9 of us set off from Hannah Park - Jacqui, Steve, Paul, Irene, Loretta, Kathie Wiley, Mary King, David Regalbuto and Carrie Olmsted. The weather was perfect - sun and cloud so not too hot. A family of teenage ducks came to see if we had food for them. Sadly we didn't but they remained hopeful for much of the trip!
The Downtown section has not been cleaned by the club since September last year (Spring floods; poor weather at Cherry Fest...) so we were expecting to find a ton of trash. The final haul was good but not so very much more than previous cleanups so maybe people are getting more careful. Or maybe the outfitters had fewer customers this year?
However some of the items could have benefited from a much bigger barge to retrieve them. That waterlogged sleeping bag tried to sink David's boat. And the huge piece of corrugated cardboard, the blanket and the metal sign did a good job of filling up Steve's. But even he didn't think he could paddle with the wheelchair onboard. Fortunately it was in only waist deep water only a few yards from a piece of bank that was accessible from Front Street above. So Steve loaded the wheelchair onto his boat and waded it ashore where he went back for it afterwards.
It was very much a team effort with everyone helping each other to get things and Kathy even hanging back to point out a drowned cone to Steve in the hopes that he might have his diving suit with him. Sadly it had to stay there for a diver to get one day.
It was a great day with lots of laughter. Thank you crew!
