Stroke: Gunnar Baldwin
Bow: Heather Baldwin
Normal rowing hours
8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
We made it!
Over the last few days we made a major effort to increase our daily mileage and covered the rest of the distance to the Hudson by early evening on Sunday. Arriving exhausted by the long days we have been resting since!
Heather, and I have been rowing pieces of the route from Key West to the Canadian Border along the Intra Coastal Waterway raising money and publicizing my company, TOTO USA’s, support for Habitat for Humanity. TOTO has so far donated large amounts of plumbing products, mostly toilets, lavs and kitchen sinks for habitat to use in the homes they build, not only along the route we are rowing, but in New Orleans and Mobile where houses are being built for victims of hurricane Katrina. Many TOTO employees have also volunteered to work on Habitat houses in the Atlanta, GA area where TOTO is based.
Since January 2003, rowing about three weeks a year, we have covered most of the route between Key West, FL and Camp Lejeune, NC as well as a northern section from Newburgh, NY to the Canadian border. On our last trip we determined that crossings such as the Currituck Sound, Albemarle Sound and Chesapeake Bay would require a companion boat capable of taking us on board if weather came up that made it unsafe for us to continue. We have tried to find someone with a little time on their hands and a suitable boat who would be willing to accompany us, but this does not seem to be a realistic possibility. I have, therefore, decided that we should do our next piece on the Erie Canal starting in Tonawanda, NY. This route caught our interest when we passed its entrance in 2005 while rowing up the Hudson river to the Champlain canal on our route to Lake Champlain and the Canadian Border. We will start at the western end on August 3 and row east for as long as we can. We hope we can get to Waterford, NY before we need to get home! We have now covered 1761 miles and look forward to doing a canal in Quebec next year if not the Mississippi in MN.
Again we will maintain our Rowing for Habitat website with a new address: http://rowing.thorntongore.com Our log from our previous trips is gradually being added to this website if you are interested. We hope you will follow our progress starting August 3. I will try to update it regularly but I am often tired after rowing and have to wait until the weather forces us to take a rest!
As in the past, we will be raising money to support the Habitat affiliates that we visit along the way. The total of what we raise will be divided among them in proportion to how many houses they are building this year. If you wish to make a cash donation, please mail your checks payable to HFHI to:
Gunnar I. Baldwin
Rowing for Habitat
363 Thornton Gore Road
Thornton, NH 03285
Pledges per mile may again be made to stimulate us to row harder and longer! Total mileage is taken from our GPS device which records our cumulative mileage. We try to report this on the website each day we row.
Donations of dock space, camp sites, meals, rides to fetch our car or any other favor to help make our endeavor possible will be much appreciated since we are on a minimal budget. 100% of the money raised is given to the Habitat Affiliates. None is used to pay our expenses. Please email me at gbaldwin@totousa.com or call me on my cell, (603) 667-0930 (boat phone!) if you can help. Rides back to our car and places to stay are especially welcomed! I am available by cell phone at all times during the trip and, will try to get on all scheduled conference calls from along the way.
Please forward this letter to anyone you think might be interested especially if they live anywhere near our route across NY state!
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