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Canoeing from Malvern to Arkadelphia

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

We braved the brave waters and did the 22 mile stretch between these two teaming cities in just one day. One afternoon, really.  We generally don’t get much done before noon, and this was no exception. It has been over a week now since we did it, but the trip was flawless.  If you don’t count running out of GPS batteries and the kids whining. Eureka wanted to swim real bad, but isn’t quite enough of a swimmer to jump out of the canoe by herself and hold on to a rope.  And I didn’t want to jump in, because I would never be able to hoist my body back into the canoe without exposing my clumsiness. The river was so fast, I believe our top speed was over 10 MPH, and then the GPS pooped out, so I can’t really tell you if that record was broken.  The banks were so full that we ended up having lunch in a cow field, which was one of the few places to pull over and get out.

Lunch break at Cow Patty Central

Lunch break at Cow Patty Central

We arrived in Arkadelphia at about 6 PM, and I pictured that we would kill a little time before Zac would get back with the car, but really we were a little too far from downtown, and didn’t want to leave the canoe.  We were at this old park, with no facilities, eating the last of our chips and soda, when Eureka announced she had to go to the bathroom.  These moments of parenting are when my improvisational skills really shine.  I looked around, and was about to dig a hole, when I thought to myself, wouldn’t it just be easier to poop in a bag?  And my little princess did it.  She pooped in a bag.  And I threw it in the trash.  Those are the moments that make canoeing with your family a rich experience.  Just so rich.

Zac arrived, and we all went out for pizza.  Replenishing ones carbs is important for such serious paddlers as ourselves.

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Today in the paper

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Itinerant Locals’ trip delayed by high water

BY LESLIE FISHER
The Sentinel-Record



Zac Smith and Cheryl Roorda of the Itinerant Locals were looking forward to a month-long trip down the Ouachita River with their children this May, but high water levels put a damper on their plans.
“We are still waiting for the river to go down,” Smith said. “We’re going to go when it’s safe.”
The accordion and tuba playing duo had planned to take their unique sound on a float tour of the Ouachita River during the month of May, traveling from the base of Remmel Dam to the Old River Control Structure in Louisiana.
They had already floated the upper section of the river, from Pine Ridge to Lake Ouachita, in early April and were ready to leave for the second leg of their journey when the rains came on May 2.
“It rained for two weeks straight and all along the Ouachita River, there were record-setting floods,” Smith said.
On the weekend of their scheduled launch, Entergy Arkansas Inc. initiated the high-water notification portion of its Emergency Action Plan after the flow from Remmel Dam reached 21,000 cubic feet per second of water. A little more than a week later, the Ouachita River at Camden was at 38.6 feet, more than 12 feet above flood stage.
Smith and Roorda drove to Camden to see the flooding first-hand, before heading south for the gigs they had booked for the tour.
“It was just amazing,” Smith said. “Their whole water-front park was underwater.”
Columbia, La. was also feeling the effects of the heavy rains – at the Riverboat Festival, where they performed, Smith said, “there were no riverboats because no one could get into the water.”
The couple still plan to do the float tour when the water levels lower. In addition to performing along the way, they will highlight the ecological work of the Ouachita Riverkeeper Inc., a nonprofit organization designed to restore and monitor the Ouachita River watershed.
“We are still going to go and when we get back we’re still going to have a show and tell everyone how it went and show some photos,” Smith said. “We apologize to everyone who has supported us but I assure you we are going to go down the river.”

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Raining again….

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Today in the Sentinel Record it says:

“And,  by the way, if you write about our outing, tell your readers that the Ouachita River is loaded and dangerous…..”

May 24th, and the river is still high.  And guess what?  It is raining again!!!

***

Luckily, we were able to play at the BrauHaus last night, and we took a record breaking amount of photos.  Hopefully, we’ll get some emails of those, because  I think we have some serious fun potential here.  Sometimes people come up and take our photo, sometimes they tip, sometimes they hide in the shadows and sneak away.  But last night, after our show the photos kept rolling.  We must have taken 8 group shots.  An unknown suspect knocked my beer over as he/she swung their arm around the person next to them, and it landed in this amazingly precarious position, only half spilled. That was a divine experience.

We then went to Maxine’s to congratulate Agnes and Kevin on their new business acquisition.  I hope they love being bar owners, and I hope that place just gets cooler and cooler. Go Hot Springs!!  Things are LOOKING UP!

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Waiting on dry land

Friday, May 22, 2009

This article at the end of this blog was in the newspaper today.  Unfortunately, for all the party people, their favorite Memorial Day Weekend sites might be closed. I guess we will stay home and actually start to build the chicken shack today.  We’ve procrastinated as much as we can, tilling in extra gardens, troubleshooting the computer….  Zac finally got our computer to work to its potential (by sitting on it for three days).  Sitting on a computer, now that is a funny expression of our times.  Imagine telling your great-great-grandmother how you got a lot of work done by sitting on the computer.  Like your gonna hatch it.  And eat it.  Somedays I’d like to eat our computer.  Just throw it in a fryer and watch it melt. Unfortuntately, I’d be the person who’d end up with a massive headache, and after three weeks of battling homeless people at the library for free internet access, I’d break down and buy another computer. I think I’ll skip the computer drama and just try to accept the fact that I am addicted to the black hole in my living room.  The promise of more, to have an open computer on your desk makes a room bigger somehow.  How you can just go over at any time and find out what the euro is worth, how to spell obligatory, or where Wheeling, IL is.  Exactly. Not to mention what all my high school friends are doing on facebook.  Friends being a somewhat loose term, as these are all people I would have never spoken to again in my life, but now I know when their cat does something cute.

Zac still hopes to unearth a treasure chest

Zac still hopes to unearth a treasure chest

High waters slowly start to go down
BY MARK

GREGORY Associate editor

High water on Lake Ouachita is slowly receding, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says some campsites at the Brady Mountain and Crystal Springs recreation areas will likely remain underwater until the middle of next week.
Campsites are being filled on a firstcome, first-served basis by the Corps of Engineers over the Memorial Day holiday weekend as the water level drops and individual sites become usable again. As of Thursday morning, Lake Ouachita was at 586.83 feet above mean sea level; the flood stage is 578 feet msl.
Lake Ouachita’s level dropped about 4 inches in a 24-hour period ending Wednesday morning, and just below 5 inches in a 24-hour period ending Thursday morning.
The Blakely Mountain Dam Power Plant is generating through one unit, releasing 2,500 cubic feet per second of water into Lake Hamilton, and the Corps of Engineers is also releasing 10,000 cfs of water through Blakely’s flood tunnel into Hamilton to lower Lake Ouachita out of the flood pool.
Richard Stokes, resource manager, Lake Ouachita Field Office, said possible rain this weekend could slow the elevation fall, depending on the amount of precipitation that is received in the Lake Ouachita watershed.
“We’re hoping, hope against hope, barring any future rain or anything else, that it should be down a little bit more manageable,” in the recreation areas for the Memorial Day weekend, Stokes said.
Lowering the lake’s elevation to 585 feet msl will make it more manageable for the rec areas, because that is the “key level” for certain facilities, including campsites.
“A larger percentage of them will be high and dry once it gets to 585, and some of the roads” will be reopened, Stokes said.
For example, in Area No. 2 at Crystal Springs, the roadway is about 2 and a half feet underwater, and vehicles are not being allowed across. The roadway will be accessible once the lake level gets to 585 feet msl.
“The campsites over there in Area 2 at Crystal are high and dry. They’re not inundated,” but the access is, Stokes said.
“Due to safety concerns, we’re not allowing people to drive out there with vehicles and campers,” he said.
At the Corps of Engineers’ direction, the National Recreation Reservation System has canceled all reservations in affected campgrounds until May 30.
Stokes said there are no plans to reinstate reservations that had been canceled, if the campsites reopen earlier.
“We’re not going to go back and try to capture those people, and reinitiate the reservations, because it would be a little bit too little, too late,” he said.
Campers who previously had reservations, but were canceled, at Tomkins Bend, Crystal Springs or Brady Mountain can call 767-2101 for updates on campsites.
The Corps of Engineers released this update on Thursday :
•Stephens Park (nine sites) – six sites were occupied.
•Brady Mountain (74 sites) – 15 sites were closed due to high water; 19 reservable sites that were not impacted by high water were occupied; 32 firstcome, first-served sites were occupied; two first-come, firstserved tent sites were available ; six additional sites were expected to become available Thursday; and the marine pump-out unit was closed.
•Crystal Springs (74 sites) – 57 sites were closed due to high water; 17 first-come, firstserved sites will open today; the overflow area will open for about 10 camps; and the marine pump-out unit was activated Thursday.
•Joplin (59 sites) – 51 sites were closed due to high water; one of eight first-come, first-served sites was available; and the marine pump-out unit was closed.
•Tompkins Bend (77 sites) – 49 sites were closed due to high water; 28 first-come, firstserved sites opened Thursday; and the marine pump-out unit was not yet active.
•Denby Point (67 sites) – all sites are open; 24 sites that can be reserved were already reserved; 38 sites that are first-come, first served were already occupied; five tent sites were available.
•Twin Creek, Big Fir, Little Fir, Irons Fork, Avant, Lena, Cedar Fourche and Rabbit Tail were closed.
•Boat Ramps were open at Lake Ouachita State Park, Spillway, Crystal Springs, Tompkins Bend, Denby Point and Avant.
•Boat Ramps were closed at Brady Mountain, Twin Creek, Little Fir, Big Fir, Highway 27, Washita, Irons Fork, Buckville, Cedar Fourche, and Lena Landing. One lane was open at Joplin (Mountain Harbor ).

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Watching River Guages

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Well, not much is happening on the Ouachita River Float Trip that ain’t waiting. I check the gauges and hope. It looks to be stabilizing. They’re draining down Lake Ouachita now, so the descent of the water level will slow for a while. I’m not sure we can clear the Nix Ferry bridge, and we’ll have to check it before hitting the water. The road department guys said it was bad for picking up snags.

Monroe's Activist Intellectual Bumpersticker Celtic Drinkathon

Monroe's Activist Intellectual Bumpersticker Celtic Drinkathon

The river will not be safe this coming week. We had hoped for Monday, but definitely not. We’re pushing the float further back. Its still too high in the banks for places to tie up, and there’s a lot of trash in the stream. Thanks again to Scott Seastrom of Scott Marine for his level advice. We’re gonna build a chicken house instead.

We went to Louisiana last week and had a great time. We played at Enoch’s in Monroe on Wednesday. It’s a great place to hang out and was full of self-described music geeks, properly lubricated, which made an appreciative but always tasteful audience. Doyle and Yvette were great hosts, and with no kids (smoking laws and such) and a hotel room, Monroe has become one of our new favorite destinations.

Cheryl Slavant, Ouachita River Keeper, showed up with the “Prayer Meetin’ Posse” who had changed locations for their normal Hump-day get together. She got to talk about the river monitors, and the law suits, and pass out a few bumper stickers, and watch me and Cheryl play. Better than church I’m certain.

Ouachita River flood at Monroe

Ouachita River flood at Monroe

The river crest wasn’t even down to Monroe when we were there, though it’s passed through by now. This has certainly been a big one, #9 at Camden and #3 at Calion. In fact 3 of the top 10 floods at Calion happened in the last 14 months. The river truly was huge along the drive, big and brown. I was surprised at how little mud was in the river on balance. There was a LOT of water moving, but not as much earth as I would have guessed. No photo I took did it justice. Only driving by miles of flooded forests did I realize the scope of the inundation.

Chery Slavant, Ouachita River Keeper said that she had been fielding calls from people who were having wakes from commercial tugs coming into their homes. She got on the blower and alerted her congressional delegates, the Coast Guard, and the USACE. And she kept alerting them until beaurocratic utterances were hemmed about. Luckily the water’s down enough that we don’t have to trust them.

How to get speedy service at the Bloomin' Onion Trailer

How to get speedy service at the Bloomin' Onion Trailer

We also went to Columbia, Louisiana for the Riverboat Festival. No riverboats plied the swift waters that day, but there was a Duesenberg at the antique car show. We strolled up to the top of the levee and played sauntering tunes. It was a beautiful day, until the rain rolled in. About quarter of three the bottom dropped out and everyone went home.

Our stage set was at 3:15, so we got to play to the sound guys loading out, the vendors packing up, the antique car guys who had lost their keys, and the people who stayed after everyone else had gone home. We met the Bayou Rover and he took some outstanding photos he has shared with us. We dropped in on the Watermark Saloon, a great looking bar of the old tradition, and hope to play there soon. We met the former band director, Andy Isca, who now has a coffee and popcorn shop right across the street. And there is an Arts Center across from that. We had fun and what a cute town on the levee. Columbia is a Ouachita River Town through and through. We’ll be back.

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The Ouachita Float Trip drives around in a car

Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Camden's New Swim Platform

Camden's New Swim Platform

Still Raining.

We drove to Camden to see the waters yesterday via the strawberry fields in Donaldson. Rubber necks and mushy fruit.

They weren’t kidding when they said the river was flooding. The USGS has the height at under 38 ft and falling. Which is good news of course but 12 feet above flood stage is still a lot of water. AR 7 was closed so we took some back routes to get through. The land around is either scoured clean: rubbed and washed and abraded, or still under water. We tried to take a peek at the Nix Ferry bridge on a side trip, but the road was awash and the kid’s hadn’t brought life jackets. The business route into Camden was an island causeway, power cuts vast lakes stretched with wire.

I pulled Cheryl on her waterskis

I pulled Cheryl on her waterskis

You could gauge the water shed you were in by the ditches: tea black waters from the bottom forests and pine lands and watch the tints dumped in through culverts: red white and brown, grease slick and city pit. The Little Missouri was a swirling slurry the color of a farm road rut, in the middle of bayous full of bottomland. Everything was very wet.

I know a longcut!

I know a longcut!

We met some rail fans at the Union Pacific track running just uphill of the flood. They were there to see a mixed freight local that runs between Camden and El Dorado. They were very knowledgeable and polite, and referred us to their youtube videos of UP trains in the region. We had lunch at the White House, and got some stickers, pins, and other recyclables at the visitor’s center across the street.

I’ve never been skeptical of the numbers on the charts put up on the internet. But seeing that big mythical flooded river roll over everything puts it into real perspective what flooding high water, and highlands mean. I talked to a store owner who said some of his family was dislocated, had had to move some livestock, but said that people know when they settle in certain areas that there will be a day when they have to leave their cars parked by the highway and get to the house in the boat. He seemed very resigned to the whole thing. Which is the choice I would have made if I had his main street downtown above the tracks view of the disaster.

Hot, sunny days at Sandy Beach

Hot, sunny days at Sandy Beach

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We are home.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

And it is raining.  And tomorrow it rains.  And the next day it rains.

John at the BrauHaus said we could play tonight, I need the beer and the schnitzel protein.  And the morale lifter of playing  a gig.  Zac just spilled shit all in the shitter closet.  We had to try twice to get the boat on the trailer. It is raining and rather cold.

But I am going to sleep good tonight, if I can stop my internal rocking motion.

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Blending in at the marina

Friday, May 8, 2009

Last night we hosted our first dinner party on the boat.  Bill and Shea and Luna and Elizabeth came out, and we floated out somewhere and had some dinner.  The dinner was delicious, helped by the fact that they brought the chicken, noodles, and the sauce.  I can’t remember what I pitched in, but maybe my brilliant conversation was enough.

Come on over for Shirl's homemade cookin!!

Come on over for Shirl's homemade cookin!!

Looking for a brighter future

Looking for a brighter future

After we dropped them off at the marina, we motored back out to the lake to “camp” for the night.  We found a spot and threw the anchors out, and of course, the second one wasn’t attached to anything.  Zac took one split second to strip down and jump in the lake after it.  By this time it is almost completely dark, so I have the flashlight on the anchor and the sinking rope so Zac can swim right to it.  At this point the boat is drifting further and further away from where he is treading water, holding onto an anchor.  Kind of a weird place to see your naked husband.  I had a flash that I could just drive the boat away at this point, but that was ended by the reality that I have never driven a boat.  So I am yelling, “what do I do???” and he is yelling, “throw me a rope!!” and I throw him a rope, then get in the driver seat and get that boat closer to him.  It is amazing how you just figure things out.  I got in the drivers seat and just jammed it into reverse, which kind of swung the boat around to get him, close enough, and Zac managed to get on the boat (without a swim ladder).  This trip is not for the faint of heart.

Calisthenics before bed

Calisthenics before bed

We woke up in the middle of the night with that feeling you get when you realize a storm is rolling in.  No worries, we just moved the boat into a cove and re-anchored.  The kids didn’t even wake up.

Well this morning, I put my foot down. “Teach me to drive the boat” I say, so I got my first boat lesson.  I said, I’ll drive us back to the no wake zone, then you drive us into the slip. Well, we get there, and we decide instead to go to the edge of the dock and go ask where we should park.  I drive the boat right on in to the edge of the dock, but didn’t account for the wind that was dragging the tail of the boat around and headed right for a sailboat that cost more than our house, so Zac, who is on the dock now, pushes me off and yells “Try again!!”.  Me, alone in the boat, with two kids.  Backing up a house on a boat, in the wind.  My heart is racing, what a ridiculous thing that I have a huge boat I can’t control, in the wind, with no Zac. I managed to back it up without running into anything (total luck) and go forward in a rather large circle and re-approach the dock.  Zac yells, “put it where we parked yesterday” which is down an aisle of boats to the end.  Yikes!  I steer the boat in that direction and head down the aisle, but the wind is pushing the boat crooked, which means an inevitable float into a row of boats.  By this time two well intentioned people are watching, I see the panic on their face , they see the panic on my face, so I threw it into reverse and went back out the aisle, praying, sweating that I wouldn’t hit another boat.  I still couldn’t see anything out of the rear because we had our rear tarp snapped in.   Straight back I gun our redneck party barge and didn’t hit anything, I am shaking at this point as I line up the boat to go down the right side of the aisle, and this time I was successful. Blending in at the marina is a myth.  There is no way to blend in at the marina.  I am just going to have to get used to everyone staring at me.  Or maybe I should just buy a fancier boat.

I parked this!!!

I parked this!!!

Today we are back at the house, to continue working on the boat trailer, check the water levels of the Ouachita River, write this blog, and continue trading in on our packing job. This extra leg of our trip has been frustrating, but I realize how much we needed to re-visit our packing, dial in all the unknowns of the boat, and try and relax a little. Maybe tomorrow we can make pizza, that is if the 60% chance of rain happens not to hit us.

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Sitting on the Lake….

Thursday, May 7, 2009

As we have been sitting around, wondering when and how we will ever get this trip underway, we decided that it would be sensible to take a little test drive on the boat.

Aside:  as I am sitting here writing, the whole living room is rocking back and forth, like I’ve been in the ocean all day on an inflatable raft.  I’ll have to get my land legs back on….

We packed up the boat, cleaned the house, and headed for the water.  We lost a tire off the trailer putting the boat in, and the docks were mostly underwater, especially the ramp getting out to the dock.  Zac was good and soaked by the time he put us in the water….The boat just slid on in, and sure seemed a lot smaller out there on the water. The view at Lake Ouachita is just astounding.  I’ll have to post pictures later, I left the camera cord for my camera on the boat. The view was fabulous, and the clouds were big and puffy.  It was nice to finally see this rig in the water.  The engine started right up, and away we go.

We found a little cove to camp out in, and threw the anchors down.  All was well.

Then the rain started, and the lightning was crazy, and I heard a tree fall after it started pouring, which of course happened after it was dark, and when the rain really started the back of the boat started leaking like a shower pouring in which is of course right over our beds, and then we went out to get some drinking water off the front porch and the battery box was smoking, so we had to cut the house power (lights) and were so glad it didn’t catch fire before we caught it, and the whole time I’m praying I don’t have to swim to shore with a screaming kid because I wouldn’t even be able to see which way to swim (which way was shore?) and the boat was twisting around on the two anchors, which I wondered the whole time if they were even attached to anything or if we would wake up in the middle of the lake, and then I rigged up a cushion to shield some of the rain off of my sleeping kids faces and a can of beans landed on Eureka’s head and gave her a goose bump, which no child deserves when they are sleeping, and the floor was slowly seeping water from the front of the boat and I dreamt that we were surrounded by other party barges and strange men were looking in the windows, and….and then….morning finally came.

And out came the sun.

And after a game of Candyland during breakfast (who could say no to the kids after that???!!) we headed out of the cove using the solar troller, which worked perfectly, and got us back to shore at no more than 2 miles per hour and we were all feeling, uh, so much better.

We moved the whole operation over to Ouachita State Park, where the friendly marina manager Scott gave us a slip for the night, and the van made it over there with it’s three wheel boat trailer, and we called happy hour on the deck.  Eureka went swimming in her life jacket and she was so brave….and there was a playground.  And a public bathroom.  and a soda machine.  We spent the night at the marina.  Zac fixed the burnt up wire, recharged the motor battery, filled up with gas, got ice for the cooler, and the moon was bright and shiny, which you could actually see because there were no clouds.

Today (thursday the 7th) we cleaned all up, and came back to the house to fix the boat trailer, the oven, and drop off a bunch of stuff that seemed like a good idea to take, but crowded the boat.  Aaaaah!

The humidity is up today, and the clouds are back.  Tonight, what will we find???!  I guess you could CHECK THE WEATHER, I think most people do that before they head out on the lake.  Went by to see Scott Seastrom about the trailer, and he said he guessed three weeks till we should go.  The trick is that even when the weather seems like it has been good enough to lower the rivers, that they will be letting out the damns slowly and that will keep the river high.  Commercial traffic has stopped now.

So we are in a holding pattern.  Somehow it seems like if we move back in the house, we will lose our momentum.  So we’ll just stay out on the boat until the river is low enough to go.  I guess. You could do worse than to kill a few weeks on a solar run party barge on Lake Ouachita in the season with no mosquitos.

dam

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Flooded Out!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Well, the Ouachita River is in flood. Flooding. All the way from Arkadelphia down through the Felsenthal lock and dam. So we are not getting on the river today. Keep posted for further developments.
Here’s the gauge at Camden. Arkadelphia is out of commission right now, but they are “fixing it today”. Thanks to USACE Dave at Blakely Mt. Dam for answering all my questions. Also thanks to Scott Seastrom, the Upper Ouachita River Monitor, for his calm assessment and great mechanical advice. Try him out. Remember, there are no dumb questions at Scott’s Marine, 624-0137.

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