Ron made it past Lisco by Sunday night

(The pictures posted above are from earlier in his trip. The camera is on the Plattepus now, and Ron says he took some fun photos this morning before breakfast. Later today I hope to download those and get some posted.)

At 1:20 p.m. on May 20, Ron reached the bridge at Broadwater. The highway runs alongside the river near Broadwater, close enough that people had full view of Ron standing on Plattepus I. Many honked encouragement as they went past! The 3 of us sat on the boat while he told us about the large schools of carp and catfish he'd been seeing in the crystal-clear water. The fish are large, well over a foot long. He's seen turtles bigger than dinner plates, and birds of all types keep him constant company. Much to Ron's delight, there was NOT ONE dam between Bridgeport and Broadwater. After dealing with 6 the afternoon before, the break from them was an enormous relief.

There are always 2 sides to everything, though -- when there are dams it means the river is narrow enough and deep enough to make the dams worthwhile. The river between Bridgeport and Broadwater didn't have any dams, probably because "broad water" is an accurate name for that whole section of the river. Instead of a single strong channel, or a few strongish ones -- the river widened out into a wide sandy space with a dozen or more channels, making it more difficult to find the current. The other reason there weren't any dams could be because all the water from now on is meant for Lake McConaughy...

He arrived at Lisco's bridge at 7:00 p.m. on May 20, where several men were fishing. Ron says one told him, "You're doing a great thing!" and another wished him good luck. He stopped for the night a couple of hours later, between Lisco and Oshkosh. He estimates that he'll be at Oshkosh around noon today, on May 21.

Ron called last night after he'd made camp, but shortly into the call his phone cut off. The battery had died. He has a battery-powered charger along, but it wasn't functioning. Both of us spent time overnight wondering how we would coordinate the rest of this trip without cell phone contact. When we were positioned on the same highway on the same river north of Melbeta - but 30 meters apart under different bridges - cell phones helped us find each other. This morning, in the better light, Ron discovered an on/off switch on the charger, and we're rejoicing.

Last I spoke with him, around 7:00 a.m., he was having rehydrated scrambled eggs and hot chocolate for breakfast. Thank goodness for tiny campstoves and freeze-dried food. He said he was in a good place overnight, but still everything was damp from the dew. With thunderstorms in the forecast today and tomorrow, I'm going to see about finding him a place out of the weather tonight.