DAY 41 TenaCity to WindyCity, May 20, 2020

TenaCity to WindyCity Runyak
May 20, 2020

Flint to Chicago DAY 41

ALL PHOTOS AND MAPS WILL ENLARGED WHEN CLICKED

With the Coronavirus quarantine in effect since mid-March it seemed I was getting a late start this year. But I checked, the last few year's starting day and it was within a day. Anyway it was great to on the water again, first time in half a year.

I was ready to paddle alone today because of the social distancing. I asked the wife if she thought I should tell Kate, my regular paddle partner, of my plan. I figure Hope would say no being more pro-active in social distancing myself. Her worries of me paddling alone overrode the social factor, she said yes. 
I let Kate know my plans and she responded she'd meet me at the launch at 10:00 am after finishing my 12.1 mile run. 
There had been much river flooding in Mid-Michigan so on the 2:30 drive up Kate told me to let her know if the river was flooded, that she would save her the trip. 
When I passed over the Muskegon River 50 miles from where we'd be starting it was flooded. I continued on worried about the Manistee being the same way. If so, I'd at least get the run part of the runyak in so it would not be a totally worthless trip. 
When I arrived at Baxter Rd. Bridge I saw the river was above normal but looked nice enough to paddle. I sent the above photo to Kate to show that the "coast was clear, come on up."

The 2 hour 26 minute run was uneventful I was there by 10:00 am but Kate was not there like I expected. I texted and found out she was nearly and hour away. The launch ended up being 11:00 am. 


The paddle speed was quite fast. The first mile was 11:06. By  the time we finished our average paddle pace was 11:35 min/mi, fastest 20 miler I've ever done on a river for sure.
Lots of Highbanks in this section of the Manistee.






It was 12:35 pm when we found this spot for lunch. It was a beautiful day.


After about a 40 minute lunch break were were back at the river and the highbanks.










Marker was seen on bot sides of the river. One marked an old trail from Cadillace to Traverse City
Of course no masked was needed on the river, it was for show.






I toasted today's finish with a Bell's Official Hazy IPA . Chosen because the 2020 Runyak Expedition season had officially opened.

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