DAY 35 TenaCity to WindyCity, September 4, 2019

September 04, 2019

TenaCity to WindyCity Runyak

Sept. 4, 2019

Flint to Chicago DAY 35

When Kate and I arrived at the M72 Manistee River crossing it was still dark. I left her out in the cold with a lawn chair and blanket and drove to what would be our day's debarking point, CCC Bridge Campground. It was a 15 mile drive by car but the run back to Kate and kayaks would only be 10.7 miles. I ran on Riverview Road, shorter in distance but hardly used by vehicles being gravel and mostly sand.

For nearly 10 miles I saw motor vehicle tracks but not any vehicles.
Talk about being in the Boondocks.

Bales of straw were strewn over the road in one place to make it passable.

I only had to dance around muddy sections like this a couple times.

For miles while running I heard chainsaws at work. I came upon this station where piles of lumber would soon be hauled to a mill.

Riverview Road was not a good name for the road. I ran on it for 9.5 miles and never saw the river once.

I arrived back from the 10.7 mile run to find Kate not in the lawn chair but laying on her life vest on the ground with the blanket over her. I had to wake her up to begin our, what I pre-measured as 16.5 mile, paddle.

Kate near the launch with M72 bridge upstream.

At two miles we stopped at this dock so I could call Hope. I'd forgotten to call when we launched, as I usually do. It had taken us less than 30 minutes to paddle 2 miles. I was feeling and showing great happiness and joy for the sub-15 minute pace. Immensely, I had looked forward to this day when enduring the 120 miles of against-the-current AuSable paddling.

After 8 miles of paddling we stopped at the first dock we saw for a lunch break.

I went to the cabin to ask for permission to use the landing but found nobody was home.

VIDEO FOOTAGE FROM OUR LUNCH STOP

When we arrived at CCC Bridge my right shoulder was killing me. I was so glad to stop.

The shoulder problem is from paddling against the AuSable current, but today's 16.1 miles aggravated it. My first year kayaking 2005 I had the same shoulder problem and it also came from paddling the wrong way. I was in Christchurch, New Zealand and wanted to paddle the Thames River there. I rented a kayak for an hour. I paddled as hard as I could for a half-hour or more then floated back. Being a rookie kayaker then I paid the price. Same thing this year, not a rookie, but too much paddling upstream all summer.

Though named for Civil Conservation Corps who built a bridge at this location during the Great Depression. I am assuming this is not the original for it looks too modern.

To prove my point here are bridges built by the CCC in the 1930s.