Stories From On The River
From Kansas City to St. Louis we have been lucky to meet many River Angels, and I will remember them more than the fall color bluffs and the mile marker countdown to the Mississippi River.
From this point on we’d be paddling on a different type of river, a river that was no longer free. Its twists and turns would be constrained and straightened through countless hours of work from the Army Corps of Engineers.
Our group has paddled roughly 1,350mi and nearly half of that has been on flatwater reservoirs. The Army Corps of Engineers has truly outdone themselves, and it feels as though they have betrayed us by taming the flow of the Missouri River.
Like a rare beast, we heard about Fort Peck Reservoir long before we ever caught a glimpse of its sandy shores or turquoise blue waters. Amongst the mired of warnings, one word seemed synonymous with this great body of water… wind.
At the confluence of the Marias and the Missouri River it is not just the water droplets that celebrate. Here we meet the Missouri River.
In the interest of practicing what we intend to teach, we learned these skills the best way we know how. Through experience.
Today was the first day since we left West Glacier, MT nine days ago that we were in our canoes longer than we were towing them by bikes or walking them through the shallow, boulder strewn Cut Bank Creek. Let’s just say the easiest way to travel with canoes is to travel IN canoes.
If you’ve ever seen me open my mailbox and find a postcard inside, then you know postcards are my favorite kind of mail.
When I say the word Mooncup to a group of women there are usually two distinct reactions. One is a bemused look and the response a moon-what?, the other is a broad smile and an exclamation of aren't they amazing! As a proud Mooncup convert, one of my aims in life is to move women from the former group to the latter.
...The water pushes me northward, curving bend after curving bend it carries me towards the ocean. It is a blue green blend that humans could not have imagined without such rivers. In this water, I find my favorite color...