Heave Ho Herman

PART 3

As we continued down river into the darkness we had pretty much fallen into a routine which propelled us on to our goal of St. Charles . Tonight our goal was Herman and as we paddled out of Callaway County one of the old jodies from our river travels with the Discovery Expedition of St. Charles came to mind:

Oh the Callaway women ain’t got no combs
Haul away, haul away
They comb their hair with catfish bones.
And we’re bound away to Louisiana.

Of course we were bound for Herman at the time so we gave a Heave Ho and made some of the best time we had since beginning the journey. We also came to the realization that no one had passed us since we left Glasgow which seemed like a long time ago and that we were passing every canoe in sight. Granted the fastest were so far ahead of us that some were actually done by now and others were so far ahead we would never see them until we reached to final destination but at this point we were the best of the worst. This trend continued for the rest of the journey.

A couple of times during the night we caught up with others who were traveling by moonlight. It is a common practice to band together during darkness to help each other identify any possible dangers as a group. For Chad and I the pace was too slow and every time we caught up with a group we would become impatient and take off on our own.

This may have been my favorite segment of the trip. We knew we were going to finish and now what had began as a race had evolved into an adventure. There are 300 some million souls in the United States of America and we were part of a very small elite group out on the Missouri River in a tiny boat communing with nature in all of her glory while the rest of America was sleeping. It was very quiet except for the occasional splash of one of our paddles or a low flying aircraft. It was one of those moments when if talking became necessary one would talk in whispers (or at least those that hear well would). With Chad, now a father of a son and a daughter to soon make her appearance we had conservations as equals dad to dad not as father and son about the hopes we had for our children. We also talked about our spiritually and beliefs. No doubt, in any other environment conversations we would have never had.

Even when we were in the darkest part of the river we could still see anything that seemed out of place on the water but we were having difficulty finding the channel markers which are reflective and show up very well when a spot light is pointed at them. However, our light was loosing its charge and we were limited to using it only for brief moments until it eventually died. Even without the light we managed to navigate very well by referring to the GPS.

Soon we could see the bridge over the Missouri River at Herman and from landing there with the Discovery Expedition I knew the Herman checkpoint would be just past the bridge. We made our landing at the Herman boat ramp at 1:41am and found our tent which Jeff had set up for us and we lay down there next to the train tracks to take a nap in spite of the trains. Our plan was to be back on the river before daylight for the final dash. If I would have known what the next day had in store for us I might have passed on the nap at Herman and insisted that we proceed on into the night.

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.... Isaiah 43:2a KJV

Homecoming

Part 2

We departed Coopers Landing approximately 49 hours after beginning this adventure. At this point we had traveled 197 miles down the 19th century “highway to the mountains”. When we left Coopers we were definitely a different crew than the one that left Kaw point a couple of days ago. We were much more comfortable with the canoe, we had a rhythm going with our paddle strokes and I was figuring out how to guide the canoe by shifting my weight.

We were about to enter the boundary waters of The Kingdom of Callaway so we needed to be at our peek for the good of the Kingdom. I’m not exactly sure where we entered the waters of Callaway County but somewhere between Coopers and Jefferson City we made the transition. The water was pretty calm and it was becoming more scenic once we got away from the levies along the river. I’m sure we passed some scenic areas above this point but more than likely it was after dark.

As we approached Jefferson City we came upon a sand bar where we took a little break to get out and stretch our legs and take a leak. It’s a pleasure to stand up and take a leak after doing so while sitting in the canoe being careful to direct the flow into a container. Its like they say, “It’s the simple pleasures one misses”. With the water just a few inches deep it gives the appearance of walking on water as we drag the canoe to higher ground of the sand bar. We also met a sand barge in this area and instead to pulling to shore we just rode out the wake. The wake was mild and we managed it quite well. I’m confident a couple of days ago we would have swamped.

We arrived at Jefferson City at about 3:10. In 2005 when we were returning the Lewis and Clark Keelboat back to St. Louis we spent a night camped on the Keelboat at this exact spot. That night was a particularly cool night and the river rose about 3 feet during the night. At Jeff City, Casey, my son & Chad ’s brother who was the other survivor of terrifying trip on the Auxvasse Creek years ago, was waiting for us with his mother with fresh food. I can’t remember exactly what it was but it sure hit the spot. As usual we stretched our legs refilled our water jugs and cooler but this time we were walking on the good earth of Callaway County with a panoramic view of the state capitol across the river.

We heard from the folks manning the checkpoint there would be a huge asphalt barge coming up in a little while so we put back into the river to get a few miles in before the beast appeared. We did make it few miles when we saw the barge approaching so we pulled in on a island and let her pass. It did churn up the water quite a bit but once it was past we set of again. There was still some rebound wakes on the water but they didn’t pose a problem for us. We planned to take a break at Mokane which is about 20 miles below Jeff City . Mokane would be our last chance to resupply before Herman which was about 50 miles downstream.

My brother, Terry, operates “Wright Brothers Store” in Calwood which is about 15 miles from Mokane so I called in an order on my cell phone for one of their famous pizzas, Gatorade and ice to be delivered to the Mokane boat ramp at about 8pm. I’m not sure he believed me when I told him Chad and I would be arriving there by canoe but he was there with the pizza and drinks. We had a nice visit with Terry and his wife while eating the pizza. This was our last stop in the Kingdom. We iced down our cooler and packed up the left over pizza for later and slid “My Dianna” back into the murky waters of the Missouri and resumed our paddle strokes. Just as it was getting dark we passed the mouth of the Auxvasse Creek and with a solemn nod to her we passed into our 3rd night on the peaceful Missouri River.

For this is what the LORD says: I will extend peace to her like a river...Isaiah 66:12a

To be continued.