Kayaking Mississippi River Blog

Reflecting

8/13/2014

I've been asked a lot of great questions about the trip, so I put together this list of FAQ's and other interesting facts about my time on the river. Please keep in mind these are only my answers, not Gabe's.

Total miles paddled: 2,340

Total elevation decrease: 1,475 ft.

Total days to complete the river: 71

Total states traveled to: 10

Total kayaks used: 4

Total rainy days (while on the water): 14

Total lbs lost: 21

Total # of shaves: 0

Total haircuts: 0

Total # of showers: 12

Total # of sunburns: 2 bad ones, 7 minor ones

Total alligators seen: 2

Total homes stayed at: 11

Total funds raised to date: $15,530 and rising!

Scariest moment on the river: Gabe getting sucked into Knutson Dam (never told anyone about that)

Favorite moment on the river: Swimming in the ocean!

Most challenging moment/day on the river: Day 2 in the Headwaters by myself

Favorite thing about camping: Hearing nothing but nature and no light pollution

Worst thing about camping: Sand sticks to EVERYTHING

Favorite sight-seeing activity while in town: Quad City River Rats Baseball Game

Favorite sight-seeing activity while on the river: Paddling next to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis

Best music to paddle to: I’ve memorized most of Taylor Swift’s songs…don’t judge me

Favorite beer on the trip: Yuengling or Stella Artois

Favorite town visited: I couldn't possibly pick a favorite, they were all awesome

Most scenic state to paddle through: Minnesota

Food craved the most during the trip: Pizza!

New foods tried for the first time: Catfish, Shrimp Gumbo, Crab, Sweet Potatoes

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The Finish Line

8/12/2014

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It's hard to believe this journey has finally come to an end. I've been planning diligently for this since May 2013 and can't fathom just how fast the time has gone. We reached the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, August 9th at 12:45 pm and I was mixed with emotions - happiness, a sense of accomplishment and exhaustion were just a few! Here is a summary of the last two days of our trip..

My parents have become our "support staff" for the last leg of the trip. We’ve been able to paddle as late as we like and then lock our kayaks up between the river and levy before catching a ride with my parents back to their hotel for the night. We enjoyed a large breakfast at their hotel before driving south to get back to our locked up gear on Day 70 (August 8th). I get nervous every time we leave our gear. How awful would it be for someone to steal our stuff this far into the trip! We came up to the levy and saw four work vehicles parked on the top and one parked down by the river near our gear. To our relief, our gear was untouched. We pushed into the river to begin our last full day of paddling on the Mississippi River. We were aiming for Venice, LA which is the last town with road access to it before hitting the Gulf of Mexico. As usual, it started raining just a few minutes after we started. I put my spray skirt on to keep my gear dry but decided against the raincoat. It was far too hot for that and the cool rain actually felt pretty good. As we were paddling today it was crazy to see the mile markers get closer and closer to single digit numbers. I saw a big coyote today walking along the rocks on the river. I paddled very slowly next to it and then just floated down past him. It didn’t realize I was in the water until I was maybe 30 yards from it. It took off and watched me from the woods afterward. It was the only coyote I had seen the entire trip though, so that was neat. We paddled as hard as we could but could rarely get over 5 mph. This made for a long day on the water. Right around 5 pm we came around a bend and saw some people swimming in the river. It was on this bend that it felt like the sun was burning us through our shirts. We both mentioned how incredibly hot the sun felt on that stretch of the river. It must have been hitting at just the right angle to reflect onto our backs. We made it to Venice, LA just as the sun was setting, but we still had a few more miles to get to Cypress Cove Marina. This is where my parents would be meeting us and where we would store our kayaks for the evening. Our two mile paddle off of the main channel to the marina was a little more difficult than we hoped. All the fisherman were returning as we were pulling in and none of them were taking their time getting back to the marina. It was a narrow channel that had a wall all along the right side. When the big fishing boats would fly past us at full speed, the waves would hit us once and then bounce off the walls to return for another chance to slow us down a bit. Those were probably the longest two miles of the day (we did 41 miles total). We eventually pulled up and got our kayaks locked up to a tree in the middle of the parking lot. We were given permission to keep them there and told that security patrols the area all through the night. As we were locking up there were a group of gentleman who asked my folks about the kayaks. They briefly explained what we were doing and said that we had one more day on the water. Two of the gentlemen, Tommy and Terry, asked if we’d join them for dinner at the marina restaurant. We enjoyed a great meal with these two guys who were traveling to the area to work on cell phone towers. They were both great company and even offered to pay for my family and Gabe’s food bill. It was a great way to spend our last evening in Louisiana!

I woke up around 5:30 on OUR LAST DAY (Day 71 on August 9th) to start getting ready. We had 30 more miles until reaching the Gulf and I knew we had to be on the water as early as possible if we still wanted to get on the road back home the same day. Gabe’s family arrived and helped us move our kayaks from the parking lot over to the boat launch. We snapped a few pictures before leaving and headed out just as the sun was rising. We battled the waves on our way back to the main channel again. It was a beautiful Saturday morning so all of the fisherman were on their way out. We had a lot of boats pass pretty close to us when we got out on the main channel. I’m sure it was strange to see a couple guys heading south without a motor because there were no more ways to get out south of Venice. We paddled past our families one last time before getting out to the main channel. Cypress Cove hotel was kind enough to let our families stay in their room (well after checkout) until we arrived back in Venice. We paddled past the last few single digit mile markers on the river. I believe the last one I saw was mile marker 7. When we were about three miles from Head of Passes we started to drift toward the middle of the river to make sure we entered South Pass. When we reached the entrance of South Pass, we were officially done with the Mississippi River. I was hoping to see a giant zero on the sign but it was just a green and red sign at the entrance of South Pass. I chose to keep my music off all day today. Over the last several weeks I would usually paddle the first half of the day with no music and then turn it on when the task of paddling felt a little monotonous. I had a lot to think about today. I thought all the way back to the headwaters and all the kind people I met there as I was leaving. I thought about how hard it was to say goodbye to my wife and family. I thought about the first person who waved at us as we were exiting Lake Bemidji. I thought about God's constant protection and the blessings He gave us throughout the trip, and how so many prayers were answered beautifully. Then I thought of each person that made a difference in our trip from beginning to end. There are so many people that made this trip more than I ever expected it to be. When I left the headwaters, I had a list of eight phone numbers of people down the river. I had no idea that we would be taken care of by countless others throughout the trip. I owe a special shout out to Jim Lewis of Grand Rapids. He was our first contact on the river and definitely one of our most important. Jim saw Gabe and I pull up in our two little twelve foot kayaks and was quick to advise us to consider something larger. After completing this journey, I’m not sure I would have made it in my original kayak. Jim was so invested into our trip that he remained in daily contact for hundreds of miles after Grand Rapids. We are happy to have met Jim and his wonderful wife Sharron and we certainly plan to stay in touch. As I was paddling the last day I also thought about how I felt that we had probably picked the perfect time of year to make this trip. It rained while we were paddling a few times up in Minnesota, once in Iowa, and twice in Louisiana. I’m not sure anyone else has had that good of luck on a trip like this. We were also lucky enough to catch three cold fronts while passing through Mississippi and Louisiana! A lot of the Louisiana locals continuously told us that this was a mild summer. I feel bad for that paddlers that had a normal summer down south. We’ve seen some heat overseas but this southern Louisiana heat was just comical. So I spent the entire day reflecting on how great everyone was to us these last couple months. When we bypassed mile marker zero at Head of Passes, it kind of reminded me of the headwaters again. I could reach my paddle down three or four feet and still see the end of my yellow paddle. The big muddy river that would usually only have about two inches of visibility was now clearing up again. Although the river was still wider down here, the scenery resembled the headwaters again. The edges of the river were lined with tall grass and had small paths to wander through on each side. I could finally spot what looked like lighthouse in the far distance. It must have been over 10 miles away but I knew that it was a sign that the ocean was near. I came around a corner and saw a tiny little gap with no land beyond it. My mind was going insane knowing that I was getting my first look at the Gulf of Mexico. The finish line was finally in sight! We had been riding the right side of the channel all day and then suddenly I asked Gabe, “How the hell did we get on the left side of the channel?” There must have been some strong currents right near the last several miles to the Gulf. We paddled pretty hard to cross back over and it really wasn’t easy. We had to fight to stay on the right side the rest of the way. We passed Port Eads where the lighthouse was located and paddled our final miles of this entire river. We pulled up on a small island that had a really nice sandy beach on it. The waves were crashing and it was one of the greatest feelings ever. As much as we loved paddling this amazing river, our bodies were both in need of a break. We pulled our kayaks out of the hot, shallow water and onto the beach. After taking some pictures we ran into the ocean and swam/floated on our own for almost an hour. It gave us each time to think about what we had just accomplished. Our journey was finished but we had no idea how we were going to get back upstream 30 miles. The advice we had always been given was to wave down a fisherman and ask for a ride. There was no guarantee but that was part of the adventure! I figured sitting on the beach wasn’t going to get us a ride so I told Gabe that we needed to get back into our kayaks and wait in the channel for a boat to come by so we could wave it down. I tried paddling upstream for a little while and we were barely moving. After waiting about 10 minutes we spotted a boat coming back towards the channel. When it was about 75 yards away I waved with both hands. The boat came to a stop and I paddled over to it as fast as I could. I yelled out, “You wouldn’t happen to be heading to Venice would you?” They responded with yes and I asked if they’d be kind enough to offer us a ride back upstream. Without hesitation, the driver, Chris, said, “Come on in!” We pulled up next to the 33 foot boat and fit our kayaks right inside. We met two other men on board, both named Charlie. They were both friends of Chris who were his charters for the day. They offered us each a beer right away after asking how long we’d been on the river. It was a nice little celebratory drink. The ride back up to Venice was quick, only took 35 minutes. The driver was doing nearly 50 mph the entire way back upstream. It felt strange going that fast on a boat. Chris, Charlie and Charlie were the last helpers on our entire trip and it just made the entire thing feel complete. The people on this river are some of the nicest I’ve met in my life and I am incredibly grateful for everyone’s kindness. The social media community “Mississippi River Paddlers” is something that recent and future paddlers are blessed with. I think this is a perfect example of what social media should be used for - to connect people who share a common interest and otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to meet. Thank you to everyone who helped me plan this trip over the last year, fed us a meal, let us sleep on their property or inside their homes, gathered others to greet us in their city, gave us beers to drink, and took the time to learn about why we did this trip in the first place. Thank you to my amazing wife, Heather, who not only selflessly spent the entire summer without me, but also spent countless hours making sure that all of this content was presented in an enjoyable way. She is the reason the website, Facebook page, and photos were all posted in a prompt manner. She was constantly making sure I was sending journal entries because she knew that people were waiting to read more. I'd also like to thank my parents for taking the time off of work to be there for me while I finished this journey. They were there for us when it seemed impossible to find camping spots. I'm not sure how we would have finished without their help. Finally, thank you to all of you who have already made donations to the Semper Fi Fund. We hope that our amazing summer on the river will help bring joy to military families that need it. Please continue to donate and encourage others to do so as well at www.MississippiRiver2014.weebly.com! Thanks for following our journey!

Semper Fi,

Nic

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Marines in New Orleans

8/8/2014

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New Orleans has been great to us! We enjoyed a concert in the park at Algiers Point, met our fundraising coordinator from the Semper Fi Fund, met the Commander of Marine Force Reserves, and tried some spicy Cajun food. It was the perfect city to wrap up the last days of our journey.

We had the luxury of sleeping in an air conditioned room last night! I woke up around 7 and went downstairs to grab breakfast on Day 68 (August 6). It was a short day into New Orleans (26 miles) so we didn't have to get into the water until around noon. Over the last couple weeks I have been working with the Semper Fi Fund and the Marine Corps reserve unit in New Orleans to plan a final event for our trip. Susan Wortman has been my point of contact for the Semper Fi Fund since I started planning this trip and she began reaching out to people she knew in the New Orleans area. We didn't know it yet but she had a great evening planned for us. We paddled in another miserably hot day and arrived at Algiers Point at about 5:45 pm. There was a band on stage playing and a group of people walked over to wave at us as we passed by and parked our kayaks. The first to greet us was GySgt Harilson, who contacted me before my trip even started. He said that the Marines in New Orleans would be prepared to take care of us when we arrived in his area of operation. We were greeted by several other Marines right away and then Susan came over to finally get to meet us. Working with Susan the last several months has been an absolute pleasure. She has constantly been looking out for us and making sure we had everything we needed. Shortly after we arrived, a big rain storm forced everyone to take cover under the tents. We had the opportunity to meet a bunch more Marines and their families. It was awesome to see how excited they were for our arrival. One of the Marines handed us each a beer to enjoy while we waited for the rain to pass. Lieutenant General Richard Mills, the Commander of Marine Force Reserves, also made an appearance to congratulate us and thank us for what we were doing. It was a pretty great experience to meet him! We even met up with him again at the bar later. When the storm finally cleared I went on stage and had the chance to speak to the crowd of almost 200 people. I explained our trip and some brief details of the Semper Fi Fund. We were then approached by a group of people who offered some cash donations and asked for business cards to follow our website. The concert continued on and we met a lot of great people in the audience. The Marines advised us to go to a bar called Crown and Anchor, which was just a block or two away. After getting a t-shirt purchased for us by a kind gentleman named Jeff, we made our way to Crown and Anchor. The General and other Marines have made this bar their own. It felt great being around a bunch of Marines again. We didn't pay for a drink all night! We had a very late dinner at a place called Daisy Dukes. I tried Shrimp Gumbo for the first time and really enjoyed it. The Semper Fi Fund was kind enough to put us in a room at the Hilton for the evening. The rooms were quite nice. We didn't get settled in our rooms until around 1 am and got a handful of hours of sleep. Overall, New Orleans was another huge highlight of the trip. Thank you to everyone who made it possible!

On Day 69 (August 7), Susan drove Gabe and I to the Marine Corps base to pick up our kayaks that GySgt Harilson kept for us overnight. We restocked water and snacks and were given a small tour of their facility. It made me really miss being around Marines again. Gunny Harilson had three Marines follow him back to the levy to put us back in the water. When we grabbed the gear we needed from my parents' vehicle, the Marines had already carried our kayaks up over the levy and about 150 yards to the edge of the water. They literally did everything for us. We thanked them individually and said our final goodbye to GySgt Harilson. Without his help the coordination of the last two days wouldn't have gone as smooth as it did. We are thankful that he was willing to help from the start! Susan presented Gabe and I each with a large framed poster from the Semper Fi Fund. It had pictures of us on our trip and had a nice message on the bottom thanking us for fundraising. It was very nice! We pushed off into the water at 9 am and were exhausted fairly quick. It was another hot day and we paddled for a little over 10 hours, completing 47 miles. Gabe and I didn't talk much today. I think we were both tired and ready for the day to be over. I accidentally ran out of sunblock today and I certainly paid for it. When we finished the day my neck was burnt pretty bad and I had a few very small blisters forming on my forearm. Looks like I'll be wearing long sleeves the rest of the trip. We pulled our kayaks out just before dark and locked them up on shore.

Today is our last FULL day of paddling! Then just a half day on Saturday and we will have officially made it to the Gulf.

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River Traffic

8/6/2014

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On Day 66 (August 4) we woke up early so we could rip down our tents and get on the water right away. I cooked some pasta and bagged it up before leaving so I had something decent to eat during lunch today. We got a few good hours of paddling in and then the cracks of thunder got closer and closer. As we were debating whether or not to pull over, one of the huge ocean-going ships came cruising around the corner. They are about three times as fast as the tows pushing barges and seem to make no sound at all. The waves were similar in size to the barges though. They were large but spread far enough apart to make them easy to navigate without getting wet. The tug boats are another story though. They are some of the smaller ships on the river but they create the most difficult wake. The waves are crashing regardless of how deep the water is and are very close together which causes our front half of the kayak to dive into the waves. The thunder continued but no rain at this point. It was only after we saw lightning hit directly across the river from us that I told Gabe we needed to get off the water immediately. We knew the storm was right overhead. Just 100 yards back upstream was a small sandbar that we just passed. We turned around and quickly paddled back to this area. The dark clouds surrounded us and it looked like some were dropping rain. We decided to set Gabe's tent up to take cover from the rain. About two minutes after we moved all of our gear inside, the rain clouds disappeared and the sun was out. It was really frustrating. Gabe took a nap anyway and I constructed a little tarp shelter to keep the sun off of me while he rested. After a short break we got back in the water to finish our final 15 miles. We had a close call with a tug boat today. We were riding through a very industrial part of the river and barges lined both shorelines. Suddenly a tug boat was coming straight for us around a corner. He was driving straight into the sun and was going full speed, only leaving about 20 feet between him and a parked barge. After seeing the waves they produced, we knew that the waves would then just bounce back off the barges and create a big mess with the water. When he was about 50 yards from us I kind of waved my paddle a little. His engine came to a stop and I saw the driver looking at us through his binoculars. He slowly cruised past us. I yelled thank you to them as loud as I could when I saw two men step outside. They waved at us and said something but we were too far away to hear. We reached our goal for the day and began looking for campsites using our phones. There were no sandbars on this stretch of the river. After paddling a little further up, I spotted a sandy area on the shore of an industrial plant. We approached the sandy area slowly because it looked like the sand that disguised the deep mud that Gabe has fallen into a few times. As we pulled up I said "dibs on not getting out first." Gabe put his shoes on and stepped out into the very shallow water. When he shifted his weight his leg sunk down to the middle of his shin. This was not a good spot to finish our day but we were losing sunlight. We cooked our dinner this evening an crawled into our bug nets. We paddled 34 miles for the day.

We ate a small breakfast and were in the water by 8:00 am on Day 67 (August 5). We paddled for about three hours before pulling off the river to a small town to resupply our water. We pulled up to a barge that housed tug boat drivers along the shoreline. When I stepped out of my kayak my foot sunk in mud up to my ankle. I knew the mud was soft so I grabbed a large flat rock and dropped it on top of the mud for Gabe to step on. He put one foot down on the rock and took a big step. Unfortunately for him he stepped on the edge of the rock so it tilted into the mud and he sunk in up to his knee. His other foot went in up to his shin. The mud strikes again. The town we stopped in turned out to be a very rundown area with very limited places open to the public. The houses were in some of the worst shape I had seen yet and all the businesses were closed down. We managed to walk several blocks into town and find a restaurant that apparently just opened. The girl who worked there seemed quite hesitant to refill our water bladders. She insisted that she go to the restroom and do it. Again, it seemed like she thought we were homeless. When she saw that I had three bladders to fill she gave us permission to just do it ourselves. We walked back to our kayaks and had better luck re-entering. We made it into the most industrialized area that we had seen yet. Barges were coming from both directions, tows running back and forth in front of us and tug boats leading the way in front of huge ocean-going vessels. During one part of the day there was some traffic going both directions in the main channel. There were barges parked along both sides of the river and a tow staging some additional barges in front of us. There was a barge that appeared to be heading northbound but then started to turn in our direction. We held our position to see what his move was going to be and then determined that our only route was to get out to the center of the channel before the barges behind us got closer. As we paddled past the barge that turned towards us, the captain got on his loud speaker and said “You guys are possibly in the most dangerous part of the river to be doing that.” I gave him a thumbs up and loudly said “sorry” and kept paddling. I wasn’t upset about his comments as I understood that we were in the way of their work. He wasn’t a jerk about it or anything. Just reminding us that we were in an exceptionally busy part of the river. Several miles down there were two tows on the side of the river that we were riding on. They both turned upstream towards us and one of them gunned it as fast as he could go past us. We moved closer to the center of the channel so they could get by. The wake he created at full speed created one of the biggest waves that I had hit on the whole trip. I bet nearly half of my boat was showing underneath as I climbed up this wave just before it crashed. I’m almost certain that he did this on purpose because the tow behind him was courteous enough to drive at a very slow speed. Most of the commercial boats are pretty good about slowing down when they get near us and we really appreciate that. It rained on and off for about an hour and a half. We didn’t bother putting rain gear on because it was so damn hot. The rain actually felt pretty good. A couple miles before we pulled off the river we had another busy section of the river. We paddled past a tow that had several crew members taking pictures of us. One of them yelled out to me, “You guys must be tired of living…you’ve got a death wish doing that right there.” We smiled and waved and continued on. It’s funny that all the people who work around the river here wouldn’t dare get in it in a smaller watercraft. My parents drove down from Wisconsin and arrived near New Orleans today. We found a pretty bad spot to pull our kayaks out and carried them up over the levy to where my parents were picking us up. It seems as if there are no boat launches anywhere from here until we get done with the trip. My parents drove us back to their hotel where we enjoyed a great meal and spent the night crashing in their room! We’re both very excited for our day tomorrow. The Semper Fi Fund is flying some people out to meet us! We paddled 41 miles total.

It's about 95 miles to the Gulf after reaching New Orleans. Only a few more days left!

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Home Stretch

8/4/2014

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Not too much longer to go! We're both pretty sore and exhausted, but highly motivated to continue paddling hard to finish the route.

The weathermen in the south aren't any better than the ones up north. I wasn't expecting to wake up to rain drops on my face with a 0% chance of rain all night. Gabe and I quickly sprung up at 4:30 A.M on Day 62 (July 31) and grabbed a tarp to create a makeshift tent to cover our mosquito nets. It took us probably 15 minutes and then we crawled back into our tents to get a little more sleep. I ate breakfast on the water again. I seriously need to start eating more. I'm not sure how I function all day by cramming a bagel and a few honey buns down my throat before paddling nine hours straight. Lunch consisted of three packs of fruit snacks. The urgency to keep paddling in order to reach our goal supersedes any time spent eating. We enjoyed the cloud covered sky all day but battled a headwind most of the afternoon. Even with the clouds completely covering the sun, I still managed to get sunburn on my arms today. We pulled up on shore of an island at about 7:15 pm after paddling 52 miles and quickly set up our tents in anticipation of a rainstorm that would linger the entire next week. We started in rain so we might as well finish in it!

We woke up to thunder, lightning and rain on Day 63 (August 1). The rain was coming down strong and winds were pulling our stakes out of the sand again. We stayed under the cover of our tents until 10:45. When the rain finally slowed down for a bit we quickly ripped down our camp and pushed off into the water. During the first two hours it rained on us a lot and there was constant barge traffic going up and down stream. This forced us to stay out of the main channel and we averaged a speed of about 4 mph. The visibility was quite low at times so we stuck to the very edge of the channel in case a barge came out of nowhere. We saw our largest barge today at 7 wide by 7 long. I'm curious what is the largest anyone has seen on this river. I was in contact with a woman named Donna Graham who said she would like to help us when we came near Baton Rouge in a small town called St. Francisville. Donna's son, Austin, kayaked from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico last year and is now hiking the Pacific Crest Trail with his friend Brad. After paddling 39 miles, we arrived at the St. Francisville boat launch which was the muddiest exit we've had yet. The water seemed to be going down so much lately that most places we pull out are no longer dry. We met Donna and her friend Wayne, who brought us cold beers! We got the chance to talk for several minutes before the Sheriff's Department showed up with a trailer to haul our gear to a safe place for the evening. Donna had coordinated this for us and it worked out perfectly! We rode into town with Donna and made our final food resupply for this entire trip! We then rode a couple miles across river to Donna and her husband Bart's house. We had our own room with beds, a tv, and an AC unit. We were very lucky to be taken in by Donna and Bart. They prepared a great steak dinner which included macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, garlic bread, and a blackberry dessert with ice cream. It was an awesome meal and probably the most I had eaten in a long time. We stayed up until 1 am just enjoying the conversation with Donna. We talked about our travels and she told us a lot of Austin's stories. She felt she had to help out because of how great everyone treated (and continues to treat) Austin and Brad. We were beyond happy to be in a great home with incredibly great people.

Donna prepared some fresh fruit and biscuits for us on Day 64 (August 2). We packed everything up and drove back down to the boat launch where Tommy (Sheriffs Dept) met up with us to return our kayaks. Tommy is an Army veteran and thanked us for what we were doing. Donna had a friend named Susan who had recently caught up on some of our blog posts after Donna had posted them on Facebook. She came down to the launch to see us off and even brought us each a flower from her garden. It was nice of her to take time out of her Saturday morning to meet up with us! We pushed our kayaks through the ankle-high mud and back out into the water. We gave Donna one final thank you and pushed off towards Baton Rouge. Not long after we left the rain we were expecting all day started coming down. It only lasted about 45 minutes but the clouds remained. The day was filled with seeing wildlife. I FINALLY got to see the alligator I've been searching for. Right on the main channel, Gabe and I were just floating along the edge silently. About 20 yards away on shore I spotted the head of an alligator and it's tail still up on shore. It was probably at least 7 feet long. It quickly slithered into the water in front of us. I was hoping it would pop it's head up again so Gabe could see it but it was long gone. Just a few more miles down the river we kept our silent approach a priority. It was a very flooded muddy area so I knew there had to be some around. Just under a tree that was down on shore I spotted the large body of an alligator that had to be near 9 feet long. It slowly crawled into the water in front of us and was never in sight again. It was a pretty great experience to get to see them. I was worried I wasn't going to get to see any as we were starting to approach the cities. I also spotted what I believe is a Roseate Spoonbill. I saw a huge pink bird fly by but it didn't resemble a flamingo. Maybe I'm wrong but it looked more like that one. The weather had rain in the forecast all day and I think all those prayers for good weather and safety are being answered. It felt like we had a bubble of clear skies around us as we could see the surrounding areas getting stormed and rained on all day. There were a few times we even prepped our rain gear in anticipation of a big dark cloud but it would somehow wait for us to pass and then sneak in behind us to drop inches of rain on surrounding areas. We've got rain in the forecast from here until we finish so keep those prayers coming! It certainly feels like they've been answered. Just two miles from Baton Rouge we had two gentleman pull up in a fishing boat. They asked us a few questions about our trip and even handed us each a beer. At this time the sun was out and beating on us and it was one of the best cold beers I'd ever had. They didn't keep us too long and we pushed into the start of the industrial area of Baton Rouge. There was barge traffic everywhere. We had one cut out in front of us while another was just passing next to us. We really feel like a hassle as these people are just trying to do their jobs. We try and keep an eye out way ahead and anticipate any moving traffic so we can stay out of their way. We rode past a couple of parked ocean vessels that come up river. They are absolutely massive compared to the barges. We're curious to see the waves they produce. We found a small edge that was covered in sand and decided to camp here for the night. We paddled as hard as we could to get up on the beach, completing 37 miles. I hopped out of my kayak and onto the beach. Gabe did the same but he sunk into mud that was about knee deep. He quickly climbed out and we were forced to move down the beach a little further to harder ground. As I was walking on it I could see the sand cracking around each step. If I'd weighed a little more I'm certain I would have fell through as well. Gabe cooked chicken alfredo pasta tonight and it turned out excellent. One of the best field cooked meals we've had yet. We fell asleep to the sound of river traffic all night and the city lights just across river.

I woke up several times last night from how loud all the river traffic was. There were barges coming and going to the port that we setup camp next to. We jumped in the river and dealt with a couple miles of busy industrial traffic on Day 65 (August 3). After that the river went wild again. Our clothes were in pretty bad shape from the combination of sweat and rain. Unfortunately neither of us had anymore contacts down this way. We opted for getting out in the city of Plaquemine, LA to go to a laundromat. We pulled our kayaks up to shore alongside a ferry and grabbed all of our valuables. Gabe immediately sunk in some mud and decided to keep walking through it. I walked a different direction which was a drier route. He hasn't had much luck with mud lately. We washed all of our clothes and charged our battery. After spending nearly two hours in town, we were back on the water. We setup camp on a sand beach that had similar muddy sand. We had to be careful with each step. We both cooked our dinner and initially setup bug net tents. Shortly before going to bed the lightening started. Gabe and I scrambled to set our real tents up before the rain arrived! We paddled 34 miles for the day.

The plan is to make it to New Orleans by Wednesday evening!

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A Taste of the South

7/31/2014

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What a great week! Between meeting more fellow paddlers, going to a Southern Baptist service, and having a huge catfish dinner in Vicksburg, I would say that some of the best highlights of our trip came from this past week. There were certainly enough challenges we experienced the last several days as well - from sweltering heat to difficult locals and unsafe areas, we've had our hands full. But the overwhelming kindness and generosity of most of the strangers we've encountered still astounds me.

Day 56 (July 25) was probably the most uneventful day of the trip. We woke up on a sandbar and did our morning routine. During our almost 9 hours of paddling we decided to take a shortcut rather than go all the way around an island. I realize that this is usually a currentless route but we needed to break up the day somehow. Between the island and mainland there were three man-made jetties that created some basic rapids for us. The excitement was short lived. We each took in a little bit of water which woke us up from the hot day of paddling. We paddled all day and finally stopped at another sandbar with maybe an hour and a half of daylight remaining. I cooked baked beans in a can as soon as we landed and Gabe must have went to bed right around 7 pm. The sun was still beating down so I'm not sure how he slept like that. Another rainless evening which meant we got to use our quick pop up mosquito net tents! We paddled 56 miles for the day.

We both woke up sore as usual on Day 57 (July 26). I haven't been blogging about it much but we generally wake up with our hands so tight that we can't close our fists. Getting up from a seated position causes us to cringe with pain from our backs and butts being sore from sitting. Gabe already has back issues so I'm certain that this likely isn't the therapy a doctor would recommend. We push on everyday knowing that there isn't much we can do about it. Today we had a goal to aim for Greenville, MS. We were down to our last container of water and needed to resupply on food and fuel as well. During our entire trip this will only be our third fuel canister, they sure do last a long time! We hit the water and tried to maintain an average speed of 7 mph so that we could get to Greenville early and get resupplied and settled in a camp spot before dark. We arrived in Greenville around 3 pm after paddling 43 miles. It was blistering hot when we got away from the breeze of the main channel. We pulled our kayaks out on an industrial boat launch that looked like it was no longer used, covered our kayaks with the camouflage tarp and packed all our valuables in our backpacks. Just as we started walking to town, we realized that we were fenced in to a very secure industrial plant. We tried to stay hidden and Gabe jumped a fence with barbed wire over the top. I chose to lay down and crawl under the fence instead. We felt that our kayaks were certainly secure at this site. We started walking to town which was nearly three miles away. After the first mile both of our shirts were completely soaked with sweat. We decided that it would be impossible to sleep outside in this weather and that we would catch a taxi to the cheapest motel. The cab arrived and he dropped us off 5 miles later at the motel. I asked what we owed and he said "$25 each." My immediate response was "are you shitting me!?" I explained that we are traveling doing charitable work and don't have much money. His response was, "the best I can do is $20 each." We tried getting him to lower it but he refused. Gabe paid the man and we walked in the motel lobby blown away at how bad we just got ripped off. We asked for a room and they said it wasn't clean yet and that we should come back in 15 minutes. We noticed at least 4 or 5 very sketchy men wandering around the motel drinking at 4 pm. We decided to walk a few blocks down to McDonalds for a early dinner. We hung out at McDonalds for well over an hour, enjoying their AC. When we returned to the motel to get our key and TV remote (must be a commonly stolen item) we walked to our room to find the cleaning lady had just started cleaning. We leaned against the wall under the shade and watched as she brought garbage bags full of beer bottles out. Several other people staying at the motel stared at us as they wandered around aimlessly while drinking their beers. We walked inside and acknowledged the fact that we were likely not in the best area of town. We knew there was definitely some sketchy business going on just outside our room when we saw a guy standing out on the corner keeping an eye out for cops. We went to bed wondering how we were going to get back to our gear the next day without spending another $40.

I woke up at 6 am on Day 58 (July 27) and didn't bother sleeping in to enjoy being inside. Neither of us slept under the blankets of our beds last night for the fear that they were unclean. The entire room was run down. Drawers missing, dressers that look like they came from the 70's, bathroom door that didn't lock, lights that didn't work. The strangest thing was the color of the tap water which had a yellowish tea look to it. Apparently this is how everyone's water in the city looks. After doing some research, the locals like to say that's where their talent for the blues comes from - "it's in the water." We drank bottled water. I immediately started looking for other taxis in the area. There were only 2 or 3 to choose from and I figured they all probably worked the same. On our walk back to McDonald's, I spotted a well dressed man walking into the entrance of a strip mall that had been abandoned for the most part. The section he was in was renovated and looked to be the only one kept clean and modern. On the outside window it read "King James Bible Baptist Church." I told Gabe that after breakfast we should go talk to him to see if he could offer us any help. On our walk back to our motel I knocked on the door and Pastor Charles Hamilton greeted us each with a hand shake and asked how he could help us. We explained what we were doing and our desperate need for a ride back to our gear. He handed me a pamphlet and said that he had two services to conduct this morning and that he would love it if we came as guests, and that he would certainly be able to find us a ride after the service. I figured it was the least we could do so we walked back to our hotel room and packed all of our gear and brought it over to their church. Everyone looked back at us as we set our gear down and quietly picked a spot in the back row. There were approximately 30 people attending the service and shortly after our arrival the pastor had us introduce ourselves. Each individual at the service came back to shake our hands and thanked us for coming to their service. Some of the younger kids said they wished they could come with us. It was a real great community of people and everyone was incredibly nice. The service lasted an hour and a half and had a lot of good messages. The style of preaching, Southern Baptist, was like something I had never witnessed before, so it was a cool opportunity to get to experience something so different. After the service Pastor Hamilton had one of his assistants drive us back to our kayaks free of charge! Greenville was interesting and I'm glad we had the opportunity to experience everything. We paddled in some more hot weather again to a sandbar where we set up camp, completing 37 miles. We had to set up our real tents. There was a 30% chance of rain. Before bed I messaged our contact in Vicksburg, MS, Layne Logue. I asked if he could assist us with a water resupply because we were running low. He said he would be happy to help and that we would talk in the morning.

The storms woke us up at about 4 am on Day 59 (July 28). The wind ripped out a couple of our stakes and tried lifting our tents. I quickly rolled towards the side lifting up to keep it on the ground. The lightning flashes were bright and the thunder was right over us. We were in a pretty bad spot for a storm - on the edge of a sandbar near the middle of the water. I wondered if people could anticipate being struck by lightning. The storm lasted until 7 am which prevented us from getting on the water as early as we wanted to. We got on the water at 8:40 AM and it was another hot day. I pulled out the maps that I had and realized that we were not 50 miles from Vicksburg like I originally thought the night before. After adding everything up, we were over 76 miles away. I quickly tried to contact Layne to let him know that we might not make it that night, but my phone had no service. We paddled for several hours and then a message arrived on my cell phone from Layne. He said that he had a friend interested in helping and contacted some other friends who managed to get us a free room at a nice hotel along the river. Well now that we had a room waiting on us, our motivation increased quite a bit. It was a brutally hot day and a shower and room with AC sounded amazing. I finally got service and messaged Layne to let him know that we might not get there until late, but we were not stopping until we got there. Today was the closest we came to running out of water. We were forced to ration our water almost halfway through the day. When we still had 20 miles left, we were each down to one more bottle full. We both developed headaches and knew that we were dehydrated. We drank the remainder of our water and asked Layne to have some water waiting when we arrived. 7:00 pm rolls around and we were still six miles away. About 30 minutes later we heard a yell from the left bank. I looked in that direction and spotted a kayaker waving their arms. Layne had paddled out to us to escort us up the Yazoo River to the boat launch where we would be getting out. He handed us each a cold bottle of water which was amazing, and took some pictures of us and we continued on towards our end spot for the day. After about 12 hours of paddling, we came around the corner and saw well over 20 people standing on shore clapping and waiting to greet us. We jumped out of our boats and were immediately handed beers by a Marine veteran. There were at least seven or eight veterans there. Many were Marines. It was the greatest reception we've had so far. We were told that there was a catfish dinner going on that evening but I was under the impression that this was something that was planned well in advance and just happened to land on the day we were arriving. In actuality, a woman named Patty Mekus, who is the president of the Southern Heritage Air Foundation, had not only gathered all these people with Layne for our reception but also planned a catered meal from Rowdy's which included LOTS of catfish and plenty of side dishes. We arrived at the Vicksburg-Tulluah Airport where the dinner was being held. Inside a huge hangar they had tables set up and dinner waiting for us. It was my first time having catfish and it was great! I ate a big pile of it. We sat with the family of a Marine and a gentleman named Chester Masterson who was with a nonprofit organization called Warrior Bonfire Project (www.warriorbonfireproject.org). They assist Purple Heart veterans by taking them on outdoor trips all over the country. It's a newer organization but seems to be doing very well. Patty gave us a tour of the WWII museum - shek knew every little detail of each object in there along with a lot if great stories. We wrapped things up with strawberry shortcake for dessert (amazing) and said goodbye and thanked everyone for putting together such a perfect night. Everything they planned was a huge surprise and was far more than we ever expected. Our experience in Vicksburg will never be forgotten. We returned to our hotel room and enjoyed a night of sleeping in a cold room!

We grabbed some breakfast from McDonald's with Layne on Day 60 (July 29), then went back to the hotel and had an interview with The Vicksburg Post before squeezing in one final shower and returning to the shoreline to push back in the water. Our departure was as great as our arrival. We had a group of at least 12 help us unload our kayaks from the truck and help us with our gear. We thanked everyone again and waved goodbye to the great city of Vicksburg. We paddled all afternoon (33 miles) and into the evening before spotting a picnic table on a patch of grass that was cut. We pulled over in a spot that had sand between all the rocks on the levy and found that we were a few miles from Port Gibson, MS. The place we stopped had a sign that read "Grand Gulf Military Park, No overnight parking, gates close at sundown." It didn't say no camping so we popped our tents up and settled in for the night. The sun went down and we were just finishing cooking dinner when a tan truck pulled up with Grand Gulf Military Park markings on the side. I kindly greeted the gentleman with a smile an he did not look happy. He said "I hope you boys don't plan on camping here tonight." I turned around and looked at our tents and everything we had and said, "Yeah, that was kind of the plan." I informed him that we were kayaking the Mississippi River an had been on it for over 60 days. I assumed it looked like we were homeless as I was cooking a can of spaghettios over a flame when he walked up. He told us that he was the park ranger and that we were in a state park and that there was no way they would allow camping and that we shouldn't even be cooking here. With the sun down already I asked him what our options were. He said, "You get back in the water and move on down river." I laughed and explained that the sun was already down and it would probably take us 40 minutes to repack everything. There was no way I was getting back on the river in the dark unless I had a death wish. He didn't seem to care though. Lucky for us there was a couple on a motorcycle that stopped by earlier in the night told us that they were just cruising around and stopped at a campsite just a half of a mile up the road. I asked the park ranger about it and he confirmed that yes it existed. He had no intention of making it an option for us if I hadn't asked. He just kept insisting that we need to be gone. After realizing that maybe we weren't homeless, he offered a ride up to the campground so we could stay there for the night instead. He then asked what we were going to do with our boats. I explained that they are well hidden on the levy and no one would know they were there. He said, "Nope, you're not leaving them there. This is a state park and no boats can be left there overnight." I explained that they each weighed about 200 pounds and that there was no way we were going to haul them to the camp ground. I told him to forget it and that we would just get back on the river and risk dying then deal with him. We started packing all of our gear and he could tell we were angry. He wandered off and called his boss who gave him approval for us to keep our boats there for the night. We were angry, but took the ride up to the camp spot anyway. If he would have just asked his boss in the first place that entire headache could've been avoided. When we arrived at the campground, he put us on in spot in the middle of the dark and we couldn't see a thing around us. We popped up our mosquito nets and laid down. Shortly after I heard something about 4 feet from me making some noise. I look over and from the light of the moon could see an animal tugging on the strap to my bag. I slapped the bottom of my tent and it slowly walked away and towards my feet. Then it stopped and stared and I slapped the tent again. I believe it was an opossum but wasn't real sure with the bad lighting. It slowly wandered off and I went to bed. We were warned that wild hogs were in the area.

I didn't sleep much at all that night. On Day 61 (July 30), I woke up at 3:45 am to the sound of something large pacing around in the woods right next to me. I also heard something splash into a pond that must have been nearby. I laid in my mosquito net wide awake until 6 am when I could finally see my surroundings. Fell asleep for an hour and then got up for the day. I woke up and noticed there was a large pond maybe 50 yards from where we were laying and an abandoned house that had caution tape around it about 100 yards behind us. The pond was littered with signs that said "No Swimming." Obviously this could be a great home for a family of alligators, so thanks again for the excellent camp spot, park ranger. We got back in the water before 8 and ate our breakfast as we floated downstream. I've been very carefully scanning the banks of the river the last several days hoping to see an alligator. No luck yet. We were told that we would need to sneak a few hundred yards off of the main channel to spot the big ones. After 45 miles we stopped in the last river town in Mississippi called Natchez. Layne connected us with a river guide, Adam Elliot, who met us for lunch at a restaurant called The Camp. It was a great recommendation by Adam because all the food was as fresh as it comes. They bake their own buns each night, get the tomatoes from a farm across the river, and cut and cure their own bacon for several days. Nothing was frozen at this place and you could certainly tell. It was the best burger I've had on the entire trip. Adam kindly covered our bill and offered us bananas and fig newtons before we departed. It was nice to have some additional snacks! We pushed back in the river and paddled another six miles down to a sandbar island and set up camp for the night. We paddled 51 miles total.

We should be just north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana by Saturday!

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All-Inclusive Mexico Vacation Raffle

7/28/2014

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Who wants to go on a week-long ALL-INCLUSIVE vacation to Riviera Maya, Mexico for just $40??

In efforts to raise money for my Semper Fi Fund campaign, Hacienda Tres Rios Resort, Spa & Nature Park has donated a week long all-inclusive vacation package to be raffled off (retailed at $5,124).

Tickets are $40 each or 3 for $100, and we are only selling 100 tickets total - meaning every ticket you buy increases your chance of winning by a FULL PERCENT!

Vacation Package Details:

*Hacienda Tres Rios Resort, Spa & Nature Park in Riviera Maya, Mexico (www.haciendatresrios.com)
*All inclusive package for two (2) adults (unlimited meals and snacks at all bars & restaurants, and premium, domestic, and imported alcoholic beverages)
*Junior Suite
*No maintenance fee
*Retail value $5,124
*Airfare not included
*Valid through November 12, 2015
*Blackout dates include Christmas, New Years, President’s Day (Feb 16), Lincoln’s Birthday (Feb 12), Easter and Thanksgiving

To buy your tickets, leave a comment below letting me know you're interested and I will contact you. All funds will go directly to my Semper Fi Fund campaign. Thanks, and good luck!

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Muggy Mississippi

7/25/2014

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The people in Memphis have been great to us, and we both really enjoyed our stay there. With the exception of a tornado warning one night, we've had pretty clear weather even if it has been incredibly hot and humid the whole week. We're in Mississippi now! Here's a recap of the past several days...

Dale woke Gabe and I up a little after 7:30 on Day 52 (July 21) so we could enjoy his famous homemade waffles. Richard Day came over early to enjoy them as well. They were definitely some of the best I've ever had. Gabe and I each ate six of them covered in powdered sugar, blueberries, whipped cream, and maple syrup. After breakfast Dale took us over to his computer and gave us some guidance on google earth as we approach the last 20 miles of the river into the Gulf. We relaxed in the basement for a few hours until Charles Beech (President of the Navy League) came to pick us up to take us out to lunch and drive us around town. He took us to a place known for their BBQ Ribs called Corky's. I've only had ribs a few times in my life and these were certainly some of the best. A fellow student from UWW, Sarah Powers, who worked in the veterans office, was moving down to Arkansas this summer and wanted to wave at us as we went by. When she arrived back home we were already in Memphis so she decided to make the drive over anyway just to say hi. Charles had some work to do and was willing to stay in his car and work while we did resupply. Instead we let him get back to work and Sarah kindly drove us to the grocery store, post office, and kayak outfitter store to try and find a cover for our kayaks. In the mean time Dale was gathering as many paddling friends that he could to come to his house for a pizza party to celebrate our arrival. After running around we made it back to Dale's house just in time for everyone to start showing up. Everyone brought a dish to pass and it made us feel pretty good, seeing that it was a Monday night. Fourteen people made it to Dale's house that evening and we had an incredible time talking with all of them. Towards the end of the evening Dale had us sign his "Wall of Fame". Every source to sea paddler that he has taken care of has signed his wall. I've enjoyed our stay in Memphis the most so far. I've never met such a tight-knit group of people who share an interest in either canoeing or kayaking. It's so nice that they all adjusted their schedules to greet the paddlers passing through their area. Thank you to everyone who came out to Dale's that evening! We've never felt so welcome in a house full of strangers! We went to bed at a reasonable time to get our rest for the next morning. Back on the water!

We woke up at Dale's house on Day 53 (July 22) and were fed another great breakfast - English muffins with cream cheese and honey! Richard Day met us there and helped us pack our gear in his truck. We both gave Dale a hug and thanked him for his exceptional hospitality. All of the river angels in Memphis made it one of my favorite parts of the whole trip so far. Richard dropped us off at the marina and we said our goodbyes to him. We realized that we were busy having too good of a time in Memphis that we forgot to charge our power source. We very quickly plugged it in and reorganized our gear while we waited. We ate and then hopped in our boats. There was a big increase in barge traffic passing through Memphis. There was a boat setup dredging in the middle of the river so there was only one lane open for river traffic. We squeezed in along the right bank as the rest of the river traffic waited to go under the bridge. We were forced over a few submerged wing dams because the main channel was so busy. After Memphis we noticed that a lot of the following wing dams were now exposed. After about 20 miles of paddling we worked our way into Mississippi! We camped shortly after on a small sand bar, completing 36 miles for the day. It was miserably hot this evening. No need for a sleeping bag all night as it stayed in the 80's overnight.

We slept in a little on Day 54 (July 23) and got in a little past 9 am. We had clear skies all day until about 5:30 pm. I noticed some dark clouds behind us and called my wife for a weather update. She said some bad storms were coming but not until later. Maybe 10 minutes after I talked to her a huge gust of wind hit us on the water. Paddling conditions were no longer safe so we headed straight to shore where there was a small sand beach near some trees for protection. The dark clouds were approaching from two directions so we quickly set up a tarp rather than a tent. After about 30 minutes of really strong winds, the storm passed. We decided that it was too late to get back on the water and setup our tents near some trees. The wind was cool which made for some comfortable sleeping conditions. We paddled 50 miles total.

Lucky for us, the rain storm that was expected never actually hit us. Gabe checked his phone on Day 55 (July 24) and found tornado warnings that were issued the night before. I checked the stick that I put at the waterline before bed. The river went back about two feet. The last week or two it seems to be dropping at least a foot each night. We packed up camp very quickly and got on the water before 8. We needed to refill our water at the nearest town 20 miles away. It was cloudy all morning and almost looked as if it was going to rain on us. Perfect paddling conditions though and the current was moving well. We stopped in Helena, AR and contacted the local police department to patrol our gear down at the boat launch while we ran to town. We decided to grab a burger for lunch and refilled our water at a liquor store on our way back. Helena is clearly a very old river town, only about 20% of the buildings were occupied. The others were all rundown. We got back on the river and paddled 30 more miles in the very hot sun. I must have reapplied sunblock four times today and still got a little color. My farmers tan is coming in real well. We stopped at a huge sand bar and setup camp at the highest point. We cooked dinner and crawled into our mosquito nets just as the bugs came out! We completed 51 miles for the day.

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Heading South

7/21/2014

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We've been packing on the miles this past week! The current is so much faster now that we're able paddle anywhere between 50-80 miles per day. At this rate we'll be able to finish a week or so earlier than expected.

On Day 46 (July 15), we skipped breakfast and just decided to consume several cereal bars. We paddled hard to maintain at least 8-9 MPH the entire day. When we reached 30 miles we disappointingly pulled out our MRE's. These are starting to get harder to eat. Mine was sloppy joe filling. I cut off a corner and squeezed it into my mouth, it was awful. Gabe had beef brisket for the 50th time and we both talked about how awful they had become. The more we talked about it the worst they tasted. After maybe a half cup of my sloppy joe filling I dumped the rest in the water and grabbed three more cereal bars. Gabe dumped his too and we resorted to snacks for lunch. With a plan to do 72 miles, it's unfortunate that our appetites were no longer interested in our main meals. After completing 40 miles we pulled over to stretch out for 5 minutes. We looked across the river and spotted Tower Rock. In flood level stages it appears to blend in with the other islands. We were warned to avoid the water down stream from Tower Rock due to large whirlpools. We got back on the water and made our way to our destination for the night. After nine hours and 72 miles on the water, we landed in Cape Girardeau. We pulled up to the boat launch and found it to be a crowded area full of fisherman and teens riding around on bikes. We immediately knew it wasn't a good area to leave our gear. We called around to American legions, VFW posts and Marine Corps recruiters, none could offer any help. We met a man named Frank and his wife Michelle, who were having a beer with a few local men by the river. Frank drew an interest in what we were doing and he and the other three men advised us not to leave our gear at the park we were at. They made it sound as if our gear would certainly get stolen. Frank said he would see what he could do. Then one of the three men named Troy took his phone out and started calling around too. They were all so helpful. Frank drove off and came back with a man named Darrell who had a truck. Darrell had a son in the Marines and gladly drove us and all of our gear into town to a cheap motel. A motel seemed to be the only option here because the entire city was blocked by a floodgate past this boat launch. We would have stayed on an island but Cape Girardeau was our last opportunity to restock on food and water for the next several days. Frank and Michelle followed us to the motel to make sure none of our gear fell out. We thanked them for their help and ate a well deserved dinner in town.

On Day 47 (July 16), we woke up and walked a few miles to the nearest Laundromat since our clothes were in desperate need of a cleaning. After breakfast we returned to the boat launch. I had to wait to hear from a nurse in Madison, WI. I had concern about a bite on my arm that hadn't faded after almost a week. It was red and then light red around the bite about the size of a half dollar. I was concerned because I had several mosquito bites come and go, but this one never faded. I had no symptoms of Lymes disease but I didn't want to blow it off incase that's what it was. The nurse told me to just keep it clean and get it checked within two days. Memphis was 5-6 days away so it would have to wait. I was hoping I wouldn't get any of the symptoms while out in the middle of nowhere. We finally took off after hearing from the nurse. The sun was going down and we were hopeful that we could find a sandbar. After 30 miles of paddling, we approached an island that had a huge sandbar on the satellite imagery of our phones but we couldn't see anything. We went around on the inside corner and made a loop back into the center of the island. It was still water here and we found a nice huge sand island. We set up tents with no rain fly because 0% rain was in the forecast and then gathered all the dry wood that had floated onto shore. We started a huge fire to keep the bugs away and went to bed early with a plan to do 80-100 miles the next day!

I woke up on Day 48 (July 17) and everything in my tent was soaked. It didn't rain last night but the air was so wet that it might as well have. I hung some stuff to let it dry while we packed but it didn't help much. We ate breakfast and got in the water prepared for our longest day yet. The first 24 miles was quick and productive. We were moving nearly 10 mph! We approached the confluence of the Ohio River with caution in case there were any whirlpools or anything. It turned out to be the exact opposite. When the Ohio merged with the Mississippi the water almost came to a standstill. We were now paddling hard and only going 5 mph. The current gradually improved to about 6.5 mph while paddling, but was still demoralizing. We've been spoiled with such a nice, quick current that this speed feels like we are doing nothing. A couple hours into paddling I could hear what sounded like a jet passing over. I looked around the sky and spotted a very large plane with three fighter jets escorting it. Someone important was flying over us. We were now paddling between Missouri and Kentucky. It felt good to be done with Illinois. We noticeably started slowing down our pace. We were both exhausted. It had been about 10 hours of sitting and paddling. We had to ration water because we were unsure of when the next town was. We had already drank 10 of our 20 liters of water. I was extremely tired the last 15 miles. I would occasionally catch myself paddling with my eyes closed. I knew that one mistake with my paddle would end with me in the water so I tried to snap out of it. We finally arrived at a last resort camp spot. The sun was going down and we needed time to set up camp. We pulled over to a very rocky boat launch in Titonville, TN and set our tents up. We both crashed early after another exhausting day, completing 78 miles.

We pushed off in the water for a minimum 50 mile day on Day 49 (July 18). The bends in the river were now longer than ever and never seemed to come to an end. Some bends would last more than five miles and made it seem like we were just paddling in a large circle. We learned that taking the inside corners of the bends in the river didn't really pay off as far as saving time. When we would cut to the inside corners the current would frequently come to a stand still which required us to do a lot more work to cover the distance. There were also wing dams on the inside corners which would frequently create turbulent water and sometimes small rapids. We decided against taking anymore inside corners because it was the only part of the river where we felt slightly unsafe when going over the wing dams. We paddled to a small town called Caruthersville, MO and pulled out at their local boat launch after 53 miles of paddling. We were approached by a gentleman who told us that are kayaks would be safe if we left them in the park while walking into town. Shortly after we saw a group of teens on bikes that came down and looked at our kayaks without saying anything. They made several return trips and we felt as if they were scoping out our kayaks and gear. We then had two individuals who appeared to be drug addicts walk within feet of our gear and not say anything. It was then that a truck pulled up with a nice gentleman and his wife. They informed us that the area was poor and that people will steal our gear in a heartbeat to sell it. His son was a cop and he got on the phone with the local station. Five minutes later we had two cop cars pull up to ask what they could do. They offered to keep our kayaks secured in their fenced in facility that was monitored by security cameras. They said we were welcome to camp anywhere around town but advised that we try to stay out of sight. We walked into town and grabbed some dinner before setting up our pop up tents behind a few trees at the local war memorial.

I woke up about 6 am on Day 50 (July 19) and walked into town to a local restaurant. When I walked in, I could tell that everyone there were locals that ate there everyday. They all stared at us in silence and didn't have much to say. We ordered our food and one of the gentleman came over and sat next to me and asked if we were both Marines. He said that he noticed our hats and that he served in the 90's. We explained what we were doing which sparked the rest of the restaurant to ask us questions about our trip. He thanked us for our service and wished us safe travels before letting us enjoy our meal. He walked out the door and the waitress came over and let us know that our meal was covered by that gentleman. Thank you so much Juan Johnson for being so thoughtful and generous! We put our kayaks in after being warned by yet another gentleman that there were Bull Sharks and Alligators in the water. It was a perfect day for paddling. The temperature was in the low 70's and plenty of cloud coverage to keep the sun off of us. We finally finished up the state of Missouri and entered the state of Arkansas! We decided to pull off onto a sandbar near the city of Osceola, AR. We set up our popup tents and decided to try and walk a few miles into town. Just as we were about to walk away, a boat pulled up to the shore and said that they spotted us paddling further upstream. The gentleman introduced himself as Buddy and his friend's name was Danny. Rather than us walking all the way into town they said that we could jump on their boat and catch a ride into town because they were done fishing for the day. We took them up on their offer and Buddy drove us into town to grab some dinner. He drove us back down the small trail that led to our sandbar but his truck couldn't fit all the way down the trail. We hopped out and thanked him for everything and started walking to the campsite. It was extremely dark out and the bugs were as loud as can be. We ended up realizing that we were walking down an off road trail that people take their four-wheelers and jeeps through. We had to walk through a couple areas of thick mud and then made it back to the sandy beach area. We went to bed early knowing that we had to paddle hard the next day to make it to Memphis which was 53 miles away.

We skipped breakfast on Day 51 (July 20) and pushed our kayaks out in the water by 8 am. We snacked on a few Pop-Tarts before paddling hard. There was a lot of barge traffic today which required us to weave in and out of the main channel. Over the last couple days I had been in contact with a gentleman named Dale Sanders. He is one of the River Angels that frequently takes care of individuals who attempt to do what we are doing. The River Angels are a community of people who assist paddlers from the upper to lower Mississippi. Dale had worked it out so that two other gentleman would meet us at a marina in Memphis, TN. They were then going to take us to dinner and take us out to Dale's house which was about 40 minutes from the river. Dale spent 37 years working for the United States Navy and is now retired but volunteers his time as a river guide and helps conserve the Wolf River in Memphis. Next year he will break the record as the oldest man to ever paddle the entire Mississippi River from source to sea at 80 years old! We paddled hard and made it to Memphis in 7 hours! Tom Graves and Richard Day met us at the marina where we kept our kayaks for evening. Tom has been helping river paddlers for the past several years and Richard is a Marine Corps veteran who is also a River Angel. Tom took us up to his apartment where we were finally able to take a shower (our first since St. Louis!). They took us to an excellent restaurant called Central BBQ. They very generously covered our delicious meal and then we took off to Dale's house. Dale has a beautiful home and a basement that is covered in boat memorabilia. We had the entire basement to ourselves which was fully furnished! We paddled 53 miles today.

Today (Day 52) we're spending the day in Memphis with a gentleman named Charles Beech, who is the president of the Navy League! He'll be showing us the highlights of the city and we'll get to enjoy a day off before getting back to paddling!

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A Whole New River

7/15/2014

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We've had a few incidents put a little dent into our timeline, but nothing major. Gabe's kayak broke and a part needed to be replaced, and passing through St. Louis was ill-advised for the past few days. Luckily we had a handful of kind people willing to help!

On Day 41 (July 10), we walked over to the United Methodist Church where we had dinner the night before. The same staff served us a delicious homemade breakfast. We sat with the supervisor of Americorps, Will Burks, and discussed some of the missions he's done over the last four years. We thanked the staff again for all of their generosity and help while in Clarksville. They refilled our water containers and we took off on the river. I called the lock master at lock 25 to ask for portage instructions. Like many of the others in the past she showed a lot of concern for what we were doing. She said, "I completely understand the spirit of adventure but these conditions are really unsafe and you guys should wait until Monday to put back in the water." I laughed and told her that unfortunately that wasn't an option for us. She said there was a chute that we would need to aim for. It would require a portage over a levy wall and then another portage over a bridge, since passing under it wasn't possible. We paddled pretty hard today, knowing that we needed to squeeze in over 50 miles. We did our first portage over the levy wall into some still water. Shortly after I spotted what I thought was maybe an otter crossing in front of us. When Gabe moved in closer it turned back and launched the lower half of its body out of the water and slapped its large tail on the water. It was then that we realized that it was a beaver in front of us! We bypassed the lock on the route we were directed to and made our way closer to the marina that we got permission to camp at. All the surrounding neighborhoods were almost entirely under water. On one section of the river we even spotted a fishing boat pulling a water skier through a neighborhood. We pulled off to the Woodland Marina in St. Charles, MO where we were spending the evening. Gabe and I cooked dinner on our stove and started a fire while trying to figure out how we were going to get through St. Louis. We figured out a potential option for the next day and went to sleep in our one-man tents. We paddled 52 miles total!

I made my oatmeal and started calling around to the locks on the morning of Day 42 (July 11). We were informed that the river was closed downtown in St. Louis due to a barge accident. They also informed us of the danger of the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi River. There were reports that there was so much driftwood heading downstream of the Missouri River that you could walk halfway across the river on it. We were also warned of some large whirlpools at that confluence. I then spoke to a gentleman named Perry Whitaker who had been following our journey online and was interested in assisting us through the St. Louis area. He scouted out the areas downtown and confirmed what the lock masters told us. The Coast Guard was patrolling the area to make sure no watercraft attempted to pass through the area. We decided to pull out of the river just north of St. Louis in Alton, IL. Perry arrived with his friend, Mike Leahy, and they loaded our kayaks up and took us to Fast Eddie's Bon Air for dinner. Perry and Mike generously covered our meal as we discussed how our trip was going and asked what to expect from here on south. They are both experienced kayakers and had some stories of other paddlers that passed through. We then took a quick drive downtown to look at the river and it was moving very quick. We certainly shouldn't have any problems moving to the south in a hurry. Perry brought our kayaks to a local outfitter named Alpine Shop where they allowed us to keep our kayaks for the night. He took me back to Teresa and Jay's house where we spent the evening. Teresa is the mother of a Marine that served with Gabe in California. She cooked us a wonderful spaghetti dinner and kindly provided a place to sleep for the evening. Gabe and I crashed pretty early after another exhausting day of paddling and running around the city. We paddled 24 miles.

We were spoiled with a large breakfast made by Teresa on Day 43 (July 12). After eating, we walked to Alpine Shop to gather our gear. Our walk was going to be seven miles but Perry connected us with his friend, Mike, who was going to pick us up from our walk. We decided to stop at Dairy Queen to enjoy the AC while we waited. A gentleman named Bobby was eating there with his young daughter and asked if we were both Marines. He spotted our shirts and was curious about what we were doing. I handed him a business card and explained our mission very briefly. A few minutes later Bobby walked up to our table and handed me $20 to put towards our fundraiser. He explained that he was prior service Air Force and that he appreciated everything Marines have done. We were beyond happy to receive additional donations while just walking around. We've certainly been able to raise awareness about the Semper Fi Fund at every town we've stopped at. Mike met up with us and took us to Alpine Shop where we picked up our kayaks. Gabe offered to pay for a hotel that evening but we didn't have a place to store the kayaks for the evening. Mike called an old family friend named Joan who owned a catering business. She allowed us to keep our kayaks in one of her gated areas of her home. Mike gave us a nice tour of the city and we figured out where we were going to put our kayaks in the next day. We decided that just before the Ead's bridge would be our best place. We checked into our room and walked around the Gateway Arch. It was too busy to take the ride up (fortunately I've already been to the top before) so we decided to walk to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Mike and Perry met up with us and even paid for our meal yet again! We then went to Urban Chestnut Brewing Company and had a few drinks. Mike drove us back to the hotel and I spent some time plotting out our next day on the maps before going to bed.

Mike drove us to Joan's to pick up our gear on Day 44 (July 13). We set in just before the Ead's bridge and thanked Mike for everything he's helped us with the last two days. We wouldn't have made it around St. Louis without the help of him and Perry. We floated down and said goodbye to the Gateway Arch. We were now in the same old Mississippi River, but one with a completely different personality. From here on out there are no more lock and dams and the river flows freely all the way to the Gulf. For me it has felt like four different phases of the river. The headwaters were obstruction-filled, yet a little swift with the high water. After Bemidji the river seemed to slow down and very gradually widen up. It was also lake-ridden and started to feel more like the Mississippi I pictured rather than some of the smaller rivers I've paddled in the past. After Minneapolis the river was noticeably larger, more turbulent, filled with debris, and channel markers/buoys were now additional obstacles along with the barges that passed through them. Now that we are south of St. Louis the river traffic has increased exponentially. We are constantly keeping our head on a swivel to make sure the silent barges aren't sneaking up on us. It's important that we continue staying aware of our surroundings. We've been blessed, in a way, from this flood. From the headwaters to St. Louis we've spotted less than 10 pleasure crafts on the river. They were considered to be a concern from the beginning of the trip, but a large chunk of the river was closed to all commercial and recreational watercraft until the water receded. Because our kayaks made no wake the coast guard didn't give us a hard time. The personality of the river south of St. Louis has changed in many ways as well. There are now far more wing dams that create turbulent water near the shorelines as well as some whirlpools. The confluence of any other rivers, sloughs, or chutes all create large eddies and whirlpools. All can be avoided by sticking between the channel markers though. We are now paddling anywhere from 1-2 mph faster on this portion of the river. After passing through the very industrial portion in St. Louis, the banks of the river were now very green and wild as far as we could see. Resources will be a little more difficult to find between here and Memphis. We stopped at a marina in Crystal City, MO and spoke with a man named Brian Harmon who was there watching his son and daughter throw rocks into the river. After talking for awhile Brian offered a ride into town when we mentioned we were going to walk there. They dropped us off at Pizza Hut so we could grab dinner for the night and before saying goodbye Brian handed me $40 to put towards our trip. I tried to refuse and let him know that he's done enough but he insisted. Thank you Brian, if you are reading this! We walked an hour back to the marina and met two gentlemen named Matt and Craig. They were enjoying a few beers and talking down by the boat launch. They offered us each a beer and we spoke of our trip. Matt grew up in Brookfield, WI so we had plenty to talk about. They were both members of the boat club and said we were free to stay in the old clubhouse away from the bugs. Another man named Bob Mulkey also came to the river to let his weiner dog run around. He kindly offered to take our water containers home to fill them with fresh drinking water! We all sat there and had another beer before they went home and we went to bed. We paddled 33 miles for the day.

We woke up and prepped all of our gear on Day 45 (July 14). Shortly after, Bob Mulkey, who we met the night before, came down again. He asked if we needed to go to town for anything else before we left. We said that we were pretty well stocked and would be fine. It was then that Gabe noticed the cable to his rudder had frayed down to only 2 strands left. The next time he pushed his left pedal the cable would have likely snapped. Bob kindly took us to town to find repair parts. After struggling to find the right part he took us to a machine shop named TNT Machines Inc. It was there that a man named Dan Hahn constructed the piece we needed out of some scrap part. He generously donated his time and work for free! Bob returned us to our gear where we thanked him for his time and resources and said goodbye. We finally made it on the river but just 3 miles into paddling a large thunderstorm approached us from the north west. We managed to spot a railroad bridge all the way across river and paddled hard to get under it before the storm arrived. We pulled our kayaks onto some thick mud, covered them and crawled under the small bridge until the heavy rain and thunder passed. We pushed 27 more miles to St. Genevieve, MO and hid our kayaks in the woods for the night. We walked to town and found a park to camp at for the evening! We paddled 30 miles total.

We are on schedule to make it to Tennessee by the weekend!

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