RVAMN president Larry P. met Martha (from CAMN) and Dwan and Gerald (from NCAMN) at Lake Dardanelle’s Visitor Center at 8 AM to lead them to Debbie's farm where RV’s Stream Team would gather before heading down to the stream.  Although Larry hadn’t been there, the word was that one could only get to the stream by walking, ATV or 4-wheel drive vehicle.  So we piled into Gerald's  4-wheel drive truck and, directions in hand, and headed to Deb's farm a few miles outside of Russellville.

The driveway curved through picturesque pastures to the farmhouse and outbuildings situated on a magnificent overlook of The Illinois Bayou.

My immediate thoughts were “Awesome!  And then…We're going down there? That’s a long way down”  We loaded up  2 ATV’s, a Kubota Gator type ATV and the back of the pickup with the Stream Team and their gear and headed down with Deb and her "Gator" and the other ATV’s in the lead. 

The ride was not a smooth one.  Some (hold on, Martha) would call it the ride of a life time. There was  one “white-knuckle moment”  when the truck got closer to the 50 foot drop to the river than some of us were comfortable with….and one back-up and try again moment, but all’s well that ends well. We all agreed that Deb was not kidding when she said that you needed 4 -wheel drive to get to the creek. But it was definitely worth the trip.  At the bottom we found a river to soothe one’s soul. 

There was a wide, mostly level gravel/sand bar with ample shade which was a perfect spot to set up a data table.  Gloria was not to be hampered by her booted foot (She's recovering from foot surgery.), and she quickly organized the sorting trays, magnifying glasses, tweezers and data sheets.

                                                                                                                      

The rest of the team split into Bug Kickers, who headed towards the shallow reeds with nets and buckets in hand,and chem  samplers, who headed up stream with the Hach kit .

...................Bugs were sorted and identified         chem data was taken .................................

and before we knew it, the morning had passed and it was time for lunch.. to be preceded by a bumpy, hold on to your oil pan, trip back up the bluff.  

Thanks Deb, for a great kick-off opportunity for the RVAMN Stream Team.