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
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