9/26/2020 Root River (Whalen to Rushford)

9.26.2020 Root River (Whalen to Rushford – River Gradient (3.4 ft/mile )

Today marks the COVID 19 trip. We have finally “got” COVID-19 under control.  It was, however, a sick start to our triumphant trip.  We started by finding a kayak strapped improperly and dangerously from our last trip, then problem #2 was nearly having a kayak fall off the trailer because someone failed to put a strap on it, I discovered it after going down the highway nearly 2 miles, and if that isn’t enough bad omens, we discovered a broken seat at the river bank—requiring some innovation and fast thinking by yours truly to save the trip.  In spite of our sickly start, we finished the day with full speed ahead and a fun and successful trip, proving that one can recover from COVID-19.

Our 15.9 mile trip down the Root River on a 71°day with 64°water temperatures was another fun and perfect day in spite of heavy cloud cover.  We enjoyed the company of the “kids” again—Mark and Michelle, who definitively answered the age old question when Michelle clearly stated, that Mark was the “better looking” brother, in spite of what Dan had said earlier.  The rest of the crew for the day included; Bill, Teresa, Steve, Pat C., Art, and Me.  I only had to discipline Mark 1 time today—a vast improvement, when he really wanted to try paddle back up and over the last dam and try it again, you can see him looking longingly at the wall in one of the last pictures in the video.  We did see a couple of Eagles, King Fisher, flock of Ducks and gaggles of Geese.  We did cruise along briskly at an average speed of 3.9 mph and completed the trip in just over 4 hours with an additional 1 hour and 20 minutes of leisure stops.  We did have the first signs of fall as well, quite a bit of color in the trees—pretty, but NOT YET, we want more paddle time this year, we WILL exceed and put COVID-19 in its place with our next trip—demonstrating that COVID-19 can be beaten .

As always there is no better way to spend a day, than one the river, and today was one of those days.  We always enjoy company, so keep on coming Mark and Michelle, but you might let your brother use his own kayak once in a while.

To watch the video click the arrow and then enlarge the screen with the icon in the lower right of the screen.  To get back to this page just shrink the page back to normal.

No still pictures this week, they are similar to our 8/29/20 trip

Our music selection for today was decided by : 

Steve & Pat: Ride Captain, Ride &  The Stroke

 

This entry was posted in 2020 River Trips. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.