Austinite cruises the Colorado

AUSTIN (KXAN) - On March 6, an Austin Realtor climbed in a canoe on the Colorado River near San Saba, Texas, and set her eyes on the Gulf of Mexico, 466 miles away.

"I wanted to have an experience on the river that wasn't necessarily training or racing," said Debbie Richardson, who loves to spend her free time racing self-propelled boats like canoes and kayaks. "I just wanted to have an adventure on the river and enjoy the scenery and take photos along the way. It's something I don't ever get to do because when I'm on the river, I'm always training or racing."

All went well until Richardson and a friend, Doug Mammoser, hit the Highland Lakes chain.

"The lakes are tricky," she said. "With boat traffic and waves and wind, it's taken me out of my way a few times. I started out with a canoe because I could carry more gear, but I was being blown from side to side. If I couldn't go straight into a headwind, I'd get pushed up into a cove and I'd have to come back out the same way I came in.

Finally, it got to be too much.

"The other night, trying to get to Muleshoe, which was going to be our overnight stop," said Richardson, "the wind was blowing so viciously that I had to keep turning and turning and turning and finally ended up in just a big circle back to where I started. So it was really frustrating and that's when I made the boat change.

Richardson opted for a kayak for the remainder of the journey and calm returned to the trip.

The lakes, however, are formed by huge dams and they still loomed ahead. Somehow, Richardson and Mammoser would have to get around every one of them.

"There's private property involved," she said, "and there's miles of carting the boats around the dam, down roads and then somehow you've got to get back to the river."

Such agony, though, often opened doors into kind hearts.

"I was trying to get my boat across the bridge in Marble Falls," Richardson recalled, "and it was windy and a narrow space for me to get through and I was struggling and a man stopped and pulled his car over and got out and came toward me. I said, 'I don't think there's room for the two of us to cross here.' He says, 'I don't want to cross, I'm here to help you.' And he reached out and he grabbed the front of my boat and I got the back of my boat and we got it across together.'"

Over 70 years ago, in 1937, three young men from Abilene had similar experiences on an even longer trip. Harry Caldwell, Winfield James and Jim Pickard entered the waters of the Colorado near Ballinger, some 200 miles farther up river than Richardson’s starting point. In 1991, 54 years after their adventure, at that time in their 70s, they did it again. One had to drop out for medical reasons, but the other two made it to Matagorda Bay.

Such trips, then, are rare and Richardson wants them to multiply.

"It's right here in our back yard," she said. "I didn't have to travel but about two hours from where I live to get to San Saba where I wanted to start. It runs right through Austin. I think it's a fabulous gem right here, available to us. I think a lot of people don't realize what a great resource we have."

To change that, Richardson is using the Internet, posting detailed notes on her blog and using a GPS tracker to pinpoint her location for those who want to follow her progress.

"I'm hoping that by doing this trip, people will realize that something like this is doable," she said. "I've set up everything, all the information on my blog so they know the distances; they know where they can stay; they know where they can get water."

Those who decide to launch long distance trips on the Colorado after visiting the blog can expect some hard work, Richardson admits, but they will also melt into nature's rhythm, shedding stress as they go.

"You're just thinking about how you're going to get from point A to point B," she said, "and you just have the little basic necessities with you that you absolutely need, because you don't want to carry more than you have to. So it really does get you back to basics and it really reminds you of what's important in life."