Well, this year's flood has lasted longer than most, and doesn't look to be going down anytime soon. Well into next week, it looks like. So, we're moving.
The "other" river here in Pittsburgh, the Monongahela, comes up from the south and has a fraction of the flow of the Allegheny. Off we go on Friday for a weekend of "wet launching," mud, screams and (finally) rowing on the water.
I'm realizing now how fortunate I was rowing in Cincinnati all those years. While we did drive out to East Fork State Park every day, some guys in the car for an hour, we at least had good water 95% of the time. There was never a safety concern, even when the lake flooded, because there wasn't any current. Wind was our enemy, but there were always sheltered shores to get miles in.
Once we re-located to the Licking River in Covington, the drive was much shorter and the water polluted. We did get flooding that spring, like any mid-western city. But we rowed on it anyway. I can't imagine going out in that type of high water here in Pittsburgh, I'd get drawn, quartered, and shot. Back then, it was just an adventure to conquer. One and a half hours upstream, and 10 mins downstream. I'M NOT KIDDING! I've never gone that fast past the shore since in a rowing shell. Good times!
The problem now is sitting on shore, thinking about all the other teams that we will race in the spring who are rowing on lakes or other protected water right now. I've got a clock ticking in my mind, and it's counting down to our first race in less than two weeks.
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