Flora, MS. Saturday July 31, 2010—Mississippi paddler Keith Plunkett will mark 100 miles of paddling for the month of July Sunday afternoon after paddling 30 miles from Highway 16 to Highway 49 on the Big Black River. Plunkett is expected to arrive at the Highway 49 Bridge sometime late Sunday afternoon. The Yazoo County native and Flora resident announced in April the schedule for a year of paddling Mississippi’s waterways. The effort started on July 10 on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and will take Plunkett on a journey across 5 regions of the state ending in June of 2011. During the trips Plunkett is interviewing Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers in each region, and will highlight ongoing efforts by the Alzheimer’s Association and medical professionals to defeat the disease. Video and photos of the trips are posted online at http://www.lucysrevenge.com/.
Plunkett has been speaking with groups across the state to raise awareness, and to sign up corporate sponsors for the journey. He has set a goal of 600 miles, or roughly 120 miles per region, and hopes to entice a few others to join him on some of the excursions. Anyone interested can follow his travels on his Facebook page through a real-time GPS mapping service provided by the newest sponsor, I-Tech of Madison.
“I think it’s a significant symbol to hit the hundred-mile mark in the place that my Mamaw always called home,” said Plunkett of the river that marks the Yazoo and Madison County border. “
Plunkett’s grandmother was Lucy Plunkett. The matriarch of the Plunkett family reared six children, and oversaw the upbringing of 9 grandchildren. She was a housewife and an active member of the rural community of Little Yazoo in Yazoo County.
