From Lois & John: We had a group of 18 clean the river today, including our neighbors Gracie Failor (age 11), and Abby and Megan Puckett (ages 10 and 12). Here are their reports.
My Dad came in to my room on June 26, 2010 and woke me up. Bright sunshine was shining through my window. I got up and got ready to go canoeing with our neighbors John and Lois, and our friends Gracie and Kristen. We headed up to John and Lois’s house to drive to the Lower Platte River to do a clean- up.
We started by unloading all the boats and pulling them into the water. The gentle stream carried us slowly. I was in a canoe with my sister, Megan, and John. I was the so-called “Queen” and did no paddling with my broken arm wrapped up in a cast with a bread bag to keep it dry. The first interesting item we came across, was a green bucket, almost brand new. Other cool things we found were a shoe, a shovel, chewing tobacco, and a cigarette lighter. We stopped for lunch half way through. I was eating mandarin oranges and forgot a spoon, so Steve lent me one. Thank you Steve!
We continued paddling and were still finding trash, though not as much, and then came to the end. We did a quick swim, changed clothes, and then back to home we go. We stopped for ice cream, and then headed back to our houses. We were very tired. ZZZZZZ.
By, Abby Puckett
On June 26th our neighbors John Heiam and Lois Goldstein were taking my sister, my mom, Gracie Failor, her mother Kristen Salathiel and myself on a canoe and kayak trip to pick up trash on the Lower Platte River. The weather was wonderful as we drove out of the driveway after packing up all of our stuff into the cars. When we reached the Lower Platte River we all helped to unload and carry things down to the river. The group of eighteen carried all the boats down to the landing where they were pulled smoothly into the water. The whole group was soon in the water and we paddled downstream with the water tapping at the sides of the boats. There was not as much trash as I thought there would be.
To begin I was sitting in a canoe with John and my sister Abby. Abby was the 'queen' so to speak and she did not have to do any paddling. Our first interesting find was a child's beach bucket. As we went further along we found a beach shovel, chewing tobacco, a cigarette lighter and some beer can/bottles. We were all set to go to the beach. The river was very nice the first half of time we were paddling. We did stop at the fish weir to use the restroom and eat lunch, this marked about the half way point.
Gracie and I were prepared for more of a challenge by lunch time. We had decided that we would take the kayaks that our mothers had been in from lunch on. The water was still calm but Gracie and I still found ways to dock our selves on shore and hit logs, and each other. The kayaks were so fun and we must have been laughing the whole way. As for the cleaning bit, we picked up two plastic bags and a piece of hose.
The trip was over after a lot of paddling, but the fun was not over. Gracie and I climbed the dunes and jump and rolled into the water, getting very sandy in the process. It was then time for a quick change of clothes and then home. I think my mom was glad we had worked so hard so we would crash tonight!
By, Megan Puckett
June 26, what a day for canoeing! The temperature was around the 70s, but the river sent chills down your back. At 8:30am we were all at Lois and John’s house, me, my mom, and our neighbors and close friends, Megan, Abby and Julie Puckett. We started out our trip with me paddling with Lois; Megan paddling with John, Abby sitting in Megan and John’s canoe (being the queen with her broken arm), my mother and Julie were using the two kayaks! We found some interesting trash such as an old water shoe, a food scooper thing, and a mesh strip wrapped around a tree root under water! Then we began our lunch at the fish weir! YUM! After a quick swim also we began the rest of our journey in different boats! I was in a kayak and so was Megan, our parents took our spots in the canoes. Megan and I found two plastic bags and a piece of hose in the water. As we neared the end Megan and I were very tired. At the end, we still went for a swim and jumped and rolled down the hills of sand! After changing and a group picture we set off on the journey to ICE CREAM!!! Then we set home. What a great day! We were SUPER tired!! Sleep time!!!
By Gracie Failor
