Gear and other updates

Exciting news! All of my gear donated by NRS and Werner Paddles has shown up. Thank you very much to Jim Miller of Werner Paddles and Casey Worzella and Blake Longworth from NRS for all your work getting me the gear I need.

I also had the opportunity on Monday to go and talk with a local Parkinson Support group here in Charlottesville about my trip. After discussing the trip, the motivation behind the trip, and fielding some questions I had the chance to sit down and talk with some of the members. As I sat and talked, I was once again made aware as to how incredible people are and how Parkinson's is such a frustrating disease. All of the members had such incredible life stories, from being a Burn surgeon, to traveling the world for oil, to just being genuinely passionate about life, and they all had been brought together through the disease that they are facing daily. I was really honored to have been asked to talk and spend time with such wonderful folks.

Kayak Name

After discussion with my grandfather and grandmother Joe and Pat Forrester(in the picture on the right), we decided on a name for my boat. My Storm GT's name will be "The Mary Agnes." Where did that come from? Well, it is a combination of both my grandmother and grandfather's mother's names. My grandpa's mother was "Mary" and my grandma's mothers name was "Agnes" and since they both are a direct linkage to the entire family my grandparents thought it would be a way to honor them. According to my grandparents both were very short women with a great amount of courage and worked very hard throughout their lives. Agnes was 5'1/2" and Mary was 5'1" and they were both born in 1896. I think that this will be a great name for my boat and I am excited that my grandparents had the opportunity to help me out with a name!

Here are some photos of the man who helped inspire the trip, Grandpa Joe Forrester

Well, back to the challenges of my surgery clerkship.......

NRS gear sponsorship

Excellent news! NRS has agreed to provide me with all of the soft good gear that I will need for my trip. Casey Worzella and Blake Longworth were very helpful in organizing this and I really appreciate their support. It is really great that I have been finding out that NRS and Current Designs are sponsoring me because now I can focus on fundraising some more. Also, my grandfather, the elder Joe Forrester (the man who helped inspire the trip), has agreed to help me find a name for my boat. I am really excited to see what we can come up with.

Boat Is HERE!

So at 10:15 on 10/25, my brand new Storm GT arrived in Cville. After clearing out much of our already gear filled apartment, my roommate Brett and I were able to bring that beauty into our place.

I spent about an hour and a half ooing and aaing over it. The Storm is 17' long and clocks in at 63lbs. It has two hatches and a rudder and man is it a sleek looking machine. A special thanks goes out to Mike Cichanowski and Jake Greseth at Current Designs for all their help and generousity.

I am planning on getting some photos up this afternoon. Hopefully I will be able to be head out on the water here after surgery is finished with. Right now the pre 5 am starts are making it difficult to get out on the water.

I am also going to need help with ideas for naming my boat. She is in need of a name befitting a sleek, sexy craft that will take me the distance. Please post your thoughts!

You can check out all of the dealer specs at http://www.cdkayak.com/products/template/product_detail.php?IID=140

Boat Arrival Dates

Excellent News! I just got word from Current Designs that my Storm GT should be headed down to the Charlottesville area around October 20th. Of course, I will be in my surgery rotation on Blue Service then so all my time will be devoted to studying, but none the less the boat will be here. It is hard to tell what I am more excited about, finally being on surgery or getting the new boat. Wwaahoooo! I am also talking with NRS right now about a gear sponsorship which would be really exciting. Stay tuned for more updates.

Joe

Official Dates

So a few new updates. I got the official ok from the Dean of Students at UVa today about taking the time off. I am going to be starting a little bit later than I originally planned, I will be starting late May/early June now as I am going to take my Step 2 boards before I head off down the river. While this will mean that the weather will be better up in Montana and North Dakota, I might be dodging hurricanes as I near the Gulf!

Questions about the trip

So,
I have gotten a few questions from some inquisitive followers about the trip. Here are the questions and answers, feel free to email me questions and I will try and post 'em.

How are you going to prepare for the weather?

Well, first and foremost I will be relying on my own judgement for most of my day to day weather decisions. Having grown up out West in Colorado, I am very familiar with fast moving storms and understand the serious implications of being stuck out in open areas in a lightning storm. For most of my day to day weather decisions, I will be using my CB radio.

There are several points on my trip where I will be relying on others for assistance. My uncle, Dave Johnston, who lives in Ely, MN will be tracking my progress. Before my major reservoir crossings on Oahe, Fort Peck, Sakakawea, I will be conferencing with Dave about major weather systems moving in from the North. I feel that this will allow me to more accurately establish a plan of attack for these large reservoirs. I will also be conferencing with my uncle frequently on the Lower Mississippi as I will be finishing this section during the onset of hurricane season.

What kind of training are you doing to prepare for the rigors of this adventure? Or are you going to ease your self into it and plan and gaining momentum as you move down the river?

I have my training divided into two general areas. First, my skills training. I will be taking the Current Designs Storm GT out once a week on the weekends to really get a feel for the intricacies of the boat. I also will be taking it out a fair bit into some local rivers like the Rivanna and work on my rolls and capsizing. Practicing getting back into the boat far from shore after a bail-out will also be an important skill to have dialed cold before I head out since some of the reservoirs I will be paddling through will be pretty massive.

The second part of my training will be my overall fitness. Because I am in med school and my schedule is pretty tight, I have had to develop a pretty intense workout program because I won't be able to be on the water every day. I am working with Bill Thompson at Rocky Top Gym in Charlottesville; he has been my trainer for most of my major climbs over the past three years and I have been very happy with the results.
The training will be a 5.5 month program beginning in January focusing on building all-around fitness and core strength with Kettle Bells. For all of you not familiar with kettle bells, they are these iron balls that you swing around in various patterns. This workout was originally developed in Russia and I haven't found any better workout for all-around fitness.
The first two months will be dedicated to increasing my overall strength, I will be doing more fewer reps with heavier weight. The second two months will be developed to increasing my endurance and I will be doing more reps, no rest and less weight. The last month and half will be devoted to what Bill calls "pain training." I will be doing reps with reasonable weight, but without rest and at a really high number of reps. This part of the sequence will help me fine tune my mental ability to push through various levels of discomfort while continuing to improve my overall fitness.
When I start up the program in January, I will post my workouts (weight, reps and exercise) if people at home want to follow along.

Now when I actually start on the river, there will be a 1.5-2 week period where my body will be fully adjusting to life on the water. This aspect of the trip will be inevitable as I will have been in the Hospital for the majority of my time leading up to the trip. I am sure that the pain, blisters and back cramps are going to be very obvious to me. However, I know that my training with Bill will have made me pretty strong by that time, and that should help my body deal with the conversion from hospital life to river life.

Are you going to be wearing the same clothes for four months?

Yes and no. While some of the clothing that I take on the trip like my synthetic long underwear tops and bottoms will be the same, not all of my gear will follow me the whole way. I will be leaving my cold weather paddling gear such as my synthetic down and my fleece pants in St. Louis when I pass through. I don't think I will be needing my down jacket in the 99% humidity and 100 degree days paddling through New Orleans!

What about food?

I will be resupplying frequently at sites along the river. There will a couple of sections in Montana and North Dakota where stops will be few and far between, however the most I food I am planning on taking with me is for about 3 weeks.

Will you pull over and get out every time you need to relieve yourself?

Well it depends on the #. #1 is pretty easy to accomplish just sitting in the boat. With some careful aim and some stability, the goal can be accomplished. #2 is a bit more problematic. I will be pulling over to the bank for that. There will be a section on my trip where I will be having to carry out my waste, which is always interesting. I have had to do this before while climbing up in Alaska, and it wasn't ever particularly pleasant. However, it is important especially on sections of the river that see a lot of usage.

Keep the questions coming!

More good news about the trip! I discussed the trip with the CEO of Current Designs Kayaks late last week and he has agreed to help provide me a kayak. I will be proudly paddling the Current Designs Storm GT. I am also getting very close to the 1,000 dollar mark which is really exciting, 1/20th of the way to the goal. Hopefully late next week I will be posting my gear list so that everyone at home can follow along with the progress. Until next blog....
Joe

Hello all, this is my first blog for my 2009 Paddling for Parkinsons Trip! I will be trying to raise $20,000 for the National Parkinson Foundation by paddling my kayak from Montana to the Gulf of Mexico via the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Now, you might wonder, why the National Parkinson Foundation?

Well, in 2005 my grandfather was diagnosed with Parkinson disease. After he started receiving treatment, it was amazing how fast all of the family members could tell how much he improved. I can remember Grandpa at Christmas time and the difficulties he had getting himself around. After treatment, he seemed like a whole new man to me. As I was thinking about this trip, I thought, well, I could just organize this trip for myself and it would be a wonderful experience. However, if I put in a bit more work and time, I would have the opportunity to change this trip into something really special that would make a huge difference in a number of other peoples lives. I decided it was worth the work, and asked the National Parkinson Foundation if I could raise money for them. And here I am today.

I am currently working on getting sponsors lined up, in the early stages of fundraising, and obtaining all my gear. The trip is still a long way off but I have gotten a lot of really positive feedback from friends and family and every day I get a little bit more excited about that day when I will push off from Three Forks, Montana. Feel free to post ideas, comments, and your thoughts, I would love to hear from you.

My brother, Jared, has agreed to be my in-situ blogger during my descent. I will be calling him up and he will be posting my progress every couple of days on my blog. I am also working on getting a map function up so that everyone will have a real-time feel for where I am on the river.

Ah well, off to sleep. I have a long day of being a third year med student tomorrow.