Now in New Jersey

Had a quick phone call with our paddler, only because I was nervous wreck and had to break down and call him first. This was the one day I had been most nervous about, from Fairmount Park south and across to New Jersey.

Today took him through the city, which I'm excited to hear more about. He did say that Fairmount Park area was incredible, and though he typically avoids cities, he loved it. He described it as easy to see how the city grew around the waterways, and added that the history of self-powered travel and rowing were obvious here, and of course, appealed to him very much.

Beyond Fairmount Park, I don't have details yet and am curious to hear what it was like to travel by canoe through the City of Brotherly Love .... a place where the cultural history we've talked about so far is eclipsed by post World War II sights and structures: paddling alongside Christmas shoppers jamming the Schuylkill Expressway, passing beneath I-76 and the Delaware Expressway, and of course, the public housing, endless office buildings, billboards and industrial areas. Besides Bartram's Gardens, there appear to be very few patches of green space.

But my biggest worry of the entire Mountain-to-Sea journey was and has always been the approach to the Philadelphia Naval Yard, and just beyond, entering the confluence of the Schuylkill River with the Delaware River at the southern end of the city. Here is where you see the enormous tanker ships that have given me nightmares, but he did paddle safely across the one mile stretch to the New Jersey side, no motor required! GO TODD!!!

Crazy guy that he is, he actually answered the phone before finishing this stretch. I think I said, "You're LUCKY you answered!!"

To which he yelled back, "MARY!!! Hey, I'm sort of out on open water, so I'll give ya a call back in about an hour. You ROCK!!!"

Click. 

I turned to my boyfriend and said, "I'm going to kill him." 

Which of course, is just my normal sarcasm, and he did call back as promised. He said he got a late start today and still had a ways to go before landing to camp at Fort Billings Park ( I believe? ), which is just east of Little Tinicum Island and very close to Riverwinds Golf Course.

I'm hoping for strong signals so we get a personal update from him tonight or tomorrow morning. Stay tuned! I, for one, will sleep well tonight.

Mary Linkevich
Mountain-to-Sea: Join the Journey!