By AP
Cairo, IL – A Tennessee woman has completed her 981-mile swim of the Ohio River, ending in Illinois about two months after she started in Pittsburgh. Forty-five-year-old Mimi Hughes celebrated Saturday night at her final destination in Cairo, Illinois, setting aside her diet of energy bars and electrolytes to have a veggie burger, fries, ice cream and beer.
Hughes is a community college reading specialist who began the swim May 22nd to raise money for women's education programs worldwide. She often was in the water for eight to 12 hours daily, swimming an average of 20 miles and resting one day per week. She was accompanied by a filmographer making a documentary and kayakers who monitored river traffic.