Day 15, Saturday, May 19, 2001
Safety Summary, All Teams

Safety Report, 5-7 AM:

Updates/Comments Received from Elizabeth Tynan, Safety Officer, 5-7AM calls

You can even feel the South seeping into their voices now, as the two
teams in the lead prepare to leave the Upper Mississippi behind.

Team Alaska: Kerm and his crew hadn't had any pie either, but Bud is cooking up delicious "surprises" for supper. One of the hundred-member-crew, Eric, a former Rebel now fighting for the Alaskans, said one of his favorites is a main dish Bud makes with wild rice and sausage. My mouth waters just thinking about it. ..

Kerm was bright and cheery this morning too, when he reported at 6:50 a.m. that they were just preparing to leave from river mile 523, near Lock and Dam 13. He said it's a little hard to rouse the troops in the morning,
but decided he'd get them going with a "gong" from now on. I'd be a little groggy too after paddling hard all day, then feasting on Bud's wild rice and sausage at night.

When I asked about adventures on the river, Kerm said that Tony--our biologist birdwatcher--has now duly documented over 100 species along the river. Seems some of them are a bit querrelous, two blackbirds having been witnessed "fighting to the death," with the victor sending his victim over the falls at a dam. Surely the stakes couldn't have been worth such violence--unless it was sausage they scavenged from Bud's stew. "Grackle murder," according to Kerm.

Team Double Helix: Having been awakened by a booming loudspeaker system blasting "Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits" at 4:30 a.m. in the workhouse at Lock and Dam 25, river mile 240, where they were kindly allowed to spend the night, small wonder that Andrew M. Gribble was so chipper when he called me at 5:00. I, on the other hand, was grasping about half-awake in the near-dark of 6:00, Florida Saturday--made-for-sleeping-at-least-till-7:00-morning time. Had there been some mistake? Had one of my children been in an accident during the night? Another sheriff's raid?

Slowly the fog lifted, along with the light outside, enough to remember Andrew saying everyone was doing great, and that Clark and Kurt took off around 5:00 a.m from "Chateau 25," a segment in that most unique chain of Mississippi Riverfront Bed-and-Blasting Music Inns they have grown to love. Whatever happened to the "Breakfast" part of B&B's? That used to be the best part, but Andrew said not even Mississippi Mud pie was on the menu. I'll try
not to wax so nostalgic.

Team Kruger: At 7:45, Stan reported that his team is still traveling with Team Double Helix, the paddlers having decided to stay together until after their "press conference" under the Arch at St. Louis. (They too left
from "Chateau 25" this morning at 5:00, river mile 240.) Stan said he has contacted as many of the media as he possibly can, and that he expects at least three TV stations to meet them there. At the same time, some land crew switches will take place, before they take off to navigate the "chain of rocks" on the river just below.

Safety Report Received PM:

Updates/Comments Received, 5 to 7 PM Calls:
From Don Keller, official time keeper, Saturday May 19 PM Report

Team Alaska 6:35 River Miles 457 Lock and Dam #16
They are sleeping at Lock and Dam #16 tonight. Kerm said they would have to happy with the 60 miles they made today.

Team Double Helix 5:10
The team has just left the St. Louis arch, heading south. Two Rett families set up "Italian food for everybody" including amazingly good pasta and salad. They had a wonderful time, and both their stoamach and their spirits were filled. The St. Louis KDNL TV news team was there filming for broadcast.

I was asking Andrew about the difficult of finding places to sleep. Andrew said that last night Bob Branford spied the Double Helix kayak sitting on top the levee, crawled into it , pulled the "bubble/ Happy Hut over him , and went to sleep. The interesting thing is that the water was within a few inches of the top of the levee, and people were commenting on whether the levee (and Bob) would be there in the morning. This morning the support crew woke up from their sleep in a machine shop, and went out to check on the sleeper. Lo and behold, there was Bob, still on top of the levee, and still sound asleep !

Team Kruger 5:49
A few miles below "The Arch" Stan called to say that his team was also "heading south" and should be nearing Jackson Barracks soon. That is good news. Even though all the paddlers have been held up for what amounts to days due to high water, at this time they are only 6 hours behind the 1984 record.


SPECIAL NOTE: Since May 11, Dubuque, Iowa, the two leading teams have had to travel together under special Coast Guard orders. Now that the teams are out of the "closed waters", they are free to separate and paddle their own styles. Each team can, and does sleep while moving (one of the paddlers staying awake, of course. So we might see some "leapfrog" lead changes, as one team passes another by, and then gets re-passed.

This wacky sleep/paddle/nap/paddle regimin leads to some rather interesting scheduling challenges for the road crew. The road crews must constanly being searching ahead for a unflooded place to set up a kitchen, grab the paddlers off the water, feed them and send them on their way.

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Webmaster/Event Organizer Note from Mary Potter: Just received a call from Andrew Gribble at 6:30 or so EST (so 5:30 Mississippi River time :-)). 2 Rett families met the lead 2 boats under the arch in St. Louis and supplied a generously catered Italian style dinner, complete with table set up. Andrew said as Clark was getting everyone together for one last picture, Team Kruger jumped in the water and took, with a 10 minute lead! Guess the love affair is OVER!

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Daily Updates

For More Updates, Photos and Videos please the main Race page.

* and ** - Note on Team Kruger and Team Double Helix - both teams were stopped 3 times during the race - 2 times by the Coast Guard, and 1 time by the Sherriff's office. See Race Delays for more information.

*** Note on Total Miles: For purposes of our site, we compile total miles as the total river miles the teams have passed. If teams take legal shortcuts, we note it on that date, but do not reduce total miles. Please see the May 9 report for more information.