2010 MR 340

Katfish Katy’s Thursday Morning

Rob and I at Cedar City.

When I awakened from my nap it was nearly 6:30 am. It was daylight but foggy and everything was wet from the heavy dew. Once I was up I took a walk down the road abut a half mile and back to my tent to get all of the kinks worked out. Last year I had some issues with my shoulders and blisters but this year my shoulders were pain free and I didn’t have a blister yet. I did get cortisone shots in my shoulders on Monday and I was wearing paddling gloves most of the time this year. Between the shots, gloves and the prayers of my brothers in Christ my body was holding up good considering the last 50 or so hours.

Last night I would have quit if I could have worked out the logistics but this morning I’m a new man and ready to get back on the river as we approach Callaway County. I have my breakfast of a caned Starbucks drink and a bagel from Panera. It was a good idea to bring the bagels, it’s a good change from the energy bars and they make a tasty and quick meal. With my restored energy a Bible verse came to mind:

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Phillipians 4:13

As well as this poem by my favorite author:

If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you'd like to win, but think you can't
It's almost a cinch you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you've lost.
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will:
It's all in his state of mind.
If you think you're outclassed, you are:
You've got to think high to rise,
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You'll ever win that prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the one who thinks he can.
Anonymous

I took my time taking down the tent because of the heavy dew and the fog because I really would like to fog to lift some before I took off. Once I had everything packed up and cleaned out my canoe one of the safety workers helped my carry “My Dianna” back down to the water, I mounted up and departed Katfish Katy’s at 8am. There was still some spotty fog but within an hour it was all clear.
Once back on the river it doesn’t take long to get back in the rhythm. There were some foggy spots but for the most part the river was clear.

It felt really good to be back on the river. No aches or pains and back in an area of the river I’m a little more familiar with. A few hours ago I was ready to quit but now its hard to imagine it even crossed my mind. My advice to anyone that ever might think about quitting the MR340 would be simply “take a nap”. Of course if one were experiencing a medical issue one must use common sense. Which reminds me of something I heard a while back, “common sense is not all that common”?

Once back underway I placed a call to my older brother, Rob, who had agreed to bring lunch to me at Jefferson City. I gave him my ETA and put in my order for a Big Mac and large ice tea. Somewhere about this time I entered into the waters of the Kingdom of Callaway so with the rest and now the energy from the Kingdom I was paddling as good as I had at any time on this trip. This is the same area that Matt and I paddled in the “Race to the Dome” a few weeks ago. We were fortunate to place 2nd in that event.

When one rounds that bend in the River above Jefferson City and can see the State Capitol building on the bluffs on the south side of the river and the Highway 54 Missouri River Bridge its time to start paddling to the Cedar City side of the river and the boat ramp which is almost under the bridge.

As I approached the boat ramp I could see Rob and Lewis Baumgartner, “The Worlds Worst Farmer”, coming down the ramp with my lunch. As a rule the officials at Cedar City don’t like for us to land at the boat ramp but they could see that Lewis was having a hard time navigating (due to a stroke a year or so ago) so they allowed me to pull up there on the concrete ramp. I devoured my Big Mac, restocked my cooler with ice and G2 which Rob and Lewis had brought for me and launched again at 2:22 pm. At this point I was about 4 hours behind schedule. I was also very grateful for the help from Rob and Lewis. There are no services available here so it would have been a long haul to the next stop to restock.

Next stop Mokane.