Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 17, 1993 TAG: 9309170249
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But his weeklong trip was a good one. He survived thunderstorms, bugs and huge wakes from passing barges that made him think he was surfing instead of paddling.
The best part, he says, was the hundreds of dollars he and his brother-in-law, Jay Alley, raised for children's charities while on the river.
"When people found out what we were doing, they reached out to help," Grant said.
Alley is a South Carolinian who is conducting a 2,000-mile, 12-state, three-river, fund-raising trip. The beneficiary is Canoeing for Kids, an organization Alley founded.
Grant is part of a 15-member team, the "Blue Blue Canoe Crew," helping with Alley's trip. They take turns paddling with Alley or following the canoe's progress in a support vehicle.
Usually a regional sales manager for Hubbell Lighting, Grant, 31, took a week's vacation to accompany Alley from Cincinnati to Channelton, Ind.
"The first day, I was sore," he said of Sunday, Aug. 29. "But by the time the week was over, it was all worked out."
Alley, who is taking time off from his carpentry job, began the trip last month in western New York. He paddled down the Allegheny River to the Ohio at Pittsburgh and plans to continue the journey to the Mississippi River and finish around Columbus Day at New Orleans.
His financial goal is $100,000, to be distributed to a South Carolina children's home or to donors' favorite children's charities.
Grant said the paddle-thon's financial progress isn't known yet. But if his week on the river with Alley is a clear indication, the goal is reachable.
"Every time we got out of the water, people offered donations or a place to stay for the night."
Grant alternated morning and afternoon shifts in the canoe or in the van with another crew member, personally averaging 20 miles per paddling session.
The river was more work than he anticipated. There was virtually no current, with much of the river contained by a system of channel locks that make the surface seem like a lake.
"There was no such thing as sitting and riding the current for a breather," Grant said.
Sharing the quarter- to half-mile-wide river with other vessels was a trip, too, he said. The barges, tugboats and houseboats kicked up quite a wake. Also, storms created whitecaps that prompted some exciting moments.
Grant and Alley had to bail out the boat a time or two. "We almost lost it," he said, but never capsized.
The temperature was in the upper 90s for most days, and several times the canoeists had to high-tail it for land when thunderstorms brewed.
Alley was particularly anxious to beat the storms to shore, Grant said. While training for the trip, Alley was struck by lightning on the shore of a South Carolina lake.
Although the bolt knocked him unconscious and singed dollar bills in his wallet, it didn't halt his determination to make the trip.
Along the river, Grant said he saw gorgeous scenery but also many stream banks strewn with garbage. "That was depressing," he said.
The charitable spirit and theme of the journey provided plenty of positive momentum, though. When he got out of the canoe for the last time Sept. 4 and bade Alley farewell, Grant said, "I could have gone on."
Alley's about halfway through his trip. Grant says he'll continue to advocate the fund-raising effort, now that he's home and back to work.
Grant and his wife, Lynne, who is assistant minister at Blacksburg United Methodist Church, held a fund-raising reception at their house for Alley (her brother) last month, which raised about $1,000 for the cause.
All the donations go directly to the charities, and will not be used to defray costs for the canoe trip, Alley has said.
Grant describes his brother-in-law as an extraordinary man who cares deeply about children. Days of eight to 10 hours of paddling are only making Alley stronger, he said.
As for Grant, he's put down his paddle for a while. "It was a very refreshing vacation," he said. "But I'm not going to become an every-weekend canoer."
Contributions to children's charities on behalf of Canoeing for Kids can be sent to P.O. Box 1614, Columbia, S.C. 29202.
by CNB