Paddler Headed From Chicago To New Orleans To Promote Clean Water
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A New Jersey woman left Chicago on Wednesday for a long paddle to Louisiana, on the last leg of a journey that started on the East Coast.
Margo Pellegrino said she'll spend the next eight weeks paddling her 20-foot outrigger canoe from Chicago to New Orleans to raise awareness about clean water.
"I'm trying to educate as many people as possible to get people to care to take care of our water, and also to get out and enjoy it," she said.
Pellegrino said, with all the political division in the U.S., clean water is more popular than any candidate.
"Our political divisions and our other divisions can be many, but I have yet to find anyone that is as popular as clean water. It seems that clean water has a bigger constituency than any one political person or individual that I know, or have heard of," she said. "Who doesn't like clean water? Do you want it clean or do you want it dirty? That is a no-brainer."
Her journey down the Mississippi will take her through some Asian carp-infested waters.
"Hopefully, I'll be able to duck fast enough, and hopefully they won't break my boat," she said with a laugh.
Pellegrino started her journey in New York, and made her way to Chicago via the Hudson River, the Erie Canal, and the Great Lakes.
You can follow the last leg of her trip to New Orleans at paddle4blue.com