After she recovered her stolen minivan, Katie Spotz -- who rowed solo across the Atlatic Ocean this year -- said "It looks like I used up all of my luck on the row."
Katie Spotz, shown here in a photograph from last year, rows in Mentor Harbor. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Katie Spotz, who has rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, biked across the United States and swam the Allegheny River, endured a new experience Friday -- driving her minivan home on Friday with a screwdriver in the ignition.
It was a bothersome experience for the 23-year-old Mentor resident, whose 2000 Dodge minivan was stolen overnight Sunday while at a friend's home on Larchmere Boulevard in Cleveland.
Spotz said she parked the beige van in a lot with 10 other cars. When she awoke Monday to leave for work, her vehicle was gone.
But that wasn't all. Spotz, who in March became the youngest person and the first American to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, lost the oars she used on that journey from Dakar, Senegal, to Georgetown, Guyana. They are valued at $2,000.
Thieves also stole her road bike, a Giant OCR 2, with a 54-inch frame, which she said was worth $3,700, plus her bike gear, which she valued at $5,000. It's the same bike she used on a 3,300-mile trek across the United States in 2006.
Also taken were photos of her Atlantic crossing coming-home event in Mentor. She had them enlarged to 3 feet by 2 feet to use at speaking events.
Nancy Dominik, a Cleveland police spokeswoman, said Spotz's minivan was recovered Monday at East 127th Street and Dove Avenue. It was towed to a police impound lot, where Spotz finally reclaimed it Friday evening.
"Everything I had of value is gone, even some of the seats," Spotz said.
She said thieves left three things -- two compact discs -- one titled "Go Hard or Drive Home," the other "Trap or Die 2" -- and a fake gold ring.
"What I can't understand is what these people are doing with my custom oars," she said. "They don't serve people any kind of purpose."
Spotz told police she had locked her minivan, whose book value is $5,000. Police told her that model is one of the most stolen vehicles in Ohio.
Driving home Friday was no fun.
"The engine doesn't sound too good," Spotz said. "Police say they ran the engine hard, and it almost sounds like it's burned out. It looks like I used up all of my luck on the row."
Spotz, who last year also became the first person to swim the entire 325-mile length of the Allegheny River, said her bad luck carried over to Tuesday.
Her friend stopped at a lottery store, where he said, "Let's change your luck right now."
Spotz said that as she put the dollar he gave her on the counter, the clerk said the store was sold out of lottery tickets.
"Can you believe that?" she said. "What store runs out of lottery tickets? The only good thing I guess I can say happened this week was I saved a dollar."