Wednesday at Glasgow

Matt and I installing plastic over the bow of the canoe.....
Dianna and I.... Glasgow paddle salute.........





By the time I got my tent set up and ready to take a nap it was about 9:30. I expected to get about 3 hours sleep and Dianna and Matt would wake me when they arrived to resupply me at about noon. However, I couldn’t sleep. I was tired enough but with the daylight, cars going in and out, and folks walking about I just couldn’t sleep. I did lay still and rest but sleep just wouldn’t come.

They have shower facilities at Glasgow so I walked over to the shower house and took my shower. After the clean up I still couldn’t sleep. With Dianna and Matt scheduled to arrive at noon I need to wait for them to restock my cooler and food supply. Once they arrived with my lunch we ate, then put a plastic cover over the front of the canoe to help keep some of the water out and to help cut down on some of the wind it was catching. Matt helped me tear down the tent and repack and I shoved off from Glasgow at about 1:45pm just 15 minutes behind my schedule.

I wasted several hours in an attempt to get some sleep. In hindsight I should have shoved off down river and had Matt and Dianna meet me somewhere else. I could have covered an extra 20 or so miles and they could have caught up with me with little extra road travel for them because of all of the turns the river makes.

Just below Glasgow is Lisbon Bottoms noted for its treacherous cut off. With the high fast current I just stayed to the left side of the river and didn’t even notice the cut off. If one gets sucked into the chute leading to the cut off I understand it gets real interesting.

For the first 15 or 20 miles I had a tail wind and even in the August afternoon the heat was not an issue. It was a grand time to be on the river and this area is one of the most scenic parts of the river we have been on up to this point. With the tail wind and absence of heat I was making some of the best time I ever made on the Missouri River at times my GPS was consistently registering 8 mph. It was during this segment of the river I was able to overtake 6 or 8 boats.

Franklin Island is at the base of the Arrow Rock bluffs which marks about the half way point. Having once lived in Arrow Rock on one of the bluffs overlooking the river I often would look out on the mighty Missouri River and imagine what it would be like to travel on her. At the time I never had any idea I would actually one day be out here solo in a canoe. Including the travels with the Discovery Expedition of St. Charles, the MR 340’s and training runs I have now logged nearly 2,000 miles on the Missouri River.

It was here near the Lamine River and with the approach of nightfall that I was beginning to experience some real fatigue. It’s been nearly 40 hours since I slept and every stroke was becoming a real effort. Not that it hurt or anything just that it took a lot of effort to make each stroke. I attempted to just let the canoe drift but if I let it drift more than a minute it took much more effort to get back into the current.

I decided I would pull out and take a brake when I got to Boonville. When I paddled up to the boat ramp at Boonville there was one power boat tied off at the ramp and it was otherwise vacant. Because of the high water the landing area was covered with sand and debris and I had a very difficult time making the landing but eventually did which took a tremendous amount of labor.

I got out of the canoe and walked around the area for a few minutes and decided to set up my lights for night travel and then proceeded on. Just to get out of the canoe and walk around a bit reenergized me. As darkness fell it cooled off again and I needed an extra layer on my upper body to be comfortable. The canoes were really strung out now and I could see a few in the distance ahead of me when the conditions were right but for the most part I was alone in my section of the river.

I don’t mind traveling alone. In fact it’s very difficult for me to talk with others on the river because of the difficulty I have in hearing them. As a rule when I come into contact with another canoe I tell them right off that I’m hearing impaired because I don’t want them to think I’m rude if I don’t respond to them. Most of the time I just don’t understand what others are saying so it’s just simpler for me to travel alone.

Once the darkness set in I again began experiencing extreme fatigue. If I could have quit the race I would have done so. I thought if I could just get to a boat ramp I would call someone and have them take me home. I was thinking about just tying the canoe off to a limb or something and taking a nap but couldn’t find a good spot to do so. I also thought about landing at Rocheport but then remembered that the boat ramp at Rocheport it about a mile up the Manitou Creek. At this point I didn’t want to paddle an extra 2 miles.

When I passed under the I-70 bridge I knew I was getting close to Katfish Katy’s, which was the next checkpoint at river mile 226. I didn’t know where I was in relation to river mile markers. I attempted to use my spotlight to find the mile markers but once I found them I couldn’t make out the numbers because fog was starting to build and I just couldn’t focus my eyes. I didn’t want to get too close to the river bank for fear of running over a wing dike. I knew in my exhausted state I would most likely swamp it I did encounter the current from one of those underwater wing dikes.

Apparently my spotlight attracted the attention of a safety boat which eased up behind me on the starboard side of my canoe. A couple of Conservation Agents were out there making sure everything was okay. They ask if I intended to stop at Katfish Katys and I made it clear that was my intention if I ever got there. They told me it was about 5 more miles which I found discouraging because I was hoping it would be closer.

At last I could see the light marking the check point at Katfish Katys and I found the energy to land there. A couple of guys at the check point helped me move my canoe up out of the way and I unpacked my tent and went looking for a place to set it up. It was 10:30 and I was actually about an hour ahead of schedule but my sleep bank was totally empty and I would have to sleep before proceeding on.

I found my spot to set up the tent but I just didn’t have the motor skills to get is set up. Its just a small one person backpack tent and usually I can set it up in 2 or 3 minutes but when I would get one end of it secured the other end would fall down. Someone standing nearby saw I was having difficulty and they helped me get the tent up and I crawled in and immediately fell asleep just a few miles from the hollowed ground of the “Kingdom of Callaway”.