Floating Is All There Is To It, Right?

The MacKeen Family vs The MR340

MR 340 Thought for Day 3: “All the kayakers have to do is float down the river all day.” – Sandy Sandi

When I began to plan for the MR340, I thought, “All I have to do is organize food and supplies, look at the map and guide book and drive to a checkpoint and wait for hours.” How hard is that? I even brought projects to do, thinking I would have time for them. Hasn’t happened yet!
A month ago, when the MR 340 was going to be in July, I got my RV license. My sister-in-law Sandi, who has previous experience driving large vehicles, gave me some informal lessons.
From Day 1, Sandi and I have been extremely busy planning our route, and then having to change it when things didn’t go right. You don’t want to miss a turn in a motor home…have you ever tried backing one up? With a trailer attached to it? Or a burning car in your path?

Scary Mari, Sandy Sandi
We came up with “handles” for ourselves. I’m Scary Mary, and she’s Sandy Sandi. Explanation: I told my oldest daughter Nikki the other day, “I’m really getting the hang of driving the RV.”
She responded, “How do Kaity and Jarod feel about your driving?” Hmmm…I asked them. Their response: “Scared.” “Terrified.” Hence the handle! However, Jarod was sleeping when he was supposed to be navigating today. Looked pretty relaxed to me!
The other day, Sandi was driving us to the checkpoint in Glasgow. We had inadvertently printed an older MR 340 guide book, so the directions were a little off. We turned too early at one point, and ended up in a Sand Plant. I remember Sandi saying, “Oh, this is not the checkpoint, I’ll just turn around here. We might get into a little sand.” A little sand! Well, let’s just say after a tow truck got us out, we were fine!

GlasgowHermannOff into the Fog, Katfish Katy 2
This morning, we saw the kayakers off into a light fog at Katfish Katy. Each time we saw the teams, they all seemed in fairly good spirits. They should be; they have moved up in the ranking! On Day Two they were #176 and #179 out of 283. On Day Three they were #135 (RED-E Oar Knot) and #138 (RED-E Set Go)! They got in fairly early at Hermann, MO, around 9:00pm. We are had a good night sleep!

On day 4 the thought for the Day: “We got this!” – Nikki MacKeen

We Got This!

We’re all pumped! Teams were up at 5:15am, left Hermann by 6:00am. Crew waiting for teams at Klondike, MO. They should be here by about 1pm. Not even getting out of the boat; crew bringing them tea and crumpets…no, just kidding, sandwiches and coffee.
When Nikki got out of the boat, she put her fists in the air and yelled, “We got this! Only 27 miles!”
The air was full of anticipation and excitement. There was a ceremony at 7pm, we were excited to receive our final results. We ended as #163 RED-E Set Row, and #164 RED-E Oar Knot (out of 283 teams). The teams tied for 14th place in the Mixed Tandem (out of 22). We did pretty good for our first time!

Klondike Boat RampSmiles 2

 

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Huge shout-out goes to Perry from the Alpine Shop! For all his training and help, we couldn’t have done it without him!
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It’s been quite the adventure!

 

 

Till next time,

Mary Mackeen