Sent July 9, 2001
The Leelanau 100 Mile Swim
Hello Adventurers,
HIMALAYA
The Michigan Theater is now showing Himalaya, a movie filmed in Nepal. It
will be here through July 12. If you are at all interested in this part of
the world, you must see it! A French producer went to a small village in
Nepal near the border of Tibet and asked the locals to star as actors in this
movie. The story takes place in their real homes and many are real people
dressed as they usually dress speaking a dialect of Tibetan. The movie has
subtitles in English. It is almost a documentary.
I saw this movie a few years ago when I was in Kathmandu. The Nepalese were
actually taking photos in the theater; the scenery is spectacular! Bring
your camera! After watching for two hours you will feel like you've been
there in the most remote parts of northern Nepal and southern Tibet. It is a
beautiful film. Highly recommended!
RANDOM ACTS
As you may remember after my last trip to Nepal, I came home with $50 left in
the Of Global Interest Random Acts of Kindness Fund. Well, last week, Mike
Tolinsky -- kind enough to help me with this project -- and I took five young
people from the Salvation Army to the Shackelton IMAX movie at Greenfield
Village in Dearborn. The movie is about a true-to-life, ill-fated expedition
to Antarctica that lasted over a year.
Mike and I picked up the kids at the Salvation Army office at 12:30 in the
afternoon and we were back by 4:00. I think they had a good time. None of
them had seen an IMAX movie before. When we got there, they commented on
wishing they could see the Nsync IMAX instead which was also showing. I
informed them that the Antarctica one would be "more interesting". I'm not
sure they believed me.
Here is what they said: Rudy, 8, who wants to be a fire fighter said, "The
theater was cold because there was too much air conditioning." Dera, 9, who
wants to be a doctor said, "It was a good movie." Deshawna, 7, who also
wants to be a doctor said, "It was scary and the ending was fun because they
got saved." Deanna, 12, who wants to be a teacher said, "It was great. It
felt like I was really there." April, 12, who wants to be a photographer
said, "It was really cool the way it made you be there."
Their advice: Deanna says, "Try to reach your goal," and Dera says, "Be
yourself."
I was a bit nervous about driving. Before we left a few friends commented on
the liability issue. This seems to be more important in our society than
helping one another. Maybe the Random Acts of Kindness Fund is better spent
in Nepal. The young ones there are appreciative and the word liability isn't
so haunting.
On that day, it occurred to me that though we don't like the idea of a cast
system in this country, we tend to live with one. In reality a lot of needy
kids in Ann Arbor are untouchable.
SWIM
Maybe some of you saw the articles in the Ann Arbor News and Detroit Free
Press about Liz Elling's swim around the Leelanau Peninsula. She is amazing.
Within the next few days, this 54 year old woman will be swimming 100 miles
around the pinkie finger of Michigan. She is raising $10,000 for the
Leelanau Land Conservancy.
On the Fourth of July I joined Liz for one day of her swim. With a rented
wet suit in the trunk of the car, my mother (a good friend of Liz's) and I
drove to meet her and her family up north. We found her in Glen Arbor in
good spirits and in great shape. She is truly amazing.
We looked at maps showing where she had already swum, four miles the first
day, ten the second and ten the third. Slowly she is making her way around
the coast. Two local TV stations greeted her at the beach in Empire on the
first day of her swim. Though the weather was bad, Liz wasn't phased. In
the TV footage she was aqua woman against the fierce waves. It looked like
she was swimming 130 miles an hour!
The Lake Michigan waters are cold so she is wearing two layers, a fleece
lined wet suit and another. I was worried mine wouldn't be enough.
The morning of the fourth, we met in Leland. I have to admit I was terrified
to get into the water. The waves were huge and thunderous. There were no
clouds but it wasn't exactly warm outside. We found Liz preparing for her
swim, looking like a mermaid on some nearby rocks. Three canoes and one
kayak also greeted her. Her husband and two daughters were there.
I had my snorkel gear, flippers, mask and snorkel tube at the ready. I was
also glad that Alan Priest (in training for a 500 mile triathlon along the
border between northern Minnesota and Canada!) had come to support Liz while
getting in some canoe training. If it were too cold, I'd simply hop into
Alan's canoe. (My hop was more like a belly flop. Yes, we capsized once.)
Liz backed into the water with her goggles and swimming cap tight around her
head. It was difficult to maneuver while wearing flippers on the beach. The
sand and rocks tended to be scooped up easily which prevented me from walking
too gracefully. A penguin or even a duck must have the same problem. I
convinced myself that this was an adventure and I backed into the water
following Liz.
With the wet suit on, it wasn't too bad.
I cheated a little pushing off on the bottom of the lake, staying close to
shore where it was shallow, and a few times I took off the flippers and
walked along the beach with Kirsten, Liz's daughter. For a mile or two, I
was in Alan's canoe. Liz kept swimming. One stroke after another. She was
determined. It was amazing to watch.
While swimming I tried every stroke I knew. Many didn't work with the
flippers like the breast stroke. Because of the snorkel gear, my head was in
the water most of the time. I looked up on occasion to see the scenery and
check if I were going in the right direction. A few times I was completely
turned around, swimming with the land on the left instead of on the right.
Several times I was headed straight out to sea and twice I was full speed
toward shore. Where the water was clear, I could watch the rocks and plot a
straight course in the right direction, north.
At the end of the day I learned I had covered almost 6 miles in the water,
more than I think I have swum in all my whole lifetime put together. Liz
managed nine miles. We were at it for about eight hours in total, stopping
here and there along the shore for a quick snack and some drinking water. Liz
is my heroine. Where did she get the idea? And where did the gusto to
actually do it come from!?
The next day my flipper muscles were sore. My jaw hurt too. I must have
been biting the snorkel tube a little too hard. Liz on the other hand was
right back at it by 9AM the next morning and has been every day since the
first of July.
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