April 1, 2007 - The Idea

“Huh? Another row? Is he kidding?”

“Woof? Bark bark bark. Meow? Purrrr.”

Alas, it’s true, Gentle Reader, and here’s how it started.

Last August, literally a day after I had completed a 13-day, 452-mile row from Troy, New York, to the Inner Harbor here in Baltimore, I was walking the dogs in Federal Hill Park. Corey, Peg’s cute ‘lil Bichon, was doing his thing, turning on the charm and shaking down hapless walkers for hidden treats. Moby, who had taken up residence from Recycled Love during my brief absence, was still just getting his bearings and was on the leash.

The walk was not going so well for me. After 13 days in a 15’ Adirondack Guideboat, the simple act of walking upright was still a bit of an effort. I had the gait of the kinds of people you try to avoid on just such a walk. How the Vikings were able to plunder as soon as they came ashore will always mystify and amaze.

Anyway, here comes Sally Jennings with her brace of lovable dogs. Sally and her brood are a fixture in the Park; her effervescent spirit and care for creatures big and small brighten up the cloudiest of days. She overtakes me (easy!), we talk, she enquires about the row while Mobey waddles among her cohort, and before you know it we’re both speculating how we might raise some biscuits for Recycled Love.

The Harbor glimmers below us.

The hands are still oozing.

The derriere is screaming, “No mas!”

And, in my 13-day absence, I’ve already been supplanted by a dog.

Yet I find myself saying, “Sally, how about a row? I could do laps here in the Harbor, a kind of marathon in a millpond, and people might pledge pennies, nickels, dimes, or dollars per mile. It could take place right here in the Harbor. Easy!” (Many of my Gentle Readers know that my boyish enthusiasm about this as a fundraiser stems from their overwhelming generosity during my “Big Row” from Troy; we raised just shy of $18,000 for Financial Aid at Boys’ Latin).


Gentle Reader, when you’re surrounded by lovable creatures whose common denominator is that they owe their very lives to Sally’s commitment to those who cannot advocate for themselves…and when said creatures are at that moment clustered at your feet, looking at you adoringly and doting on your every word (as silly as each word may be), it’s hard not to offer one’s services on their behalf.

So Sally and I blue-skied it for a while, agreed to talk more about the notion later, and the summer flew by before we could get it in gear (and, truth be told, I was not at that moment ready to leap back in the boat for another extended maximum effort!). But, Gentle Reader, “later” is soon to be upon us.

In fact, it will arrive on Saturday, June 16.

Here’s The Plan: Starting at an Inner Harbor site to-be-determined (The Rusty Scupper, or perhaps the Science Center promenade) one hour before sunrise, I’ll try to row 75 miles before one hour after sunset. It’s a pace significantly faster than my 13-day average last summer (4.41 mph vs. 3.98); while this doesn’t sound like a lot, it is…yet going in my favor are the more protected waters of the Inner Harbor, a more lightly-loaded boat, and the fact that Peg can toss me a Twinkie or a Yoo Hoo on every lap.

The 75-mile goal is a distance materially more ambitious than my longest day last summer. In August I covered 62 miles in a desperate effort to get off of the Delaware River and into the C&D Canal, but winds and weather conspired to make it a heavy slog of over 18 hours.

I’ve yet to determine my course, but I suspect it will comprise laps between the Science Center and Canton so that folks who have nothing better to do can follow my progress, attempt an intervention, or toss me Twinkies and Yoo Hoo should Peg need a break.

So, Sally, we’re on. I need to dust off the oars and get to the gym, and we’ll need to get the word out in the coming weeks. But the fact is that your work at Recycled Love (web address is www.RecycledLove.org) is inspirational and has brightened the lives of many people. If, as I believe, one can take the measure of a society by the way it treats its old, young, dependents, and creatures, then gathering awareness and financial support for the work of Recycled Love is well worth the effort.

Stay tuned for more on Recycled Love, pithy ruminations on man and beast, my preparations for this lunacy, and commentary on issues of the moment. But above all, be kind to a creature today. That scratch behind the ear will feel good to you, too.