A fortuitous engagement in New Jersey allowed Grand Marais sea-kayakers Dave and Amy Freeman to escape the brunt of Hurricane Sandy and the megastorm it became.
The Freemans are paddling their kayaks south along the East Coast on the final leg of their 11,700-mile North American Odyssey expedition that began in April 2010.
"It's pretty amazing how lucky we were," said Amy Freeman, 30, in a telephone interview Wednesday morning from Barnegat, N.J.
The couple was scheduled to give a presentation Saturday night about their expedition at New Jersey Kayak, a shop in Waretown, N.J., Freeman said. They were staying with Bill and Carmen Stage, owners of the kayak shop, which is on the New Jersey waterfront. With the storm approaching the coast, a state of emergency was declared in New Jersey on Saturday, but the presentation went on as scheduled.
"We didn't have the world's greatest attendance," Freeman said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Soon after, the Stages, along with the Freemans, were evacuated to higher ground away from the shore, Freeman said. They had to leave their kayaks behind at the Stages' home, lashed to the porch.
"We were a little nervous about how they would fare," she said.
The Stages have been back to their home and were happy to find the house did not sustain flood damage.
"Our kayaks are still there," Freeman said.
Now the Freemans are deciding when to resume their paddle.
"Looking at the weather, you could paddle," Freeman said, "but we want to stay and help people here as much as we can. And we're wondering how it will be as we go down the coast with the debris and everything."
The Freemans have traveled by kayak, canoe and dogsled on their North American Odyssey. They started in Seattle and paddled 1,400 miles north to the Arctic Ocean. From there, they traveled by dogsled and canoe south through central Canada to Grand Portage. In May, they departed Grand Portage to kayak across the Great Lakes and to the East Coast.
They have paddled about 2,900 miles from Grand Portage to New Jersey and have another 1,700 miles ahead of them to Key West, Fla. Overall, they're about 10,000 miles into their 11,700-mile journey.
ADVERTISEMENT
They're using their journey as a platform for gaining support and protection for North America's waterways, and they're engaging more than 100,000 elementary and middle school students in their journey through the Wilderness Classroom website and live school assemblies.
For more information on their expedition, go to www.wildernessclassroom.com .
