Consecutive month 34 saw the August drought continue and the rivers were at an almost impassible level. Would our streak be in danger? Of course not but we need some drama every once in awhile. In the 1st week of September we finally got a nice rain mid week which kept the river high enough to warrant a trip down to Shorewood (picture 1) with Dan, Pat and Kent. Pat got to experience the "tasty waves" for the first time that makes the trip worthwhile.
All that praying for rain backfired the next weekend as the Chicago area got trenched with double digit rain totals over the weekend of the 14th. The "normal" level of the Naperville gauge is around 5 feet and the river swelled to over 12 feet!! Kent and an unnamed partner (I hope you used protection) took a trip down the east branch with the river at a dangerously high level. Dan and Mark, taking on the role of civil servants, paddled through the flooded Community park (picture 2) to rescue a pitching machine that was in danger of being ruined by the flood. As the waters finally got down to a manageable level over the next weekend, Dan and Pat did the Centennial beach to 95th street run, completing it in just over an hour (picture 3, big tree in Naperville). The next day, Paul (a Duper virgin) and Cole took one tandem (picture 5), Dan and Perry took the other tandem and Kent went solo (just like Fridays when Tracy is at work!!). This trip was the same as the day before except we went the additional distance down to Knoch Knolls park where we enjoyed smoked salmon prepared by Dan (picture 4, caught the previous Monday).
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