Log of the 2005 River Belle's Journey
 

The River Belles and their leaders, preparing to head to the river                      

6/11/05 Saturday, last prep day, began 6 AM, at 8:30 went over to help young
women leaders clean up the pontoon boat at the church then returned to work
on the Lonestar until Lacey's OPEN HOUSE 7-9 PM, resumed work on the boat in
the driveway until 2:00 AM.
Three boats to make the trip: Lexington 32' pontoon, Carl's 20' pontoon,
LoneStar 23' displacement hull (newly restored).

6/12/05 Sunday
Storms slowed the progress of staging boats; weather forecasts were calling
for serious flooding and more storms on Monday and Tuesday. Finally around
5 PM, Scott and I were debating the merits of canceling the trip, Scott went
over to the church to discuss weather conditions with the girl's leaders, but
they were set on going so we decided to drive to the river and see if it was
possible with the flooding. The ramp at Kaw Point was covered with water but the river
was not bad, just high. Drift was low and speed only a little faster than
normal. We decided it was best to drive the route and see what we would be
facing the next day. City of Lexington was workable, Waverly was overgrown and had
a large greasy construction crane sitting in the camp area.  Miami, which was at the limit
of our first day's travel looked pretty good. We called Karin Thomas and
told her we were going and to pass the word. We had driven half way across
the state of Missouri and still had not finished the boat. We returned home
at 11:30 PM and prepared to fill the tanks, start the motors and connect the
controls. We were supposed to meet the girls in seven hours. But it took
eight hours to finish and pack.

Drew Dokos, Bob Taylor, Russ Payzant, Scott Mansker and Carl Whitcomb                         

6/13/05 Monday
Plan was to Launch from Kaw Point at 7 AM, but storms were in the area and I
did not arrive with the LoneStar until 7:50. I was sill making wire
connections on the ramp as we waited for the rain to break.
We held a meeting at the top of the bluff and I briefly explained our plan
for the day. I told the girls we would be entering the real world, similar
to the one our forefathers lived in. Where they lived by their wits and
trusting in the heavens and not much else. We would be doing the same and
learn why mariners were usually men of faith. I said they would be seeing
many faces of nature and suggested that the earth was indeed wondrous and
beautiful. Then President Christensen offered the prayer.

Names of the 05 Riverbelles

Adrienne French
Austi Huntley
Rachael Rauber
Mallory Rush
Laura Johnson
Aurelia Andrews
Heather Fredley
Emma Hubbell
Heather Guernsey
Natalie Jones
Selena Smith
Rebecca McWhorter
Josephine Borich
Maryann Okabe
Anne Thomas
Kristina Beauchamp
Samantha Daniels
Amy Nielsen
Stefanie Crumrine








About 9:00 the sun broke through the clouds and we got everyone ready to
launch. We pulled into the Missouri River about 9:30 and headed east to the
City of Lexington. As soon as we passed under the bridges in the downtown
area of Kansas City, it began to rain.

But it just seemed to add to the adventure and the girls
were covering up as best they could. We picked up speed, Carl's boat was
behind and Scott in the LoneStar was out in front. Everyone was waving to
each other.



The first hour went well and the rain stopped. The sun came out and lifted
the spirits of everyone. The temperature was a little cool in the 60s.
Some hours later, as we were pulling up to Lexington's ramp, Carl's motor
lost power. We nursed his boat in and put it on one of the trailers we
brought with the ground support team. We beached the other boats and off
loaded the girls for their service project in town. The Mayor came down to
greet us with one of his city councilmen. They have been very accommodating
to our group.



Carl's motor was finished. We called Scott Mosher back in Olathe and he
arranged to bring Carl's trailer to the Lexington ramp and pick up his boat, Bob
Taylor would stay there with Carl. It ended up that Carl would continue
with our group after his boat was taken back to Olathe. He became a great help to the
rest of us during the coming week. At Lexington, the girls cleaned up the cemetery. 

We had a long boat ride to reach Miami, about three
hours. We had all the people on our two boats, it was the greatest load we
have ever carried but it was working. The river was very high, bank to bank
and in the trees. The LoneStar was amazing; it was carrying 13 people and
traveling gracefully. The power of the Honda 4-stroke was clearly
demonstrated and she was a sight to see. The 50-year-old classic boat line
was handling river conditions like a pro and managed the waves without
difficulty of any kind. I looked at it for hours, she reminded me of the
WWII torpedo boats in her attitude. All the months of wondering if our work
was correct paid off in just one day as I watched Scott put her through the
drill. The awning over the cockpit, that Karin Thomas made, was needed and
provided a good living space for the passengers. They would have been
cooked by the sun otherwise. It is the best awning cover we have on any of
the boats.



                    Karin Thomas and crew

The Miami ramp was flooded, Drew was in the parking lot with the support
truck. He said he was concerned it would flood over during the night if the
water raised. But at this hour we were willing to risk anything to get to
land. There was a small lump of ground next to the ramp and a large tree.
I brought the Lexington boat in and rested the front on the edge of
some brush. Scott brought the LoneStar up to our port side and tied on.
 



Bob Taylor got Scott's weed eater from the truck and chopped out a path for
the group to disembark. There were a lot of itchy bushes there and we
placed the new walkboards over them. We set up camp for the first night.
Teresa Lyons was overseeing the preparation of dinner, a Taco-Grande salad
that was wonderful, then she made ice-cream in bags of ice that we tossed
until it became hard, it was yummy.

We had a short devotional and some songs and retired. Scott and I moved
the boats down to a better location west of camp and tied off to cottonwood
trees in a small cove. Scott and Drew slept in the LoneStar cabin, Carl slept
on the back bench under a tarp, President Christensen and I slept on the
Lexington in tents, and Bob slept in a tent at the entrance to the camp.

About 3 AM a wind came up and I took down my tent, which was on top of the
Lexington cabin. I slept a few more hours on the rear of the boat and the wind
grew no stronger.

6/14/05 Tuesday,
Morning was windy and clear, around 60 degrees, we slept in because we had a
short day of travel, everyone was a little chilled. We stood in the sun to
warm up while Christina made shadow figures on the ground, very funny girl.
Everyone worked fast, got the camp cleaned up, tents down, gear packed and
loaded in the truck. We got ready to shove off. We departed the cove and
Scott pulled around to the ramp to fill the LoneStar tanks from Drew's
100-gallon fuel tank on the 'big beast', which is what the girls took to
calling his Dodge diesel truck. The river had dropped several feet, and
would continue to do so for the rest of the week.



Andrews reaching for Napoleon the duck?

We got out on the river and came back to speed, which averaged between 18-20
mph. We were seeing more drift now in the center of the river. Engines
were running good. We had a short run over to Brunswick on the Grand River
(about 4 miles off the Missouri). It was fun and the water was smooth, no
whirlpools or boils. However, no one found any flying carp, in fact, we did
not see any Asian Carp on this trip. We landed at Brunswick ramp, and Drew was
waiting there with the Beast. We had to repair one of the fuel tanks on the
LoneStar, which began to leak on a seam; it was putting raw gas into the
passenger compartment. While the girls looked around the landing, we clean
the tank, emptied some of the fuel, and fixed the hole with some epoxy. 

Karin Thomas suggest I had made the hole on purpose so I could fix it and
appear to be a man of many talents. That got a big laugh, mostly from me.
I was as surprised as anyone else that we could fix it there with the meager
supplies I scrapped together while leaving the garage Monday morning. We
made lunch of sandwiches and enjoyed the stories of the day before. It was
warming up to 80 degrees, clear and dry. The forecast called for more of
the same. We were feeling good and tonight we would be at Glasgow, a safe
harbor and hot showers.

Our stake president had come with us this year as a helper on the big
pontoon. While he is ultimately responsible for all activities of the
church within the stake, this was the first time for him on the Missouri
River and handling boats in such a current, let alone at flood stage.
However his good intelligence enabled him to see what was needed. He picked up
the rhythm quickly and provided much needed help in landings and departing.

He also helped me communicate to the people on board when we encountered
hazards and got people into an alert posture. The girls had a chance to
associate with him in a manner that was in their own language and a common
experience. This was valuable to these girls at a critical point in their
lives. His office is important and he is a capable spiritual teacher. They
were spending every hour of these days with men and women who were
honorable, protective, cheerful, adaptive, and encountering everything the
girls were going through. There was harmony among all the people at a very
basic level. We were becoming friends and would be good friends at the end
of the voyage.



Arr, have ye seen any pirates about these waters?

We pulled into Glasgow about 3 PM and found a back eddy and a good place to
anchor. We tied the Lex to a large cottonwood and then tied the LoneStar to 
her starboard side; we were facing down stream. We went up to the shelter
near the bathrooms and began to set up camp. The girls went into town on
the high school bus and had their showers. Scott, Carl, and Drew went
fishing on the LoneStar and I took a little nap on the back of the
Lexington.




The guys came back from the fishing excursion and announced that it was a
'catch and release' zone and could not bring the really big fish. Carl said
he had only caught a worm and let on as to how they tasted pretty good if
you cooked them in butter and lemon juice. The only bad part was picking
out the bones.

Camp was looking pretty good, still windy and mid 80s.
Dinner was a pasta dish and salad, plenty for all. Campfire program was fun
with songs and historical skits. It had been a relaxing afternoon and
evening and sleep came easy. But we would soon need all our strength, we
would be at the Cauldron tomorrow.





6/15/05 Wednesday,
The next morning was early to rise, we had a long river day. We pulled away after
waving good-by to ground support, who offered to take down the camp so we
could get an early start. The girls were starting to appreciate these men
who worked so hard for them. A few miles downstream, Scott's boat pulled
off and circled around for a while. They were rescuing a plastic decoy
duck, who had been carried on the flood. The girls tied a line to the duck
and Mansker called over the radio for us to watch.

Napoleon Dynaduck
He told our boat to call out,

'Hey Napoleon, what are you going to do today?' 

Then over the radio we heard the other boat respond, '

'Whatever I want to do, gosh!'

Then we see the plastic duck fly off the back of the boat and bounce along in the wake.
Our boat erupted in laughter, only one person had not seen the movie
Napoleon Dynamite. We watched as the duck flew out of the wake and
started surfing. We laughed and took pictures. Napoleon was a member of
the company now, he went everywhere with us.

We were coming around the bend when we saw the I-70 bridge at Rocheport. A
short distance past the sand barge we could hear Drew on the radio telling
us of a place to land. We were at the Cauldron. I looked across at a
figure in the trees waving at us. In between that figure (Drew Dokos) and
our boat was a tempest of swirling tree trunks, refrigerators, water
heaters, tires, snags, and drift. There was actually a depression in the
river, which looked like a swirling whirlpool about the size of a football
field. It was the Rocheport eddy and we had to go through it to land the
girls on the bike path of the Katy Trail. I looked at the eyes of the
passengers . . .they weren't even taking pictures, just staring.




I always hate entering this floating maelstrom. It bends props, lodges logs
in the motor, and kills the engine, then we are cast adrift in the eddy.
The boats are pushed along the bank snapping off limbs of trees as well as
our antenna. We have had few happy moments here but many stories of panic
and phear.

I thought, 'maybe this year we could avoid it . . .' when I
looked up, Mansker was entering the top of the Cauldron and skirting the
trees. It looked to me like our new boat would be splintered by the
on-coming trees. All of a sudden he shot over to a bank and was out of it.
'Oh, no... that meant I had to go next and I was driving a tree scooper-upper.'

When I got up to the top, I could see what Drew was talking about. There
was a 15-foot wide corridor of still water that went over to the trees. We
waited until the biggest floating trees had passed then drove for the bank.
It wasn't pretty and I just about launched the president off with the pole,
but we were beached for good or bad.

Everyone off loaded to lunch and bike riding. Scott, Drew, Carl, and I
stayed on the boats to get things secure. Then we saw it. Our boat's
presence had changed the flow of the eddy. The big trees were coming
straight at us. We got on the back and tried to fend them off with the
poles. These were boat killers.



Then Scott and Carl thought of an idea.
They would take the new boat out and tie to a log and pull it out to the
channel and away from the Cauldron. We had visions of emptying the entire
bowl, except the water heater and porta potty. As they pulled away, a snarl
of limbs entangled them. But finally Carl threw a rope over a limb of a big
one. We cheered from the Lex and watched as brave Mansker pulled the huge
tree toward the rim of the Cauldron's depression.

Then, all of a sudden the tree turned the corner and began pulling the
LoneStar backward as they both became enmeshed in the black-hole of
Rocheport. The boat's short life flashed before my eyes, all two days of it
as I saw Carl flailing with the rope and saw the motors rise and lower
repeatedly. Our boys were fighting for their lives as they swung past our
vantage point in the trees. We could hear Carl's voice over the radio say
"Oh, we've got a mess." Knowing Carl's manner of speaking, that meant
really terrible news. We called out, " is that what you guys had in
mind?" To which they answered the tree had them by 40 tons, who'd you
expect to win. Drew and I looked at each other and silently acknowledged
that at least it wasn't us . . . Clearly, we weren't about to empty out
the Cauldron on this day. The trees kept pranging the side of the pontoon.
It was going to be a long afternoon.

After a time, the whole party assembled again and loaded without any mention
of the cauldron-inflicted wounds. We pulled away in what looked like a
parting of the logs and found ourselves on the Missouri once again. Seemed
peaceful. We were making for Cooper's Landing but when we came along, there
was a large sail boat taking up the entire dock. We decided to leave for
the Osage River and camp for the night, we'd had a full day already.





It was a nice trip and let some of the girls drive the boat. Laura (whom we
called Runner), and AJ learned to navigate the boat and did a good job of
piloting. Scott was letting some of his girls drive also. It was here that
I took a turn driving the LoneStar for the first time. I enjoyed her
stability and power. The GPS was great and loved the twin motors. When we
turned into the Osage, the water turned from the flood brown to clear green.

The Osage is a beautiful river. We got up to the ramp and let the girls off
for restroom breaks, while Mansker's boat pulled out into the river. What
was he doing? All of a sudden, girls were jumping off into the
river, swimming had begun. But then the call came, "girls are floating down
the river."  We untied, and maneuvered to go after them. Scott left the 3
or 4 who had stayed near his boat and went after the renegades. As he
reached the floaters, we surrounded the ones nearest the shore. They were
smiling and laughing.




We went over to get fuel on the Lex and talked to Soda Popp (his real name)
about camping on his property for the night. He invited us and offered
wood for the fire and the use of his dock to tie up. He came to our dinner,
devotional and talked with us late into the night. He offered the use of his land
next year and said he'd bring in porta-potties if we would call ahead.

There was a mud bath down at the river and Emma Hubble (like the telescope, right
Emma?) was covered. She told me later that to look at her you wouldn?t
think it but she really does love to play in the mud. We had bathroom
shuttles that night across the river to Bonnots Mill. Lexington's light
shown through the dark---- back and forth, back and forth. Great dinner of
wraps and fillings, great song about the trip sung to the song of little
mermaid's "part of my world." I slept on the steel fuel barge, kind of hard
but not bad. 
 



6/16/05 Thursday, New Haven, last camp
About 5:30 the cry rang out "captains, we have to go across the river, now!"
I bolted out of the tent and ran to the Lexington, moved Carl off the back
deck and pumped up the fuel, started the engine and pulled away from the
dock in about two minutes. We raced across the river and I shoved the nose
into the mud. The first potty gang disembarked. It took us about two hours
to break camp take everything across to load trucks, finish potty runs, and
get breakfast. Everyone pitched in and made a very big job much less than
it might have been.

We pulled away for what we thought was our last day of river travel. Some 100
plus miles to St. Charles and we would pick the best campsite we found for
that night close to town.  We were headed for the Gasconade for lunch and swimming. Then
I got a call from Drew, there had been an accident. The Lexington trailer
had clipped a curb and tore the axles off on one side and asked me if I
could bring my tools back. We headed back up the Osage and delivered the
toolbox. Drew and Carl said don't worry, they'd get it going again. I
trusted them completely and turned back for the Missouri.





In about an hour we arrived at the mouth of the Gasconade River. We passed
under the Railroad Bridge and anchored in a small bay next to the normally
exposed ramp and parking area. However, they were both under a foot of
water, including the cement pit toilets. Pity.

It didn't take long for people to start jumping into the water, it was warming up and
the water was inviting. Leaping off the top of the Lexington was the favorite way to
enter the water. Climbing up on the boat afterward was the hard part. The
president did a swan dive (impressive) the rest just cannon balled or can
openered into the water. I, on the other hand just stepped off the edge and
did what is sometimes called the deadman's drop. Later, Ralph Christensen,
Laura, and I did a version of the "Flying Welindas" high wire act. All
three of us held one of the black poles high over our heads and jumped off
the top cabin in unison. On the way down each of us silently asked, "what
on earth am I doing this for?" Napoleon the Duck was tied to the end of a
safety rope and floated watchfully above the anchor.




We could not bring the trucks in the flooded parking lot to fix lunch, so
Drew drove the Beast through the water to the edge of the trees and we
floated the ice chests with food over to the Lexington. There, the women
fixed lunch for everyone. While we tied off the boats to the Lewis & Clark
sign.

Laura helped me hold off the boats from hitting the sign. I asked
her to act as a bumper, like I had done, she was eager to help. Later, one
of the other girls ask Runner what she was doing, she answered "I'm
wedging (she meant bumpering)." But it came out "wench." So the cry rang
out "Laura is WENCHING." It took a lot of explaining to persuade the crew
that she was not wenching, but that she was really assigned to bumpering.
Thereafter she was known as Wedge or Runner or Laura.




Everyone had their fill of swimming and we pulled away as yet another train
roared past. Along the river, trains are a constant element. The flat
river valley was just too attractive to the railroad builders, so every
river has at least one set of tracks along the bank.

At this point, we began to look for an site that would give shelter to the boats
and provide a camp. The afternoon was on us and we had some 70 miles to reach
St. Charles. It 'd be a long ride the next morning, too long. About an hour later we
were passing New Haven.

New Haven
Drew was there and called to us saying there was a good dock, a
place to camp, and flush toilets. Sounded good, we pulled in. The current
went right past the dock and so were the logs, but there was enough
protection from an upstream dock that it might work for the night. Teresa
went up to the town and talked to the mayor. The city was willing to offer
the local swimming pool for our showers, and let us camp on the levy. We
discussed the possibilities.




If we stayed there for the night, we would have time to get meals and camp
finished for an early meeting. If we went on, we might not find a site of
any kind until St. Charles (a real possibility this year and later that
proved to be the case). That would put us in around 7 or 8 and by the time
we set up camp it would be kind of late to hold the meeting. And we had no
assurance that we could find a ramp. Here the boats were secure, we had
bathrooms, we had light, we had mowed grass. But it meant getting up very
early to make the 50 odd miles down river for the temple visit the next day
at 1 PM. Taking the boats out, getting cleaned up at the high school,
having lunch, and transporting over to the temple would take about 4 hours.
So we would have to leave by 6 AM. It was decided to stay in New Haven and
rise early the next day, ground support offered to break camp so we could
just board the boats and go. As it happened we did get away about 6:30 AM.

6/17/05 Friday,
I was having a little problem with the engine on the Lexington. For a day
the motor had not been idling and would die. Then it was very hard to get
started again. This is a problem on a river; you need maneuvering speed
from the motor. It took some throttle work to pull away from the New Haven
dock, but we were on our way. The boils were tossing us around some this
morning. We were only making about 18 mph.

About an hour into this last leg, we saw a bank of fog far ahead. As we got
closer, it was a very large bank and covered the valley with a blanket of dark
haze. We had Scott go ahead because he had a larger GPS screen that
could give better map views of the river. Our lights were on, but the fog was
so dense we could not see them. We were only about a 100 feet away and
still started to lose sight of the other boat.

We could barely see one bank. Scott and I have been in
these fogs before and know they can last for 50 to 100 miles. Other ships
or barges have radar and might see us but could not stop or signal us. It
was fast looking like our trip might end in the fog. It got darker, a
whiteout. If I lost sight of the other boat, we might not be able to find
them again. We would have to pull to the trees with no easy access to land,
and just wait out the fog. Now we could no longer see the sun. Very
sobering situation with so many people trusting our abilities.









I talked to President Christensen who was at the helm with me, I suggested
we might ask for a blessing. He was way ahead of me. We pulled the boats
together and he offered a pray over the people. We continued on silently
but I was having difficulty with the engine at this slow speed. Sometimes
small things can combine to create large consequences. We had traveled
about 20 minutes in the fog when it parted in the middle of the river.

It began to break away to the starboard side. And then ahead of us, we could
see the outline of the two banks. It lifted a little, enough to see our way
but still too dense for running at speed. Finally the sun could be seen and
we were out of the fog. A very sobering experience for me and some of the
others. Sometimes the answer is yes.

We were coming into St. Charles, Scott raced ahead. He had 15 people on his
boat and could still make 30 MPH. Simply amazing performance. He dropped
off his people at the public ramp and came back to take our people off.
When I got to the ramp, I pulled off the current into the short eddy and
tried to line up with the trailer Drew had backed into the water. I needed
to correct but the instant I shifted into reverse, the gear of the lower
unit broke and the reverse was gone. What luck!! We made it all the way
and the transmission only broke while I was stuck on top of the trailer.
Carl helped me pull the boat straight and got her secured to the trailer.
We pulled her out then helped Scott trailer the LoneStar. We had made it.




Then up to the High School, great old school made in 1927. We showered, eat
lunch on the lawn and everyone was beginning to feel that something was
ending. Drew and Carl left with the Lexington and all the gear to go back
to Olathe. They would be waiting for us (they waited at the church 5 hours
to say good by to the girls). We arrived at the temple about 12 PM, had a
short but important meeting on the grass near the trees. The girls received
a priesthood blessing of unusual significance and strength. The temple was
a wonderful experience for many or all of us.



Later, the trip back to the Stake Center became an extension of the river
trip with much fun and laughter. At the parking lot in Olathe, we had the
"graduation" exercise for the River Belles. They made it; they were tough,
strong, and capable. We signed books, said good-byes, and hugs to all. As
the last car pulled away, Scott and I stood there looking at the two boats
that had carried this cargo of young people and their leaders. We missed
them like you feel when you're homesick. We thought what wonderful friends
they had become during the trip. It was worth every effort.

Captain Russ Payzant





This year's YW leaders were just a delight to have aboard.  They worked hard and
had fun.  They made a wonderful week for the girls, which they had planned and
worked on for over six months.