Daily Stats Start: 10:10 AM- Gafton Illinois Finish: 3:00 PM - Alton marina - Alton Illinois Time: 4:50 Daily dist: 15 miles Total dist: 105 miles Companions: Jason Cummings Weather: Overcast with drizzle becoming steady rain after dark Notes: David Diederich met us at the put in and offered his sailboat to stay in. Thank you so much Dave! As I write this the wind is driving a cold rain that is pushing across the area in a fast moving weather system. All day long I paddled in and out of rain showers thinking that it was going to be a long cold night camping in these conditions. Thankfully, I’m not out there. Instead I’m warm and dry inside a cozy heated sail boat.  Me with David Diederich At the put in this morning in Grafton Illinois we were met by David Diederich who is a local paddler and general river enthusiast. David showed up at the put in with a huge banner that said “Good Luck Jake” as well as printed charts highlighted to show key landmarks in the area. Two of those landmarks included the location of his cabin on an island a few miles above Alton or his small but heated and cozy sail boat in the Alton marina along with an invite to stay at either if the necessity should arise.  Sign that Dave made It was a bit of an ordeal to get all of my gear loaded into the Ikkuma for the very first time. Loading all the gear in a kayak for a long trip always seems to go through an evolution. On the first go it’s a tedious pack and re-pack process where you end up all but standing on the hatch covers to get everything in the overstuffed hatches. The second time around you fill little nooks and crannies you missed the first time and gain a little more room and everything starts to fit. A few more times and everything seems to have a place and you can load up and get underway almost with room to spare in a timely manner. Today was the “stand on the hatches” stage of boat packing and it took quite a while for me to be ready to launch. So it was that finally at 10:10 AM I pushed off from shore and was underway once again. As luck would have it, just as I launched a local paddler, Jason Cummings, paddled up in the beautiful strip built kayak he built himself. Jason paddled with me for the first five miles back to a boat ramp near the town of Portage Des Sioux where he put in earlier this morning. As he noticed as we paddled along he did a bit of a Portage to Portage paddle of his own.  Jason Cummings After leaving Jason off at the landing I burned twenty minutes fussing with my camera which had just decided to start taking green pictures again which is a problem it had earlier this summer. It was a problem I needed to have sorted out before I passed St. Louis by completely as it would be the last chance to go into down to get a replacement camera if, god forbid, it was necessary. The wind was a factor today as it blew directly upstream cancelling out any help the flowing river would give. Because of that, it was a bit slower go than I expected and I crawled the sixteen miles to Alton in about four hours. I stopped at a park on the south shore opposite town to eat lunch and take one more try at fixing the camera. Luck was with me and the camera finally quit taking photos that make everybody look green. My daily plan now is to pull off the river by 3:00 to allow enough time to set up a comfortable camp before dark. It was 2:00 and I was about two miles above the first lock which meant that by the time I got done with that I wouldn’t have much more time to paddle before it was time to set up camp. The red circle showing the location of the cozy heated sail boat was just across the river so in the sputtery cold rain I decided to trade 4 or 5 miles of down river progress for a warm night out of the rain. With the cold rain sputtering against the deck of the boat I know that was one of the best decisions I’ve made on this trip so far. And once again I’ll be eternally thankful for the kindness and generosity provided me by almost total strangers.  Warm and dry inside Dave's sailboat Tomorrow I’ll be getting a nice early start and will have the new experience of locking through two different locks before I get to the free flowing river and paddle past down town St. Louis. With luck my camera will keep taking good pictures and my blog won’t include photos of a green tinted arch. 13 Comments So far I've been in populated areas with good cell coverage which means my internet uplink has had a good signal. South of St. Louis towns are fewer and far between so I'm anticipating that there will be days where I don't get coverage. In addition I won't be able to charge my batteries every day so I'm going to be in power saver mode with my cell phone off all day and computer use limited to just an hour or so every day. I'll be posting what I can then filling in the gaps when I get back to civilization. Thank you to all of you that have been so supportive of this trip. Stay tuned. Day 6 (open water at last) 12/12/2009
Today we woke in East Moline and said fare well to the Pregreckes, loaded up the truck, and headed south on our run to St. Louis.  Me, Keeke, and Gary
As we drove we slowly watched the snow amounts change from half a foot to a dusting then finally to nothing at all. Every time we crossed a bridge we looked down studying how much ice was on the water below. It really wasn’t until we reached the outskirts of St Louis that we found the completely open water we came for. 
Of course what is a visit to St. Louis without a ride to the top of the famous Gateway Arch. So we ran directly to the Westward Expansion Museum and caught a bumpy elevator/tram ride to the top of the arch. I had been here once before seven years ago when I was moving to California. Then I took in the view of the surrounding city in broad daylight. This time we were running late, and because we had to wait for the maintenance crew to fix a problem with the elevator system, we ended up in the observation area well after dark. After seeing the view at both times I definitely recommend going up after sunset. The view with the city lights was incredible. After grabbing a couple pictures we rode back down and headed out to what should be my last motel room for quite a while.  Me and my parents in one of the arch elevator cars  At the top of the arch  The view from the top
My water bags are filled, gear is packed, and I’m ready to get some rest before waking early to head up to Grafton IL where the Illinois River meets the Mississippi. There I will finally get back on the water to resume this trip. Day 5 (Regrouping with our amazing hosts) 12/10/2009
Hello from East Moline Illinois (across the river from Davenport) in the Quad Cities area. Today we experienced the most gracious offering of very real and true hospitality I’ve ever witnessed. After breaking camp at the Sands motel in Boscobel Wisconsin this morning we drove south in search of open water and better weather. The plan was to re-group with Tammy Becker at the Living Lands and Waters headquarters in East Moline. As it turned out we ended up staying in the guest room of Gary and Keekee Pregracke who are the parents of the founder of Living Lands and Waters, Chad Pregracke. In essence these two kind hearted souls opened up their home to three complete strangers who’s only connection was the river that not only flows past but pretty much is their back yard. Visiting and stayingwith such amazing and warm hearted people was just what we needed to get re-centered on this trip and ready to continue on with the new plan. After being the recipient of so much kindness I can only hope that I’ll be able to pay it forward some way, some time, in the future.   River completely frozen in Dubuque As luck would have it, the river here is only slightly less frozen than up stream in Dubuque. The main channel is still open but for most of the way the shore is blocked by hundreds of feet of newly formed ice. I’ve finally accepted that it was a gamble to try to sneak out of the north before winter set in, and that I missed the weather window by five days and got caught in a very big way. Now that we have no choice but to jump further south, I need to make sure we jump far enough to be sure I don’t get caught again. So, after much deliberation, we’ve decided to push further south all the way to the St. Louis area before getting back on the water. Starting Saturday the weather is looking very favorable for at least the next ten days. In that time I should be far enough south that nothing but the most freak winter storm could stop me cold like this last one has. I’ll have an even bigger gap to fill next fall but already can’t wait to return here to say hi again to such amazing people. Day 4 (Time for plan B) 12/09/2009
I knew all along that starting a trip like this on the Wisconsin river in December would put me precariously close to winter freeze up and real winter weather. However, because of the way things worked out with other things going on in my life, December was the earliest I could start. I could have launched further south (as any sane person would do, and my mother suggested) but my dream has always been to paddle from Portage all the way back to Portage. My stubborn streak wouldn’t waver from that idea and so it was that I launched from Portage on that beautiful sunny winter day just last Sunday. The first day was pretty much the sort of weather I expected and planned for. Day two brought some snow but was not a surprise this time of year. By day three when I launched in falling snow and ended the day in a driving snow storm, I was grateful to have my parents shadowing me as a support crew… Then the hammer fell. 
Over night we watched the small town of Boscobel Wisconsin go from early December with snow to late January-like blizzard conditions. Six inches of snow had fallen over night with strong winds with sub zero temperatures (and dangerously low wind chills) to follow. I had based my planning on the historical average temperatures and the memory of only wishing for a white Christmas this time of year. Call me naive if you will but this weather was a surprise.   As we sat in our motel room this morning it was obvious that the thought of getting back on the water was out for today. Not that I couldn’t have paddled, our main concern was that my parents wouldn’t be able to get to me with the truck later in the day. Take outs are far and few between down here and tend to be on back roads that are the last to be plowed open. With paddling out for the day we turned our attention to the weather and to figuring out what our plan of action would be for the next few days.  Snowy highway  What it boiled down to was this. We’d wait another day for the temperatures to go up to something more reasonable than the minus 11 wind chills that were predicted for tomorrow. Then, if the river was still unfrozen I would resume paddling with plans to finally reach the Mississippi and finally turn south. If the river was frozen then we’d be forced to head south to find open water to resume paddling. With this plan in place we anxiously watched the weather channel and reports of how hard Iowa and points south of here were being hit by this storm. The reality remained that even if the river wasn’t frozen, and I could continue from here, I would still be firmly in full on deep-winter conditions when my parents head back home six days from now. The idea of just cutting our losses and heading south was in the back ground until we drove to the river to have a look, what we saw there removed all doubt that it would be wise to do just that. People have paddled in worse conditions (remember it was Eskimos that invented the sport) but I believe it would be irresponsible to paddle solo in a river choked with slushy ice packs in wind chills at or below zero. This trip is supposed to be an adventure not a death defying stunt.  Rafts of snow and ice  The sign says it all
Here is where luck and good timing come into play. Doug Klapper is the gentleman that joined me the first day to escort me out of town on a stand up paddleboard. I enjoyed his company and conversation for the first few miles of this trip. While we talked he mentioned that he knew some folks on the Mississippi that might be a good source of information and I asked him to please direct them to my web site. A day later Tammy Becker e-mailed me offering up a meal, shower, and warm bed to sleep in when I made it to the Quad cities area around Davenport Iowa. She said that if I needed help with anything to just let her know. It turns out that Tammy’s boyfriend is Chad Pregracke. Chad started Living Lands & Waters, a nationally-renowned river cleanup organization (when he was just 23 years old). Tammy, Chad, and their crew have 4 barges, one with a house on it and we travel up and down the Mississippi, Ohio, Illinois and other rivers collecting debris off the shorelines and islands for about 9 months out of the year. Check out their website if you have the chance what they‘re doing is incredible: www.livinglandsandwaters.org I figured that if there is anybody that would be a good source of info to figure out my next steps. While I was writing an e-mail to beg for information from her, Tammy was writing a follow up e-mail wondering how I was doing with this big storm. Long story short we have come up with plan B. Tomorrow while the winds are driving temperatures to a point that can freeze exposed flesh, we’ll be driving south a couple hundred miles to rendezvous with Tammy and Chad. Once there, we’ll spend a day tracking down a couple bits of gear that will make my life easier then re-group and get back on the water. There is still a lot of snow on the ground down there but, the thought is that with my parents following me for a few more days, I’ll finally be far enough south to not have to worry about any more storms like this. Knock on wood.
This decision has not come easy to me as the continuity of the trip has always been intriguing to me. At the same time I’ve also been a bit disappointed that, it being winter, I wouldn’t be able to meet as many people on the water during the first leg of this trip - I haven’t seen a soul since Doug the first day… go figure - By jumping south now it leaves a gap in the loop that will need to be filled. Next October after I make it back to Portage I intend to come right back to Boscobel do just that. Perhaps then I will be able to convince some of the local paddlers in the area to join me for a beautiful week long trip to enjoy the fall colors as we float down the river to Davenport. Day 3 (The calm before the storm) 12/08/2009
Daily stats Start: 7:30 AM - Spring Green WI Finish: 3:30 PM - Boscabel WI Time: 8:00 Daily dist: 40 miles Total dist: 98 miles Companions: None Weather: Snow highs in upper 20’s Notes: Carried enough gear to bivy for fear of support crew not being able to reach me.  Today we were met by Brain Butler at 7:00 AM at the put in near Spring Green. Brian had tried for two days to catch up with me and was the one that put the good luck poster on the bridge in Prairie Du Sac. I‘ve paddled with Brian‘s dad out in San Diego and it was Brian‘s mission to complete the cross country connection around this trip. Brian proved to be one hell of a nice guy and I’m glad he made such an effort because as I launched into driving snow in the early morning light I appreciated all the encouragement I could find.  Brian Butler came down to see me off The weather man predicted several inches of snow and we had concerns of how well my parents would be able to get around with the truck with the resulting bad roads. With a remote chance that they may not be able to catch up with me at the end of the day, I carried enough camping gear to pull off a comfortable overnighter. The extra weight didn’t slow me down much but judging how many times I grounded out on sand bars today I think it deepened my draft.  Bridge at Lone Rock WI An interesting thing about a broad unrestrained river such as the lower Wisconsin river is that even though it’s a half mile wide you end up navigating a serpentine channel not much more than thirty feet wide. Ironically the deep channel in such a wide river is often right along the bank. I’ve spent the last two days weaving around strainers (downed trees) along the banks and scanning every ripple in the water for clues for where the channel may go from there. When I pay attention and get it right I can cruise along at up to seven miles an hour. When I get it wrong I can end up grinding to a stop on a sand bar. When this happens I push along with the paddle as long as I can and sometimes have to reach with my bare hands through the icy water to push myself forward off the bottom. I’m looking forward to the canalized Mississippi where hopefully this type of fun will be behind me.  Frozen hat The problem right now is getting to the Mississippi. We’re staged about a half days paddle from there but Mother Nature has thrown us a curve ball in the way of a huge early winter snow storm. Up to a foot of snow is predicted to fall from now until tomorrow evening to be followed by sub zero temperatures and strong winds, an outright blizzard. Right now schools have been cancelled for tomorrow and it’s snowing and blowing like crazy. I can handle paddling in those conditions but picking me up at the end of the day may prove to be a harrowing experience for my parents driving my little pickup truck. It was insanity to start this trip this late in the year but I never counted on having one of the biggest early winter storms in twenty years. My support crew has been promoted from a pure luxury to a near necessity. It would be pure suffering without my parent’s help. Our plan right now is to see what the morning brings. If it looks like the roads may be clear before the end of the day I’ll get on the water. If the roads are going to be impassable then I’ll have to take the day off which would probably make the most sense. One thing I forgot to mention (sorry the weather has been on my mind). The eagles were out again today. Between Spring Green and Lone Rock I was never - never - out of sight of an eagle. I started playing a game of sorts to see what the highest number of eagles I could see at one time might be. The answer is 14, by sitting in one spot and turning my head I could see 14 different eagles. Next the game became how many in one tree… can you believe 11. It was amazing. Day 2 Ice Ice and More Ice 12/08/2009
Daily stats Start: 7:50 AM - Pine Bluff (Lake Wisconsin) Finish: 3:30 PM - Spring Green WI Time: 7:40 Daily dist: 38 miles Total dist: 58 miles Companions: None Weather: Snow to partly cloudy highs in upper 20’s Notes: Dealt with ice accumulations on gear and boat  Ice, ice everywhere. I’ve seen salt accumulate on my paddling clothing many times in the past but I’ve never seen ice build up on my boat and gear, but that was the case today while I paddled through a snow storm. We woke to about an inch of fresh snow on the ground and dealt with slippery roads as we drove to the put in just after day break. After arriving at the put in we had an interesting experience when it came to getting the boat off the truck when we discovered that the wet hull had frozen to the foam pads the night before. We took the boat (with pads attached) off the truck and used the MSR bag of warm drinking water I’d brought to thaw the pads off the hull. Rather than carry the boat to the water I slid it across the grass to the waters edge. The wind was up which was a good thing because it had pulverized the ice that lined the shore the night before into piles of little shards. I quickly launched and headed off to my first destination, the Merrimac ferry. This is the last remaining ferry operating within the state of Wisconsin. Linking the town of Merrimac to the north with the small hamlets and on to the bigger city of Madison to the south. It is a cable ferry meaning that to move across the river it pulls itself along on a pair of large steel cables. When I was planning this trip I used the ferry schedule as an indicator that the lake wouldn’t be frozen in early December. I was in the understanding that the ferry quit running in the end of November so I was a bit surprised to see it still operating. Mom and Dad were going to use this floating shortcut to get to the bigger (and hopefully less snow covered) roads on the north side of the lake. After watching the ferry containing my parents and truck pass by I continued on my way.   The morning’s paddle passed without incident and I made it to the Lake Wisconsin dam in a few hours. I had brought my cart to make the portage around the dam a bit easier but never pulled it out opting instead to take advantage of the snow and slide the kayak to the put in below the dam. If Portage is the French word for “to carry” I’m wondering what the French word is for “to slide.” This dam is noteworthy in that it’s the last dam on the Wisconsin river. For a person that starts at the headwaters in northern Wisconsin and carries around all 22 of the dams on the river, it is a welcome site. Below the dam is 90 miles of free flowing water all the way to the Mississippi.  Apparently eagles appreciate the free flowing water as they were almost constant company for the rest of the day. At one point I could see a nesting pair, two juveniles, and another huge adult at the same time. Photographing these majestic icons with a simple point-and-shoot is generally a waste of time but I did get a shot of a nest tree and one bird.    Just below the dam is the town of Prairie Du Sac a trip follower had alerted me to a surprise below the old train bridge which I discovered on an old bridge support. Day 1 (Launch day) 12/06/2009
Daily stats Start: 12:50 PM - Riverside Park Portage WI Finish: 4:15 PM - Pine Bluff (Lake Wisconsin) Time: 3:25 Daily dist: 20 miles Total dist: 20 miles Companions: Doug (on a stand up board) Weather: Fair sunny and calm high in upper 30s Notes: Start day with over 40 people at the put in.  The launch today was about as perfect as I could have ever imagined. A whole pile of my family made the trek all the way down to have brunch at a local restaurant then drive over to see me off. I expected that a small handful of locals would turn up for the launch so you can imagine my surprise when we arrived at Riverside park to discover a crowd of at least thirty people patiently waiting in the cold for us to arrive. On the way to the restaurant a wrong turn gave me a chance to pre scout the route and I was very relived to see that Lake Wisconsin (the last lake on the Wisconsin river) was not frozen as the lakes are up north. With a bunch of help from family and friends we got the boat off my truck and set it up for everyone to sign. Meanwhile I changed into my dry suit and gear then gave a bit of a speech to the group. I was afraid that watching me climb into my boat and paddle away would be as interesting as watching paint dry but the spirit of the moment made it special and everyone seemed to have a good time.  I was joined by Doug on a stand up board the first couple miles until he turned into a back channel to pull off the river early so he could get to the ski hill before the end of the day. Despite the relatively warm bright sunny day, thoughts of skiing drove home the reality of my late season departure and served as a bit of foreshadowing to how the day would end. I made great time averaging almost six miles per hour with the current helping me along. I was paddling for about an hour before I heard a gong bell ring and a person shout then turned to see a couple waving from the back deck of their riverside home. They wished me good luck and said they had a place in Florida where they‘d be staying this winter. I promised to stay in touch to see if we could cross paths down there in a few months.   Two hours into the days paddle (about 3:00) I called my support crew to give them the fix on where I figured I’d be coming ashore for the night. I had selected a back bay where the highway ran right along side the water where it’d be easy to find one another. As I paddled into the slack water of the dam created lake I found myself avoiding occasional slabs of ice floating free in the water. The rocks and trees along the eastern shore were gobbed with ice as though they’d been dipped in watery wax. Apparently the winds and chilly temperatures we had late last week combined to form rough splashing waves that froze to form the globular clusters. All of this again should have served as a warning to what I discovered when I turned the corner around the last point to reveal the bay that was my destination. Inside this formerly windward bay all of the ice that had formed from last weeks storm had been blown into interlocking slabs of ¾” ice. This “flow” extended a half mile from shore and a mile to my west. Any thoughts of pushing through the tangle were quickly squelched when I tried to push the bow of my boat into unyielding mess. Even if I had managed to wiggle a half mile through the icy maze it was sure to freeze solid over night leaving me stranded and requiring me to violate my only rule and accept a ride further down the route. As daylight waned I checked my map and located a headland that juts into the lake leaving it more exposed to the wind which should have stripped it clean of ice from last weeks storm. So I alerted my shore crew and made haste in the rapidly approaching twilight to my new destination. My hunch proved to be true and the shore of this almost island was not choked in with ice. I did have to push through about ten yards of half inch ice but with luck it won’t freeze much further out overnight tonight and I’ll be able to get underway tomorrow without too much trouble With a little frantic searching my parents finally found my chilled carcass waiting along side the road. We quickly loaded up my boat and gear and they whisked me off to the nights accommodations they had already scouted. This will be the program for the next week or so as they help me put on big miles in an empty boat to get me just a little further south before I commit to camping out in the snow and cold. On one side I do feel a bit like I’m cheating but on the other (especially with the nasty weather that’s predicted for later this week) I am very glad they have volunteered to give me a boost on my way in the beginning of this trip. Tomorrow the plan is to give me a ride back up to where I left off. Mom and Dad were going to cruise back up to Portage to grab a couple copies of the local newspaper with the article about the trip then move on down the river to Spring Green near tomorrows takeout destination. TV Interviews - what do you know 12/06/2009
Today I took a break from preparing for the trip (aka getting nervous and fussing over gear) to do a TV interview with reporter, Heather Sawaski, from Channel 9. Mom had contacted the station yesterday and they were interested in meeting with both of us to do a story. The plan was to meet at my parent's house at 1:00 to do the interview. We did do just that but for some action shots we decided to go to the river to get the boat on the water. The only problem was that over the last three days the weather has been down right cold and all the open water I paddled on Wednesday is now snow covered ice.  Mom And Dad Meet The Press After leading Heather on a wild goose chase around town trying to find accessable open water we finally found a pond sized area where we could float the boat and get the action shots. I paddled circles for a while then came back to shore to answer a few more questions.  Interview By The River It's always painful to see and hear myslef on TV but Heather did an excellent job of editing and made me seem half intellegent. I love the cut she did to my mom's answer to what she thinks about the trip. Click on the photo above to see the report.  Everyon Must Sign The Boat (even reporters) A Day With Portage School Kids 12/05/2009
A few weeks ago I sent out an e-mail to the school superintenant of almost every school district on the river from Portage all the way to the southern tip of Illinois. The e-mail described the trip and my desire to share my experiences with others along the way. I invited them to forward the e-mail on to their faculty to let them know what was up and see if their students would be interested in following along or even getting involved with the project. Of all of those school districts I contacted, so far only one responded, and that was Portage. From Portage Middle school I was contacted by Ms. Karplenia and from Portage River Crossings Charter school I was contacted by Ms. Rydberg. After several back and forth e-mails sorting out the exact details so some of the kids could watch the launch, I also learned that the kids had lots of questions and wanted to talk to me. So the idea was hatched for me to drive down to Portage to meet with the kids and answer what questions they may have. 
It turned into quite a day. I had done a dry run packing job the night before to make sure all my gear would fit in the boat, and it does….barely. In the morning Dad and I loaded up all the gear (everything I will need for the next 10 months) and my boat and drove the two hours down to Portage. After a quick stop at Wal-Mart to get a couple Sharpie markers we found the school, checked in at the office, and proceeded to move four duffel bags of gear and a 17’ kayak into the theater (small auditorium). Then came the kids. First it was a half hour with 65 kids from the 7th grade homeroom followed by 45 from the 8th grade homeroom. Both groups had already been introduced to the trip by Ms. Karplenia. I did a quick recap of the trip with a little bit of why Portage and why December then turned it loose to their questions, and there were many. The questioning ranged from “what kinds of animals are you going to see?” “are you going to fish along the way?” and “how are you going to charge your batteries?” with an underlying thread of questioning around the stability of my boat. These groups seemed especially interested in how I was going to communicate my location to the web site so I explained the SPOT device I am going to be carrying. I was impressed and very pleased with how interested the kids are in the trip and was happy to have several add their signatures and notes to the many that already adorn the deck of my kayak. 
Next a bunch of the boys volunteered to help me move my gear over to the River Crossings classroom which is housed in a stand-alone building behind the main middle school. After the boat and gear was safely deposited in the classroom we took a lunch break while we waited for Holly Kobza’s surprise group of fourth graders to arrive from John Muir elementary school. In the mean time the students had a chance to explain that this school is a charter school with an outdoor emphasis wrapping all subject matter around things related to nature. Man…if only I could have gone to a school like that! It suffices to say that these kids were quite interested in this trip.  
When we were all settled in I again re-capped the trip and then turned it over to what would end up being over two hours of questioning. There wasn’t a moment that there wasn’t a half dozen hands in the air eagerly waiting for me to satisfy at least a little of their curiosity. Again the questioning ranged from “how are you going to bathe?” “what if you run out of food or water?” “when did you first think about this trip?” and, of course, the underlying thread of “what if” questions regarding potential capsize. 
Along with the questioning, I demonstrated a bunch of the gear and showed how the gear packs into the boat by filling up the rear hatch. After the questioning we turned the kids loose to sign the boat and get a chance to sit in it. To my surprise (and amusement) while one line formed to sign the boat another line formed for me to sign autographs. It was a fantastic day and downright inspiring to see the enthusiasm and sense of wonder the kids have for the trip. It was an honor to get a chance to talk with everyone. I can’t to see them all again next fall when I paddle into town at the completion of the trip. | Best of the Blog
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