Next try

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Maggie

I’ve not yet aged to perfection. I still have a little of that accomplishment/acquisition blood in me. Having had our exciting though short-lived trip down the upper Allegheny, I wanted to do something major even if just a little major. I wanted to go up to Kennedy to get on the Conewango Creek upstream from where we had joined it years ago. We had already decided that the Cassadaga Creek presented too many issues of getting in and out or finding our way through the marshy parts. The Conewango is larger. And on Saturday when Karen’s son Jordan (getting to be baptized into the tradition of transporting us to or from paddling as Kyle and Chelsea had in the past) drove us to Kennedy, we learned it was not only larger but also significantly overflowing its banks.
We found that the road to the public ramp was closed because of the flooding water and, in case we were considering something stupid, a state trooper showed up just then to tell us the whole area was under water and we might consider getting in at Frewsburg. He must have known that we were all wondering what would happen if we drove around those barricades and found a way to get a canoe into the creek!

Two things: We had already paddled the Frewsburg part of the creek and we took this as a closure to getting onto the water that day. At least that is what we thought at the time.

Back in Pittsburgh

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Maggie

We returned to Pittsburgh last night for a comfortable stay in a motel by the airport before Maggie flies out today and Karen returns home with Wonder strapped to the top of her car. We have many people to thank for their support along the way and we will spend time in the next weeks writing about that so please stay tuned even though we are off the river.

Most especially, we want to thank our families for supporting this wild journey of ours. Our husbands have supported this journey for ten years usually thinking we are brave and sometimes crazy. Our children, we think, always think we are crazy. Karen’s husband Mark has served as our meteorologist and reconnaissance man using Google Earth to seek out places to camp ahead of us. Maggie’s husband, John, is our anchor at home, sending encouragement and prayers our way. Chelsea, our IT person, keeps up the blog as we travel and Kyle got up at 5:15 am to transport us to the river, then spent 5 hours to come pick us up. Kira and Jordan (as well as Chelsea and Kyle) just roll their eyes as they hear our stories and tell their friends about our trips…and we laugh at that and find support as well.

We think of all who have tuned into our blog and who have prayed for us and hurrayed for. We thank you for that encouragement and support. Today we will begin to think of how and when we can get into the Ohio River in Powhatan, Ohio, and continue this journey which has become a metaphor for our lives in so many ways.

May 2011, final day

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Maggie

We made it 110 miles down the Ohio river this month! We have reached the end of this leg of our journey, and are sad to leave the river for the time being, even while we are glad to dry off! We had breakfast of tea and chocolate, then paddled the rest of the way to Powhatan,where we were picked up by Karen’s son Kyle.

Heading home with “Wonder”, which is what we have named our new red canoe because we wonder about things all along our journey, and because we think she’s Wonder-ful!

May 2011, day three

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Maggie

Thanks to the generosity of a boat club, we were able to spend last night indoors, and woke up to a bit of sunshine. The rest of the day, however, was very wet. We had to wait out a thunderstorm under a bridge in West Virginia!

We are spending the night in the basement of a Catholic church in Bellaire, Ohio, after paddling about 35 miles. Thank you to Father Dan for taking us in on such a rainy night! Now, time for some dehydrated macaroni and cheese…yum.