Missouri stretch where I hope to paddle with friends and classmates.

The key to enjoying this stretch is to be spontaneous and open to experiences as they arrive. We arrived in Omaha, NE with no more than a desire to eat something else than what comes out of plastic wrappers. Instead we have had the chance to tour a wonderful air and naval memorial. This included several huge (30,000 lb) anchors as well as several propellers and 3 decommissioned navy vessels. I was able to replenish my utter lack of reading material at a great local bookstore. We have also bumped into a bicyclist who pointed us to a local brewery. The Upstream Brewery is an excellent craft brewery with 12 brews with several brews changed seasonally. We ordered the sampler (what else would we have ordered?) and got to try them all. Jake, our bartender, also arranged for 2 of the brewers to take us through the actual brewery part of the restaraunt. Here we got to see the >15 barrel setup and try some of the mystical Heffeweizen soon to be dispensed. It was truly a pleasure. If you are ever in the are this should definitely be a stop. Tonight we plan on camping with Jesse (the bicyclist).

Less I sound dismissive of this stretch; the scenery is beautiful, the blue herons are bountiful and camping is plentiful. Each day the scenery slides by in a blur that is over all to quick. As we approach the distance halfway mark I find myself in more and more reflection of the beauty we’ve seen, both of the natural and human variety. The trip has reached a comfortable rhythm of paddling and enjoying life; one which I will be loathe to give up. But for all that I begin to think about some of the amenities that I’ve left behind and look forward to those as well. Either way there are miles to be paddled; see you on the river.

CHARLES

The current is amazing though it just makes the trip go faster…pros and cons I guess.  For this post I’ve decided to just show the texts I send out to my friends at the end of each day.

On river at 9am.  30 easy miles to Ponca.  Walked  a mile to a shower, 4 showers at 4 different locations in 5 days!  13 for the trip, 79 days. (8/15/10)

These people are letting us camp near their site so we don’t have to pay a fee and are playing Elton John and classic rock while I sit in my tent…awesome! No sarcasm, I love Elton John. (8/15/10)

Woke at a comfortable time and paddled to Sioux City.  I hiked to Arby’s while Tom watched the boats.  Paddled til storm came close at 4pm, 38 miles.  Attractive women gave us beer at boat ramp we camped at. (8/16/10)

Clouds all day, good current, 33 miles.  I spend the days dreaming of all the things I want to do and the nights dreaming of waking up.  Literally living the dream. (8/17/10)

Dodged buoys through a minefield of rolling water and whirlpools for 54 miles today in a relentless headwind, good day.  (8/18/10)

Had amazing burger at Billy Froggs Bar in Omaha today, met a guy who is cycling from Montreal-Argentina and will camp with him under bridge tonight, ordered the 12 tasters at the Upstream Brewery…not a bad day…probably only going to make it 12 miles. (8/19/10)  www.jessesteiner.com

…. That’s about all, I’ve developed a game to wear out Bill at the end of the night so I can actually sleep.  All I did was tie an empty Gatorade bottle (which has another use, You can guess what it is rather than me telling you on the site) to the end of a rope and have him run circles around me for a few minutes before I call it a night…works great.

“Travel is fatal to bigotry, prejudice and narrow-mindedness. Broad wholesomeness and charitable views cannot be acquired by vegetating in one tiny corner of the globe.”
~Mark Twain

-Charles

TOM

We have finally finished the lakes. We knew this day was coming or at least we prayed for it to come and it has finally arrived. We watch the river flow and the feeling is indescribable. I could not do it justice if I tried, and so I won’t. After Chamberlain we paddled Francis Case Lake without much event. We enjoyed the peaceful solitude and clear water while we could. The last day of the lake does bear mentioning. The days had been extremely hot but the final day started as fog. As we got onto the lake both sides disappeared in the thick fog. With GPS and a compass this wasn’t so much of a problem as a joy since the sun was blocked. When we finally go to the Ft. Randall dam after 27 miles of lake, we were met by two brothers (Mike and Tom) from the Lower Brule Reservation. They helped us up and over the dam and got us to the tail waters campground. Later that evening they took us to their beautiful home and we enjoyed barbeque chicken, brats, hot dogs and hamburgers. We played some cards and got a ride back to the tents.

Within 2 days we were over the last dam in Yankton. Along the first current we had seen in ages we met Skip and his family on a tiny island, who hooked us up with some food and beer. It was a great stop to get us out of the sun. The second day we vaguely hoped to get over the dam but things just worked out (as often seem to do on this trip). When we reached the down shore state campground we were actually asked by a family (Kevin and Deb Kleinschmidt) if we would like a ride over the dam. This good luck was further compounded by the fact that we didn’t meet a single car while crossing the bridge. This requires a little explanation, when we load both of our kayaks onto a truck they stick out a substantial distance and on the very narrow dam we would have been unable to squeeze by another vehicle. To celebrate the last night we decided to order some pizza but were stopped because pizza hut didn’t deliver to our campsite. Kevin and Deb had been going into town and so volunteered to pick up our pizza and go out of their way to bring it back to us. Pizza never tasted so good.

We are currently staying in Vermillion SD, and waiting for my parents to arrive tomorrow. They have kindly taken time to drive down and visit for a day and so we look forward to the time to resupply and stay a day in AC. Well that is all from me.

CHARLES

Finally done with the damn dams….I’ve been waiting 77 days and 1,800 miles to say that joke.  Although I am extremely excited for the 1,900 miles of free flowing river ahead me, I did slowly fall in love with the lakes.  You really start to get into them after awhile.  But…paddling 10 hours and making 60 miles sounds a lot better than the 30 I am use to.

Yesterday Tom and I were on the river just after 7am and paddled until noon when the wind kicked up.  There were several houses along the shore and we pulled over by “The Huberts” home (or so it said on a rock facing the water).  No one was home so we laid in their lawn and ate/read/slept for hours with the sound massive cottonwoods swaying in the wind.  Around 430pm it started to calm down but we could see rain approaching so we decided to take our chances and meet the owner when they returned home from work.

We took several things into consideration about how to approach them when they arrived and make it as little weird as possible.  We sat in front of their driveway on a small cliff of rocks (I was farther down so when I would stand up they would not see my height), tom would do the talking (since my physical appearance has not been useful when finding rides along this trip so far…honestly, Tom gets us all the rides/camp spots/food, people seem to always say no to me even though we ask in the same manner and tone, we blame on my hair that protrudes vertical from my sun visor (people think it is fake until I take the hat off))…we had Bill in his life jacket so he looked even cuter than normal…and we had it planned where we would go if they said no to us camping there.

What we did not plan is that when they would get home they would go directly into the house after obviously seeing us sitting there…this is what happened.  So Tom knocked on the door and eventually a young man named Kyle answered…he immediately recognized me from 2 lakes ago (St. Francis Lake) after seeing me on the river because of my hair!  The rest of the night consisted of sitting by a campfire with him and his friends and sleeping in a nice, warm bed.

Many people have emailed asking about my “charity” portion of this trip.  The organization I am trying to raise money for is a shelter for women who have been trafficked into the sex/slave industry.  It’s located in SWFL and opened last March.  Completely run by volunteers and funded by donations.  I went to lunch with the director of the shelter before this trip and was thoroughly convinced that the distribution of the funds received would be put solely towards the victim’s aftercare.   www.safe-refuge.org

When people ask what is the hardest thing about this trip is, I tell them it hasn’t happened yet, and that will be admitting…it’s over.  It feels great to be living life.