Today (July 13 2016) was our First official day on the Mississippi River starting our thru paddle journey. Below is a list of the people I will be completing this journey with:
4 veterans
1. Kevin & Samson
2. Nate
3. Traci and Gabbi (dog)
4. Dan
As well, there are 2 epic Vietnam veterans One of which thru paddled the entire length of the Mississippi last year. I mention them separately from our group because they are here with us for a period of time at the beginning and the end of the trip only (interesting note: they are brothers 2 of 13!!!) They are here to show us all the stupid we bring to the table in the most kind of ways :)
I joke on a lot of things but still only have one liner conversations with the rest of the group and continue to work on my social skills :p
Warrior Expeditions is the organization that has organized this trip for us. Sean is a guy who started this organization as "Warrior Hike", and recently incorporated their non profit to include more trails as well as biking and paddle trips which is why the name has now changed to "Warrior Expeditions".
Sean is only one of the awesome employees who put this all together for us and got us epic gear to use on the trip!
After an early wake-up we thought we'd arrive at camp nice and early, but Mother Nature played her usual games which is always fun. The weather called for sun and we got hit with showers and wind all day... The weather calls for sun a lot....
Someone here keeps saying its Un motivating but the rain is a huge reason I live where I live now (i.e. Oregon coast) and I love it.
We were seen off from lake Itasca which is the disputable winner (by the local Bemidji VFW commander) as the largest source of this amazing Mississippi River that spans our nation north to south.
It's always so humbling to have random strangers who don't know you, from Tom, Dick, and Harry come out and support you because of what you "did for this country". I hope to continue that support in kind to my fellow veterans for years to come.
I have been eagerly waiting to see this pillar for months and months
Would've been years if I ever knew it existed
I need to interrupt this message to give a real heartfelt shoutout to my boy Joshua with whom I served with in the military. It's his wedding shortly and I feel like a douchebag for missing his wedding when invited. Today he told me tux rentals were due and I had no way to respond, but Josh it would've meant the world to me to be there to support you and of course see the whole gang again. I hope you send an address so I can get my gift mailed to you. Also the gang needs to come join me on the coast for a week or something beCause life might get crazy for a while with a baby on the way in December, but we currently have a new house that needs good company like you bunch.
You are Always welcome!
And on the most positive note
I'm having a baby!
We're having a baby
As some, but very few know, this wasn't an opportunity I thought I'd have because of some medical histories. It is a blessing and a gift to my lovely wife Sara and I. And the only part that's a curse is me being here on this trip away from her.
But four months and I'll be there to experience all the beauty I'm missing. I wish I could sit at home and eat ramen, popcorn, and ice cream with you in our finally finished home.
We bought a new house in December.
Not even 20 years old at the time. Unfortunately it flooded weeks after moving in...almost $30,000 had to be used to repair the home. It took our contractors and water mitigation teams this long to correct the house. Literally 6 months and they are not even finished yet.
This happens to be one of the fun things we get to deal with long distance because of our unique living situation.
Alright sorry
Had to vent now back to the good stuff
So we load our boats up
And definitely do not follow military land nav skills as a very funny joke happened I won't repeat on this blog.
Im realizing now how crazy my normal bag that I pack for week-long trips is so full of useless things. The difference between my army duffel I carry everywhere and the four months of supplies I have all on this tiny craft is astronomical by ratio.
We set out and already things were looking up. Last year the guys had to walk their boats he first few miles because the water was trickle shallow. But this year we got to ride the Old Town Canoe (that's the brand name of the canoe we were supplied with) almost all the way minus a few hang ups. This also meant high water right from the very start, Which meant unusual Rapids later.
I was in shock...At the beauty and peace I felt along the river. It was like there was nothing else except the constant and everlasting wish that my wife and partner of almost 8 years could be here by my side. Even though she doesn't like these long endurance trips, she supports me to the end and I've never had that before with anyone.
Right away we saw tons of wildlife. Eagles and other birds of prey, fish: though none worth pulling out my fishing pole I brought along, which was one of the few luxuries I added to my gear. Deer everywhere hiding in the bushes and a bear!
Hahaha someone's gonna get why that's funny.... (Instead of bam I'll just say Banff...)
We zigged and zagged across the question mark shape headed north on the Mississippi. The northern most point we don't get to for days; this is a unique feature brought on by changing elevations. The river flows north and south. And it goes north before south which is not common.
I've been reading Mark Twain for the last bit. He actually did this trip back before the days of modern boats operate, and that is where the pseudo name Mark twain came from. It's really interesting to read and be able to see the differences between his (Twain's) novel "life on the Mississippi" and what it is currently.
He says in there, "Only the mistress Mississippi could span a few hundred miles by crow and wind that to 2600 miles from source to sea" (or something to that extent).
"THE Mississippi is well worth reading about. It is not a commonplace river, but on the contrary is in all ways remarkable. Considering the Missouri its main branch, it is the longest river in the world—four thousand three hundred miles. It seems safe to say that it is also the crookedest river in the world, since in one part of its journey it uses up one thousand three hundred miles to cover the same ground that the crow would fly over in six hundred and seventy-five. It discharges three times as much water as the St. Lawrence, twenty-five times as much as the Rhine, and three hundred and thirty-eight times as much as the Thames. No other river has so vast a drainage-basin: it draws its water supply from twenty-eight States and Territories; from Delaware, on the Atlantic seaboard, and from all the country between that and Idaho on the Pacific slope—a spread of forty-five degrees of longitude. The Mississippi receives and carries to the Gulf water from fifty-four subordinate rivers that are navigable by steamboats, and from some hundreds that are navigable by flats and keels. The area of its drainage-basin is as great as the combined areas of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Turkey; and almost all this wide region is fertile; the Mississippi valley, proper, is exceptionally so. It is a remarkable river in this: that instead of widening toward its mouth, it grows narrower; grows narrower and deeper. From the junction of the Ohio to a point half way down to the sea, the width averages a mile in high water: thence to the sea the width steadily diminishes, until, at the 'Passes,' above the mouth, it is but little over half a mile. At the junction of the Ohio the Mississippi's depth is eighty-seven feet; the depth increases gradually, reaching one hundred and twenty-nine just above the mouth. The difference in rise and fall is also remarkable—not in the upper, but in the lower river. The rise is tolerably uniform down to Natchez (three hundred and sixty miles above the mouth)—about fifty feet. But at Bayou La Fourche the river rises only twenty-four feet; at New Orleans only fifteen, and just above the mouth only two and one half."
#Mark Twain
I will have to find the better quote but here's one to start
"Although the shortening of the Mississippi River he referred to was the result of engineering projects eliminating many of the bends in the river, it is a thought-provoking spoof:
The Mississippi between Cairo and New Orleans was twelve hundred and fifteen miles long one hundred and seventy-six years ago. . . . Its length is only nine hundred and seventy-three miles at present.
Now, if I wanted to be one of those ponderous scientific people, and “let on” to prove what had occurred in the remote past by what had occurred in a given time in the recent past . . . what an opportunity is here! Geology never had such a chance, nor such exact data to argue from! . . .
In the space of one hundred and seventy-six years the Lower Mississippi has shortened itself two hundred and forty-two miles. That is an average of a trifle over one mile and a third per year. Therefore, any calm person, who is not blind or idiotic, can see that in the Old Oolitic Silurian Period, just a million years ago next November, the Lower Mississippi River was upwards of one million three hundred thousand miles long, and stuck out over the Gulf of Mexico like a fishing-rod. And by the same token any person can see that seven hundred and forty-two years from now the lower Mississippi will be only a mile and three-quarters long. . . . There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact."
#Mark Twain
We had slight issues with the rapids. Where most people walk this section of the river, we could not because the rocks would create nasty entrapments. We had two flip overs today already.
From what I've read this only goes on so long and then it's all the way to the gulf rapid free.
One of the flips was bad.
We lost gear, and lost morale. We even set up a quick rescue plan as things could've gone really wrong quickly. Sometimes we have hours inbetween us and no contact with each other or the outside world to speak of. (This was another member of our team not myself). Although with Samson and me and the gear, we are at the max boat capacity so that presents its own fun challenges like taking on extra water from the sides.
It was worrying.
I've had great friends die in multitudes because someone wasn't there at the right time to save their life whether from suicide, war, or other... I've pulled bodies from rivers that were decayed and bodies that were fresh and that is how it became in my head today, decayed and fresh full of memories as I paddled upstream a large number of miles to catch the veteran whom had a bad day.
One of many though, As much as I've had my doubts all along the way everyone here has their moments of stepping up just when it helps the most and that camaraderie always ties us military folk together and is timeless. This is gonna be a great trip with a great crowd. Someone even set up my tent for me before the rains came so I could act like a idiotic hero with an empty boat in case stuff really hit the fan...
We sat around talking for a while but now it's time for bed
I'm done :p
kW
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