I paddle about 100 days a year in the DesPlaines River in Illinois. Somewhat high E. coli count every day and more so in the winter when treatment facilities are allowed to release higher levels of it. I've been paddling a hundred days or more in this river since 1978 when I started training in slalom gates. Even in dead flat water, slalom training results in a lot of splashing. By the end of any workout I am soaked. I would guess I've ingested a whole lot of sewage in my life. I have, twice, rolled in the river. After a big rain I surf at a small dam and really get soaked and get faceful splashes on most moves. I also raced for many years at Indiana's South Bend slalom course, where the organizers sometimes gave us written notice that the fecal coliform was so high that the law required us to be told. The last time I had a cold was early 1996. I never get sick. An acquaintence who was a sewer worker for the city of Chicago once told me, sincerely I think, that sewer workers' immune systems are rock solid from all the exposure to germs over time. Sort of like Lucretia Borgia building up a resistance to arsenic. Of course, I DO glow in the dark...... Jim Tibensky _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
I'm sorry, I know pickled pigs feet taste good and I've seen people enjoying chicken feet too but I just won't eat something that spent its life standing in s**t. By the same token I'll pass on knowingly paddling in a toilet. I will say however there have been moments SF Bay I've seen some very suspicious floating objects amoung the anchor outs. Then again I didn't paddle over to investigate either but preferred to think the tide would flush it out, so to speak. I've avoided concentrations of anchor outs for many years now for this very reason. Kevin *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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