Good cleanup Sunday

The Farley Family, Chris Wilson and his young companions went out with me Sunday and we collected 5 bags of litter, two tires and one blue barrel. Most of this was from above the Morgantown Dam. Above, Rick Farley loads onboard one of the infamous blue barrels that float on the river. Below is the scene as we entered the lock to go above the dam for our litter collection. I believe we counted 14 bass boats headed home for the day. The wake was like being in a bad chop on the ocean when they took off downriver, of course full throttle....

Saw an osprey too! He was at the Morgantown Lock up on a light pole.

Say, take a look at this link. We aren't the only people dealing with litter and trash in the water. Photo from Jakarta.


The photo below is of Chris Wilson, who is the carpenter who will build a kiosk similar to the one behind him down by the river. Thanks to a donation from GenPower - the Longview Power Plant - we will be installing three of these with litter barrels. One will be near Deckers Creek, one at the Walnut Street stream access next to Ruby McQuain Park, and another yet to be located.

Living on the Mon

My friend Mike Breiding recently gave me a book about a man who paddled down the Mississippi. All the way from Itasca to the Gulf. That would be great. But do you know how many people have done that? A bunch. I found a lot of books published about their trips. So, for me, that's out. I want to do something unique.

I have it! How about I live on my pontoon boat, the Monongahela Monitor, from April to November. I want to do something I can write a book about. So, I live on my boat and take notes of every town I visit and everyone I meet and every experience I have. I take great photos. And the book is Six Months on the Mon: One Man's Experience.

What do you think? In five and one-half days I paddled down the Mon back in 2005. It was entirely too fast a trip, so I didn't get much local color. But you can see what I'm getting at here . The photo above is from that trip, somewhere down in Pennsylvania.

I'll do litter cleanups the whole time. That way I might get sponsors. I'm thinking 2012.