swim1000 blog

By Em Bell

Wow. We did it. 1000 miles plus a ten mile victory lap. We have carried the boobie love all the way from South Dakota to St Louis. And boy am I proud of the team and myself.

After leaving university, I went into headhunting and after two years of the city slicker life, I woke up on New Years Day morning and realised I wasn’t happy. I went into the office the next day and resigned. Two weeks later I was pursuing the world of tv presenting. Here came four years of absolutely cracking experiences and stories. Everything from representing the UK on a gameshow, being a stand in contestant for Ant and Dec, presenting a festival in Cape Town, organising Bat Mitzvahs, travelling the world to try and become the next Besr Grylls, working on a McFly documentary, becoming a wedding planner to landing my dream job at a magazine.

I slept on a mattress next to my parents bed. With a train covered sheet and duvet. And I was chasing my dreams. But something was still missing. I would say “I want to be a doctor, a war zone reporter or a North Pole/ space researcher.” But I didn’t have the skills for any of those and didn’t really know why I wanted those. Until I realised I still wanted something more. I wanted something that would take over your life, be tough, mean something and you would work your ass off because you were passionate.

Queue, Dave Corntwaite turning up at my office to load magazines for £50 for a piece in his next book. On this day he mentioned the blogger position on an upcoming expedition that was starting in three weeks - swim 1000. Now this opportunity ticked several boxes -

An adventure
A challenge
Away from a desk
In the wilderness
Blogging
Say yes more
Don’t wait for an illness or disaster to make you turn your life around. Do it now

I was in.

Obviously.

Look where I am now. On the plane home.

So this trip was not only an incredible adventure, challenge, writing experience. But it also gives you the chance to meet and bond with a like minded team who i will know forever. And obviously you have plenty of time to chat on these trips and my career was a topic I discussed. But it was a 15 minute conversation with Vanessa Knight that I will never forget.

After many career conversations with Ness where we would get each other excited about life? It was in 15 minutes that I realised what had happened over the past four years. Tv presenting. Writing. Travel.

I want to become a full time adventurer.

I can see the business cards now. Em Bell - Adventurer. Ok. Eager but the river gives you a lot of time to think.

Everything I love, am interested in, have worked on, comes together in the adventure world. All this could happen without the creative boundaries. This could be mine. In my own style. Embodying everything I had been working on but in a world of adventure. Fighting against breast cancer. And getting chicks on the map of adventure. This is it. The female version of Bear Grylls. You could say Bear Grylls with boobies. It’s taken four years. But if I were a cartoon character, there would have been a lightbulb above my head. Ting. The Missouri River took me on a cracking journey and showed me where to go next.

A life of adventure is just a life of roses and rainbows isn’t it? Emily Bell, get out of the clouds and get back to reality and live a normal life. The Missouri bubble isn’t real. I say no. Why shouldn’t you do something you love? What’s easy is following the mainstream, following the path you are expected to follow and doing what everyone else is doing. What’s hard is turning that down, running away from routine and stability and instead opting for a nomadic lifestyle of adventure, travel, creativity, sights you will never see from your desk, a Monday to Friday filled with hours you are living and a list of friends that you meet along the way. How can you say no to that. And yes, there will be hardships. Physically in the challenges. Mentally as you spend time away from home without stability in that, friends or a job. Difficulty in finding sponsorship and constantly fundraising. Living on minimum money. But why spend your money on a house filled with stuff that might make you miserable. I’m not saying I don’t understand. I’m just saying I need more than that. At the moment. As soon as I’m off round the world with a tiny rucksack, living in a tent, using human power for transport, I’m at my most happy. So why not do this every day. And when the time comes to settle, I might have discovered a whole different path through this.

As Corn would say, it’s too easy to tap your alarm clock. But it’s also too hard to turn down a life of adventure and a life of meeting people like Corn, Ness, Stiffy, Dizzy, Hancock, Morts, Lou and all the other people I’ve mentioned along the way. It’s never been easy for me to tap my alarm, wait for the train, wish away the day, plan for the weekends and get stuck in a world of mediocrity. I never want to settle and whatever people say, I have found my future. And I have never felt so sure and ready to conquer the world of adventure, fight against breast cancer and share my stories with whoever will listen.

Just before I sign off for the last time, I just wanted to give the team a little bit of river love. And then I’m done. I will leave you alone. Until next time…

Dave Cornthwaite (Corn, Ginge, D*ckhead)
Even though you are ginger, I will be forever indebted to you for coming to load magazines at my office and persuading me to come on the trip. You crack me up, have a readable face, never say no and can do anything in the entire world.

Vanessa Knight (Nessy Monster, Douche bag, Ten Tonne Tessy)
So many adventures to come for us. We will join the chicks on the circuit. You are just as disgusting as me, have very long legs, you can eat like a bloke, you are terrifying competitive and are a damn fine person.

Ben Stiff (Stiffy, D*ckhead, Brother)
I am so glad you were on the trip until the end. You are a giant teddy bear, who looks cracking with hair, has the oddest mind, has a brain linked to mine and knows something about everything.

David Zaple (Dizzy Rascal, Medic, Scout Boy)
My wingman. You now have long hair, you like lists, have a talent for accents, find it hard to grow a beard, hate dramas, have a pocket for everything and save lives for a living.

Annabel Hancock (Hancock, Annie Pants, Love)
You are a little chick with some big ideas. You can’t eat without spilling on your clothes, take longer than everyone, wear your heart on your sleeve, have an addictive laugh, pulled off the river chic and find it hard to tell your rights and lefts.

Louisa Currie (Currie Pants, Slug, Kn*bhead)
Your visit was brief but unforgotten. You have an amazing news voice, a cracking northern accent, an impressive dessert stomach, a false sense of confidence in beating me in an eating competition and some incredible slug moves.

Sarah Mortiboys (Morts, D*ckhead, Boob Queen)
The first to leave. The last to be forgotten. You are one mouthy, boozy, hardcore chick who made ME laugh until I weed myself several times. And I cannot wait to see you again.

The closest you will get to understanding this trip will be through the videos, photos and stories for the team. But nothing can explain the intensity, the bond, the beauty and the utter bubble of an adventure that was out of this world and changed my life.

Website: www.swim1000.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/expedition1000

Twitter: @DaveCorn and @Swim1000

By Em Bell

The final day. This was it. 1000 miles already done. We just had to make it to the Gateway Arch of St Louis for 10am and then the ginger would not have to get into a freezing cold wetsuit for a long time. All the alarms went off early and we were out of bed pretty quickly. The post expedition depression was already dawning on us and so we all had watery eyes. I blamed hay fever.

We were going to be hardcore and wear the little shorts, tops and bare feet from the whole journey but then Mike’s kit was so cosy and we just couldn’t turn it down. So we suited up and headed to the cars. Out jumped Jess Giard from Chamberlain and Rod Wellington, another uber adventurer who had paddled almost 2000 miles of the Missouri and had just reached our starting point. They had road tripped 12 hours through the night to join us for the last day and we couldn’t have been more excited. What a treat. Yes. This was the final day and we had amazing people there for us.

We drove in Mike’s car with minimal gear and after packing up the boards, staring in awe at the Chain of Rocks and beating each other up in the sand, we were ready. For the last time. Dale was alongside us in his canoe. And we just headed for the big arch. Of course they got me about four times with made up stories along the way. One being that the story of Rapunzel was actually based on something that happened on the water and the castle she was locked in was this little tower where we put in. Annoyingly I believed it because it was a perfect castle for the story. Grrrrr. Gullible Gimli done again.

We kept going. And the arch got bigger. We were filming. Tweeting. Facebooking. And keeping everyone posted. The coastguard came out. Barge dudes were screaming “are you kidding me?!” The sun was shining. And finally we started to pull in.

Miles, Miguel, Jess, Rod, Dale, Gary, Marsha, Patrick Albert (a blogger who had been following us), some other people and press were all running down and clapping. Lots of friendly faces and a huge arch behind them. Shining in the sun. We had done it. We pulled in. Cameras in our faces. We hugged. Held back tears. And then stood together for the interviews before racing each other up the stairs to the base of the arch. We had done it. Together. The ginger had swum 1000 miles and we had completed the Swim 1000 expedition. I’m not one for getting deep but the its choking me up writing about it now. Boy does it feel good/ sad/ overwhelming/ reflective. This experience has changed my life and I loved every second of it (more of that in the post to follow).

After hugs and all, we piled back to Mikes pad to sort the canoe, send all the kit back to Memphis with Dale, shower and get ready for the evening entertainment. While we emptied the entire expedition onto the grass, Gary and Marsha brought us mini burgers, chips and onion rings. As if they hadn’t done enough?! And we realised that an expedition that takes so much organising and mental and physical strength to do, can be packed up in a couple of hours.

Showered and shiny, we put ourselves in the hands of Miles who drove us all the way to Columbia for his very own college football game. 70,000 people were piled into the stadium of the University of Columbia. Mizzou vs Vandy. What an atmosphere.

We were in a special section and we screamed our heads off. We made lots of friends, felt like we were in ‘One Tree Hill’, danced when the full band marched around, laughed as the helmet car whizzed around, tried to high five the tiger mascot, checked out the cheerleaders and just loved it. Miles is an absolute gem. He treated us to the whole evening and really is an absolute dude.

Now that’s a proper Yankee end to the expedition. All of us passed out within five seconds on the drive home and went straight to bed (party animals) with so much love for everyone we met along the way.

This Sunday was different from the ones before, with no alarm, no boards to pack and no swimmer to tend too. Instead we packed up, said goodbyes, missed the river and ate a delicious breakfast whipped up by Muddy Mike. I even peed outside as the bathroom freaked me out. Skyped my parents and headed to the airport. I write this from the plane. With a blanket over my lap as I flick through the photos of the past 60 days. I’ve already sobbed my way through two films that weren’t even sad. Now its back to reality. But only for a little bit. And to be honest my brain is so strange, it’s never really understood reality. So I’m going to be on the river and on a sandbar in my head. Which is exactly where I want to stay. For a while anyway.

Website: www.swim1000.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/expedition1000

Twitter: @DaveCorn and @Swim1000