a team effort

After over 12 hours of work, my friends and I finally have 30 lengths of 3/4” PVC pipe hanging from electrical fence wire. It is a huge victory. After searching all over the metro area – bushwhacking through crops of evil plants, battling 100+ degree heat, facing dead ends and no trespassing signs, shallow and polluted water, and horseflies the size of hummingbirds – we finally found a site. There is no current, but it is a definite start. I called every farm supply store in town to find a bargain on quarter mile spools of 14 guage wire and bailing twine. We hung wires once by hand, and then had to hike back in to raise them with ladders. I used the thigh straps from my boat to turn my ladder into LadderPack! a cunning invention that I decided I could sell for 2 easy payments of 9.99, and one extremely difficult payment of 3.83. You see, anything is funny after 4 hours in the St. Louis August sun.

I never could have done this without my friends. I have remarkable people in my life who paddled twine across the canal to pull wires with, loaned gear and a video camera for technique sessions, stood in bushes of scratchy, rash-inducing weed to film workouts, and tromped through thick mud on the banks of the Mississippi to watch me try and attain around barges. I am incredibly fortunate to have friends who are excited about what I am trying to do; they keep me positive instead of frustrated and overwhelmed. Thank you so much.

Each morning, I paddle out, portage a small dam, and back into the wooded area where our wires are. I pull the gates out over the stagnant water and set a course. I do a few rolls to remind my hips they need to be involved in my workout. And I get to work. I have so much work to do, but I finally have a flatwater course to help me get there.