You're doing WHAT?!?!?! An MR340 Primer.

We keep getting many questions about the MR340 so thought we'd take a minute to explain exactly what we're doing. The MR340 is an 88-hour canoe race on the Missouri River across the State of Missouri. This year the race will begin on July 24th at 8:00 a.m. We will have until midnight on July 27th to complete the race. Here are a few answers to many of the questions we've received:

1. No, we do not 'camp' along the way. There is no time for camping, but we'll catch some sleep when we can.
2. Yes, we paddle at night too.
3. No, this is not a fundraiser. Our reasons for doing this race might differ, but mainly we think: why not?
4. No, we are not dating. We've been friends for fifteen years.
5. No, we are not crazy (we think!). We will join up to 499 other boats on the Missouri River for this race.

So, what is the MR340? Here are some facts:

1. The first MR340 race was in 2006.
2. The race requires us to paddle 340 miles in 88 hours on the Missouri River between Kansas City and St. Charles.
3. One-Quarter of the boats that signed up will not show up on race day (125/500). One-third of the boats who start the race will not finish (124/375). If we finish, we will be one of about half of the boats who signed up to actually finish the race (251/500).
4. The record for a mixed-tandem canoe (which is us: woman and man in a canoe) was set in 2010: 41 hours, 26 minutes. We will not beat this record.
5. No one has died on this race, according to our research. (Jeffrey is a librarian and Danielle is an attorney - so the research is pretty solid) This is in part to all the rules and safety precautions!

What does the MR340 look like?  Watch this video and see!