Swimming from Pittsburgh to Illinois--- READ THIS

[underpants]

Mimi Hughes is swimming the Ohio River - not from shore to shore, but all the way down the Ohio from Pittsburgh to Cairo, Ill. And, if she stays on schedule, the 54-year-old mother of four from Taft, Tenn., will swim past the Marietta area sometime today.

"I do 20 miles a day, which took about 11 hours on Sunday because the current was not as strong as I had hoped," Hughes said on Monday. "But my goal is to be in Cairo by July 17."

She began her 981-mile marathon with a dive into the Ohio at Pittsburgh on May 22. Since then she spends at least eight hours six days a week in the water, wearing a wetsuit and goggles to protect her body and eyes from some potentially toxic effects from the river.

"I became frustrated with the issue of education for girls," she said. "I teach developmental courses at a college and have students who got married, became meth addicts, had children, then were divorced by their husbands. It's difficult for those women to get an education.

"People say the government could help, but that only creates a strain on our social systems, and these girls don't want that," Hughes added. "It's better to make sure they get a good education so they can earn a living and live productive lives."

http://www.mariettatimes.com/page/content.detail/id/522283.html?nav=5002



Woman heads toward halfway mark of Ohio River swim
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-oh-ohioriverswim,0,434843.story

The 54-year-old community college reading specialist says she's swimming to raise money and awareness about the education of women and girls worldwide.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Good for her!

She is to be congratulated. She's setting one hell of an example...


I wish the article had included a map. I'd like to get more than a hazy idea of just where she is, and where she's heading...


Recommended

[Capn Sunshine]

2. Because I live to enhance your DU experience, Peggy

[underpants]

4. Nice!

:thumbsup:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. My dear Capn Sunshine!

Oh, cool!

Just my DU experience? Oh well.......that'll work!

Seriously, thank you so much. I wonder why I always thought the Ohio River came out of Lake Erie? Guess I never studied my geography enough!

This is a great map!

Thanks, sweetie!

:hug:

[underpants]

3. I found this map

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. My dear underpants!

This is an excellent map...

Really shows the geography very clearly.

The Ohio River forms the whole southern border of Ohio...who knew? I didn't...:blush:

Thanks, sweetie...

:hug:

[704wipes]

5. as long as they tell her about the falls at Madison

probably should get out and walk around those?

And don't forget the Ohio becomes the Wabash at Evansville ;-) doesn't even go all the way to Cairo !!

[realisticphish]

8. yeah, so

it's been a while since I've been to the river, but I don't think its something I would particularly want to spend a great deal of time swimming in. But it may be a lot nicer that I remember it. It's probably been more that 10 years since I got closer than driving over it

[lfairban]

10. My first thought!

Since then she spends at least eight hours six days a week in the water, wearing a wetsuit and goggles to protect her body and eyes from some potentially toxic effects from the river.

Shortly after beginning her swim in the Ohio River, Hughes said she developed some burning sensations and a few red spots on her skin, but the conditions have improved after she moved beyond a particularly dense section of chemical plants in the northern areas of the Ohio Valley.

My first reaction was, "OMG, she won't have any skin left." Then I read about the wet suit.

I knew someone from Portsmouth, Ohio(on the river) that was taking advantage of the Ky. border being the north edge of the river. He stood knee deep in the water to drink a beer so that he couldn't be arrested. When he got done, he was shocked to find his lower legs were red and itchy.

Many of the old pollution sources are gone due to industrial re-location.

[realisticphish]

12. oh, it is a lot better

the cuyahoga is no longer the cesspool it was, and the waterways are much cleaner than they used to be. But there's a reason we call the Olentangy river in Columbus the "old and scungy"

[unblock]

9. how pathetic that someone who does this has to take precautions against "toxic effects"

[Scurrilous]

11. K & R

:thumbsup: