Great river, great weather, great rescues, 10 big bags of great trash, and best of all, a really GREAT group of people! I have asked each person to send me a couple of sentences (or more) about today’s trip - any particular highlights, items of trash, funny quotes, etc.
Linda Woodruff
Great day to try a sit-on-top kayak from PRPC. Retrieved a cell phone Marlene pointed out was under water. Still working! Wouldn't the owner be surprised if they got that back? (Note from J&L: we brought it back to PRPC, so hopefully we can return it.)
Glenn Bier
"Hey, look, Doug has claimed another island as his own!" Doug stopped at most of the islands and scoured them for trash.
Tracie Lord
"Hey, head right down the middle, through the big waves!" Jackie's direction to Tracie encouraging her to take the risky route.
Tracie's lament, "Why do I always find the Sasquatch shoes?"
Lois Goldstein
"Falling into the water doesn't count if it's done in the name of trash picking"
My best find of the day was a gorgeous wooden bent shaft canoe paddle that came floating down the river while I was pulled over to refill my water bottle. I swam out to get it - in about chest-deep water. I knew it belonged to Woody, who eventually came along and didn't even realize that it had fallen out of his canoe, since he & Tom were so focused on their trash mission.
Kurt Reinhart
Log jams in rivers are like paying taxes - they are inevitable unless you're Donald Trump. Log jams also prove to be a magnet for the cache of river trash sought after by our dedicated cleaning crews. Today we engaged in many perilous log jams sorties and the Purple Heart was awarded to Tom and Woody, the "Log Jam Warriors ".
Doug Barnes
Pine cleanups are a highlight for me. Many thanks to Mark and crew for the kayaks with tie downs. It made a good day GREAT.
John Heiam
Today was really fun. We had a great crew of skilled people, the river was fast, and there was very little trash on the beaches. The vast majority of the stuff we found was buried in logjams. This means for the most part, people are not littering on purpose. They capsize, don’t have stuff tied in, and lack the skill to go find their stuff.
My favorite quotes:
From Glenn after a floating log gave way as he attempted to climb on the logjam, “I never fell COMPLETELY out of my canoe”.
From John to Woody after he fell walking on floating logs in a logjam, “Hey, Woody, you know that questionnaire they always give to us old patients when we have our yearly physical, and they ask, 'How many falls did you have this year?'. Well, that one doesn’t count!”
From John to an Ohio couple after helping them empty their canoe after a capsize, “Jennifer, it might work better if you sat in the middle of the canoe and just held your dog (a yellow lab who wanted out of the canoe) while your husband paddles.”
Marlene Puska
Another fun day finding lots of trash. Linda and I found a smart phone in the river and it was still working. Hopefully the owner will claim it at Mark's. Thanks to all for the great pictures.
Jocelyn Trepte
Another Epic Clean-up on the Pine! And upon arising a little creaky the day after, Max and I find we are not too old for attacking log jams ……. yet. ;-)
Jackie Anderson
YAY! No mud in this river...... Tracie follow me, right down the middle and PADDLE FAST!. and as always I LOVE RIVER CLEANUPS!
Woody Woodburne
You folks did a good job yesterday. I was impressed by your enthusiasm and cheerful attitude. Thanks for including me and I plan to join your club. It was a pleasure to be with you yesterday. I was impressed by the beauty of the Pine River. The Crown Vetch was so pretty as well as supporting the banks.
Photos by Jocelyn, John, and Glenn
The cleanup crew: Kurt, Tom, Woody, John, Marv, Marlene, Glenn, Doug, Tracie, Lois, Linda, Jocelyn & Max, Jackie
"Spiderman" Kurt goes out on a limb, or three
Glenn found the best seat for lunch.
If Kurt needs an extra cushion, he found one (Tracie found one also)
Jocelyn hoists a cold one
Woody & Jocelyn tossing goodies to Marlene
Tracie claims that she finds bigger shoes than Jackie does - who can argue that?
Picking up trash takes a toll on your equipment, according to Kurt.
John & Lois have a lot of experience leaning into obstacles
Tom & Woody messing around in the log jam
Notice the doggie lanai for Max in Jocelyn's canoe.
Flowers along the banks (research by Jocelyn)
The cleanup crew with their trash - tired but still smiling!
One of the many items found in the river was a "super soaker". Rather than throw it out, we gave it to our neighbors. They asked us why we didn't bring home the rest of the trash.
