June 28, 2012 - 7th Annual Jordan River Cleanup
17 people signed up for this trip and 17 people showed up with 16 boats but only 7 cars which is a testament to our environmental awareness and Norm's harping.
When we got to the landing, we noticed that new carpeting had been installed.
It was going to be a hot day and Judy reported the possibility of rain later, so we decided to cut the trip shorter and take out at Webster Bridge instead of Rogers. A good decision as it turned out.
Lois & John H., John M. and his daughter Jen, M&M, Sandy, Dawn, Dean and Dianne, Fred and Judy, Ken and Roseanne, Tracie, Jocelyn, and Norm
Don from Swiss Hideaway provided us a pleasant and safe ride back to Graves Xing and was right on time as usual.
After the photo op(s) and launching our boats, which was a real three ring circus, everyone kept saying how clean the river was but at the tubes when we compiled all we had found, it filled a couple of big bags with about 45 pounds of trash. Sandy helped me get a picture of it and Jen helped me carry it across the road and place it in one of the cans provided by the liveries and DNR next to the really nice toilet.
During lunch, Roseanne showed her age by repeatedly swimming through the tubes like a little kid and I asked her to do it one more time so I could practice my rope throwing abilities. She didn't hesitate. I still can do it - throw a rescue rope, I mean.
Fred and Dean showed off their surfing skills on the waves below the tubes and without knowing it, Fred did an underwater test of my new BRCS walkie talkie that was clipped to his foredeck and powered up. It got some water in it but it continued to work and was all dried out and working fine when I got home.
In the last section, John, Jocelyn and Tracie declared war on submerged cans and recovered far more than have ever been found before.
A huge collection of nasty, mud filled cans were deposited in the one very large and very heavy bag at Webster. It was lashed onto the borrowed GTCD trailer and taken to the DNR campground dumpster of Graves Xing Rd where it took Roseanne and Ken to get it up and in with supervision of Jocelyn.
We kept saying, "This isn't household trash." to make it legal. A photo was taken as evidence.
I can't remember a more cordial group and a more pleasant day.
I called Don to let him know we had found quite a bit of trash and he thanked everyone for their hard work. I told him that he can claim the cleanest river in the state today and he said he would, but tomorrow he would have to stop because the July 4th weekend began then and it would start the cycle over again.
Thanks again and again to everyone who came to enjoy this beautiful river and to make it even nicer.
To see all the pictures from this trip, checkout the: Photo Gallery
Norm