The River Fool goes to Liverpool
DAY 213 of connecting Statue of Liberty and Gateway Arch by Runyaking
October 25, 2023
I woke up and left our overnight camp, Copperas Creek Landing before Kate. I needed coffee to start my day, whereas she didn’t, she never took up the habit. There was a coffee shop 10 mile away in Canton IL. When on the road Starbucks is my, go to, but the nearest one was over 20 miles away. I’m not saying Starbucks my favorite but it’s good and it is quality controlled, it taste the same at every location. You take your chances walking into a strange coffee shop. I had to do today, because of time and distance.
I arrived at Black Maple Coffee before they opened (6:00 AM). I waited. At opening time they still weren’t open. I waited. It was another 10 minutes before I realized it was drive thru only. I drove through the line ordered my usual, café Americano (expresso and water) cream on the side. It was drinkable, but not great. Kate later asked how it was, and I told her it tasted like cheap hotel coffee. I never finish drinking the entire contents of the mug.
I parked my van where we would be landing after an 8.6 mile paddle from Copperas Creek Landing. Today’s landing would be at public boat launch in another tiny Illinois town, Liverpool, IL, (Pop. 129). There are no businesses to speak of in the town.
Weeks before arriving, back at home, I was looking for landings, and saw one at Liverpool on Google Earth. The image did not look promising. There was one business on the map called River Rats Arts and Taxidermy. Hmm, interesting name. I found the phone number and called. I asked the Liverpudlian on the phone if the landing was legit. He assured me it was. I was hoping the bloke would be be speaking with a Merseyside English accent, but it was just an Illinoyside Midwestern accent.
He was telling the truth though, the ramp, although Google imagery made it look sketchy, was as good any any we’ve encountered on this trip. I parked my van and Kate picked me up. She drove me to the intersection on US 24 where I’d stopped running yesterday. From there I ran 8.6 miles and finished DAY 213’s run leg, which began yesterday at the Liverpool launch. That run was 3 miles.
Today’s run was the remainder of what totaled 11.6 miles. The run’s end was at Former Banner Township Hall. From there Kate drove us the 3 miles to the Copperas Creek Launch. (Runyak rules state I do not have to repeat what was run before. (Conversely, when paddling up estuaries to a landing, the extra paddle distance does not count on the way out.) The map above shows a solid teal line of what I had already ran on DAY 212.
We were in the river paddling by 9:40 AM, 2.5 hours earlier than any of three previous launches.
The 8.6 mile paddle took nearly three hours. Midway it began to rain. We put on disposable rain parkas and it was not a big problem, at least not like the last time we met with rain. Last July on DAY 208, we were caught in a storm and were beseeched by waves. This time the river stayed calm.
No kayaker can forget the first time they got caught in the rain. Mine happened on my second season of kayak journaling, The year was 2006, while exploring the entire Tittabawasee River watershed. I was writing a series of articles about the Tittabawasee for the Saginaw News. Three times they dispatched photographer Dave Sommers to take photographs. He’s a great photographer, who started his career as a combat photographer in Vietnam. Here are a three of my favorite Dave Sommer shots:
It was 12:30 PM when landing at the Liverpool boat ramp.
Both kayaks were loaded to my Chrysler Pacific van. Yes, it may seem hard to believe two kayaks will fit in a mini-van with the hatch closed. I haven’t tried it, but possibly three could fit. In my previous van, a Chrysler Town & Country I once was able to pack three inside.
Some may ask why I don’t install a roof carrier. I was turned off by transporting boats on roofs back in 2000. My brother, nephew, and I were taking canoe from Flint to Grayling to paddle the AuSable. Three times while on the way we had to stop and re-lash to keep the canoe from flying away.
It is so convenient to be able to just toss a kayak inside a vehicle on a spur of the moment. To me, just the thought of strapping Swiftee securely on top, would make any whimsical moment disappear.
After the kayaks were packed, Kate and I drove back to Copperas Creek Landing, where her Suburban was parked. My 15th season of connecting Statue of Liberty and Gateway Arch by runyaking was complete. It was there I made the following season ending video:
We toasted our 2023 accomplishments. In our 16 DAYS (four 4-DAY trips) we’d paddled 145 miles from the beginning of the Illinois River to Liverpool. In the 16 DAYs of paddling, the average paddle was 9 mi/day. I runyaked 304 mile, and averaged 19 mi/runyak.
Somewhere, right after we launched today, we passed the midpoint of the Illinois River, for the entire length is 273 miles. That is a good indicator that we could reach the Mississippi River on our fourth trip of 2024. Yet, we’ll need another 4-DAY trip on the Mississippi alone, for St. Louis and the Arch is another 37 miles away from the Illinois/Mississippi confluence. It’s looking like the our “arc de triomphe” will be spring 2025.
I hope readers have enjoyed the 16 updates published this season. I’m already yearning to get back to the Illinois and continuing. The soonest that will be is late April, 2024. Stay turned, don’t go away. I will still be publishing updates every two weeks as usual.
My favorite, "Liverpool, IL (Pop. 129)."