Saturday, the volunteers started to arrive in Gouldsburg Park near Hawkeye. I rode the shuttle from Iowa City along with several other volunteers including my 14 year old niece. Once we got to the park, we unloaded our gear, and set up camp. My niece decided to take part in performing "The Lorax" while I attended the canoe skills and safety clinic conducted by Nate Hoogeveen of the Iowa DNR. About 8 of us learned some of the features of the Turkey river as well as how to safely steer a canoe around these features (good V's and bad V's and strainers). I was by far the least experienced and since I would be canoeing with my niece with no experience and no interest in gaining any, I was a little nervous. The Turkey river is clear and only knee-deep in many places with a nice rocky bottom so it was a pleasant river on which to learn how to canoe.
Back to camp to eat supper which was catered in for us. For a mere $8.00, I got a steak, a baked potatoe, corn and a piece of pie. Great compensation for the rigors of canoe practice! We washed our dishes and then Brian Soenen had us all introduce ourselves and relate our experiences on AWARE. I was relieved to find there were many first-timers. Then off to socialize and eventually sleep with breakfast (catered in again) at 7:00!
The next day was cloudy and muggy. After a good breakfast, we carried our gear down to the canoes that the DNR had ready to go at the side of the river. The Adventure begins! I soon found out that finding garbage was not as easy as it sounds. Most of it was half-buried in the bed of the river. At first we mainly found cans. We helped other canoers with trash caught in trees on the river banks. Many people found old tires in the river bed. I also saw 2 old chest freezers being loaded onto canoes and some rolls of fencing. There was a lot of old car parts and miscellaneous metal pieces. At the half-way point, we got to unload our junk and get a snack. When we stopped for lunch (provided for us to take along), we were joined by many other volunteers. The comraderie and general good humour of the other volunteers really made the trip enjoyable. Noone was upset when we ran our canoe into theirs (this happened a lot). It rained lightly on us in the morning, then the sun came out to bake us, but at the end of the 12.6 miles, the DNR unloaded our garbage and loaded our canoes and all we had to do was ride back to camp (and a much-needed shower) in air-conditioned comfort.
Supper was excellent (chicken, cheesy mashed potatoes, green beans and chocolate mousse), then there were new volunteers to be introduced. We had our choice of 2 programs to attend, "Floating through History" by Larry Stone or "Totally Turtles of Iowa" by Danny Weiss. My neice and I attended "Totally Turtles". We got to see 2 kinds of soft-shelled turtles, a painted turtle and a snapping turtle. We learned a lot of interesting facts about turtles including that the temperature of the soil the turtle eggs are incubated in determines whether the turtle is a male or female.
Our trip was cut short by my nieces allergies (who knew a scant 2 hour drive would transport us from the rain forest-like climate of Iowa City to the semi-arid desert of Fayette county?). However we both enjoyed the time we had. We loved the food, the programs and especially the wonderful, kind, helpful people we met.
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