Late night, last second preparations (Entry by Scott)
(Apr 30th, 2005) Hi everyone!
Wow...it's almost 1am and we are ready to go in the morning! It's been an incredibly long day (a couple of days really). We've got some 14 boxes of food ready for 7 different food drops (many of these will be delivered by vehicle by one of our families...so nice!). We applied Thompson's Water Seal to our maps. We've modified out waterproof pelican case to allow a cord to enter it so that our hi-tech devices inside can be re-charged using our solar panels while we paddle (so cool!). We are all packed, the spray skirt is on the canoe, Monty is wearing his lifejacket, life is good. Now somehow I have to calm down enough to fall asleep, despite being up since 6:30 this morning and going to bed late last night. Thanks to everyone for their support! Hope to see you at the launch tomorrow or at the main launch party at Fort Snelling this Saturday.
Kirk, Lisa and Casey Millhone have offered today (after hearing about our trip this morning on KFAN radio in the Twin Cities) to match all donations made at this Saturday's launch party up to $750!! If we raise $1500 then our trip will be financially solvent--so great. Kirk holds the record, along with Steve Eckelkamp, for the fastest ever paddle down the Mississippi. He's also paddled the length of the Amazon. It's great getting to meet and talk with such cool people as a result of our trip.
OK, I really do need to go to sleep. Our next journal entry will be 'from the field'!
p.s. enjoy the pictures