September 06, 2003
©NEPA News 2003

Eighty-year-old Ted Dowdell wanted to raise awareness for the disease that took his bride.

With a 16-foot catamaran and little shelter and supplies, he's embarked on a three-month trip aimed at navigating 2,000 miles of rivers from West Virginia to New Orleans.

Dowdell's answer is simple why he's doing it.

"Because I can't forget my wife's last moments," he said.

Dowdell, of Elyria, Ohio, and family friend Greg Emmons, of Sante Fe, N.M., are hoping to bring more attention for a cure for Lou Gehrig's disease.

The trip began Aug. 17, five years to the day after the death of Bonnie Dowdell from the disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

Starting along the Monongahela River in Fairmont, the men traveled 128 miles to the headwaters of the Ohio River at Pittsburgh, powering their craft by either foot or sail.

They are navigating the Ohio's 20 locks and dams, along with waves created by tugboats and barges. On Friday they reached Williamstown, across the river from Marietta, Ohio.

Although both men have experience on rivers and canals, this is their first trip in a nonpowered craft.

Headwinds have often forced them to abandon using the small sail, but the trip has gone according to plan otherwise, and they've actually made it to some locations ahead of schedule.

"We just sit and pedal," Dowdell told The Marietta (Ohio) Times. "Sometimes we don't even talk for an hour or so. You go along with just your thoughts."

Thoughts of Bonnie.

Their 52-year marriage.

Her suffering throughout her final months.

"Mom did suffer a lot," his daughter, Kathy Dowdell of Colorado Springs, Colo., told The Associated Press on Friday night. "He took care of mom day and night and it was impressive. Anybody who saw it was awed by his dedication."

Dowdell is committed to sleep every night on the catamaran, while Emmons, 56, spends some nights at hotels with his wife, Arlene. Emmons also files daily updates on a Web site.

"Dad probably thinks people's expectations are that he's roughing it," Kathy Dowdell said. "Therefore, he's going to rough it. That's just kind of the way he is."

After arriving in Cairo, Ill., in late October, they'll head down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. The trip is scheduled to finish on Dec. 1 in Slidell, La., on the northeast shore of Lake Ponchartrain.

ALS causes the gradual deterioration of nerve cells that control muscle movement, resulting eventually in paralysis and death. Its cause is unknown and there currently is no cure.

ALS attracted worldwide attention when New York Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig announced that he had the disease in 1939, two years before his death.

The disease afflicts about 30,000 Americans.

On the Net:
Trip Web site, http://cureals.home.att.net/