Coastals

Coastals at Goshen Pass were greeted by a warmer and sunnier day than was predicted. A large turnout (I counted 17 at the 10am meeting, and more arrived later) made sure many orange bags decorate VA 39. VDOT will pick them up Monday.

I had the privilege of working river left above the swinging bridge at the putin. Three bags were filled with plastic wrap, cardboard, and other trash. I also accumulated a large pile of plywood. I have asked BamBam to build a hobbit house above the banks.

This trash clearly washed down from a construction site. Also present were several yellow rain jackets marked "Scout Volunteer." The area I worked is at the confluence of the Little Calfpasture with the Calfpasture, where the Maury begins. Just up the Little Calfpasture is a boy scout camp, which ironically may be the source of most litter and sediment pollution in the Maury.

The Lovely Queen Alicia showed her gratitude for her subjects' litter pickup by preparing a wonderful picnic meal, which the perfect weather made all the more enjoyable. Of particular service to Her Majesty was "Angry Dave," who, far from being angry, diligently and cheerfully saw that the hotdogs, hamburgers, and cheeseburgers were grilled to perfection.

More detailed pickup reports will surely follow this one, as will a report of the river trip on the lower Maury. The hour being past noon and the level being low, I opted to forgo that adventure.

Virginia welcomes another spring.

Great summary Dave. I would also like to thank Alicia for coordinating the cleanup, the other Dave and Alicia for cooking up the food, Ken for coordinating the shuttle and paddle down to Copper road, and all the volunteers. Tremedous turnout for an environmentally worthwhile project, many many many bags of trash removed, and I counted 6 open boats amoung the flotilla during the paddle. A GREAT day.

David wrote:Of particular service to Her Majesty was "Angry Dave," who, far from being angry, diligently and cheerfully saw that the hotdogs, hamburgers, and cheeseburgers were grilled to perfection.

Being cheerful makes me angry.

Alicia, what happened to those three extra hamburgers? I hope you didn't throw them out and they at least got eaten by the beagles.

Throwing out food =

Hey everyone! Just want to say thanks to all for making my first O.C.T a great experience. I really enjoyed cleaning the environment with really nice people. The food was great. I was priveledged to see some really good paddler's. I can see that if I'm able to get out more with you guys I'm going to gain some knowledge and improve my paddling skills! Yippy! I've already learned that my paddle is to long. I have two shorter paddles in the loft...checked those this morning,still a bit long. I'm used to long paddles because I paddle touring canoes when out on the water with the family. I could see that you guys looked alot more comfortable using a shorter paddle. Thanks Alicia for confirming what I was thinking"man my paddle's to long". See...I was pay'n attention. Again thanks to everyone for being so nice! I was a little bit nervous being around new people....so it really helped. Seeya...Splash!

It was a great day on and off the river. Thanks to everyone who picked up trash. Thanks to Alicia for having the cook-out; it was a fun gathering. Dave, great job of grilling the burgers and hot dogs.

Even after stuffing myself at the cookout, I still managed to surf a little on the river. We had a fun group and a good run from Rockbridge Baths down.

Stephanie, Thanks for helping with shuttle. We're sorry you didn't paddle with us, though.

Raymond

In my dual role as trip coordinator & Recognition Chair, I'd like to say a big HOORAY to the following volunteers who picked up trash on Saturday:

Jim Farrell (came the farthest), John Sills, Dick Pierce, Raymond Williams, Gary Blanchard (brand new member), David Bernard, Shaun Alexander, Ken Dubel, Stephanie Bertram, Dave Kessmann, Mike Kacmarcik, John VanLuik, Glenn Rose, Kate ?, Lee Williams, JR Swope, Peter Leavesley, Regina O'Donnell & daughter Rachel, Chris Straker (brand new member), David Reid & yours truly.

That's 22 volunteers! And we picked up 46 bags of trash through Goshen Pass. Ken & Dick got in boats & with the help of John, David B., & Glenn, got a good bit of trash out of the river on river left near the put-in. (Ken & I went back today & he got the pieces of motorboat out.)

The club then treated the volunteers to a cookout lunch - & the weather was fantastic for it. As others noted, my thanx to Dave K for manning the grill (& don't worry, no food was thrown out).

12 of us then had a lovely run on the Lower Maury below Rockbridge Baths. K1: Jim, Dick, Raymond, Peter, Chris. OC1: Gary, Shaun, Ken, Mike, Lee, David R, Alicia. The level was 330 cfs/2.1 USGS/11" bridge in the am. Low but quite doable. We did miss Stephanie, who ran shuttle but decided to then head back.

I was talking to my neighbor this evening - he had seen all the orange bags in the Pass & said he was singing the praises of whomever had picked up that trash. I was quite proud to tell him it had been my paddling club. Thank you one and all. See you again next spring.

I'm just starting to learn Flickr-ese. Hopefully a photo will appear here:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/96679201@N00/418859023/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/183/4188 ... 250c48.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Raging Waters"></a>

Oh, cool, it worked.

Subject is new Coastals member Gary "Raging Waters" Blanchard.

Ken Dubel

Like I said, I'm new to Flickr (a photo sharing site) so expect some hiccups.

I uploaded some photos from the cleanup / paddle here:

Edit: I deleted the link as it seemed to cause some problems. I'll tinker with it.


Let's try that again:

http://flickr.com/photos/96679201@N00/s ... 584221445/

To test it I pulled it up on my son's 'puter and it took a long time to load, sorry if that happens to you.

These were uploaded at about 800 x 600 pixels. If you see one you like and want higher resolution then let me know and I'll send it to you at the original size which was more like 2800 x 2100.

Ken Dubel

Ken,

Nice pictures. With your permission, I'd like to include a couple of them in press releases for area newspapers.

Raymond

Fine by me. Just let me send you the original resolutions so they print better in the paper.

Ken

Raymond wrote:Nice pictures. With your permission, I'd like to include a couple of them in press releases for area newspapers.

Way to promote the club, Pres.

To those of you who were on the cleanup, I plan to write a short PR article and send it to local papers. With your permission, I will include your name to give the article a local angle.

Just email me or respond here if that's ok with you.

On the other hand, if you skipped work (or a wedding, etc.) to paddle and don't won't your name in the paper, let me know, and I won't include it.

If you want to send more info about yourself (how long you've been boating or a club member) and a short quote about why you helped with the clean-up or how the day went, I'll put it in the article.

Raymond