Well, I've started settling here in Lawrence. I've got a place to live and moved some of my stuff in. I spent the morning sitting through lectures on how to be a graduate TA. An enormous change of scenery from the last 3 months.
The past few mornings have been odd. It seems so unnatural not to break camp or boil water. Last night I woke up and had to use the bathroom. In my half-asleep state I started heading towards the door to go outside. In doing so I walked past the bathroom and realize I didn't have to go outside... It certainly is an adjustment.
I've put together some numbers on the whole trip, they are as accurate as I am able to be.
Total days: 104
Total miles: 2,250
Miles against the current: 825
Portage miles: 18
Strangely enough, if I remember correctly, when Sevareid and Port reached York Factory in 1930 they also calculated their total distance at 2,250 miles.
I'll also include a short description of the last grueling week. The Mississippi is dredged out for the gigantic barges that chug on through. The channel ends a few miles downstream from the Coon Rapids dam. Up stream from this point is actually quite shallow. I got pretty annoyed with the cycle of paddling a few minutes and walking a few minutes. I got onto the Crow and it was much worse....
It felt nice to be on the last leg of the journey, but I still had some major obstacles to overcome. Up stream from Rockford (where the two forks of the Crow meet) the river gets very shallow. I don't think there is a spot on the South Fork of the Crow that is over my head, especially in August. This means a lot of walking is required to get anywhere. Getting in and out of a kayak all day takes its toll on a weary adventurer.
Not only is walking more strenuous than paddling it is also a lot slower. A couple days of a crawling pace can be very frustrating when the end goal is in sight. On top of these exhausting, seemingly non-productive days, I drank some bad water. I was very nauseous, not to the point of vomiting, but the thought of food was repulsive. I simply stopped eating. It is very hard to control your body in this situation. All it wants to do is sleep. Instead I had to make it walk against the current, pulling a loaded kayak for about 10 hours a day. I figure I may have been expending about 3500 calories a day and not consuming any.
Thankfully the sickness passed in about 2 days. Great news. I can eat again. I have at least some energy. As I paddle on I get a little lazy and stop getting out at the shallow points I should. Instead I try to muscle my way through using the paddle as a pole. Not a very good idea in retrospect... I ended up breaking the fiberglass paddle I purchased in Fargo. I break out the spare I've been carrying around and promptly break that within 10 minutes of using it. Without a paddle I decide to take a break and have a think. After a few minutes I do what I knew I had to do all along. I start walking again.
I made it to Biscay (about 15 river miles South of Hutchinson) in this manner. Walked to the bar, called my dad and informed him of the situation. Just like a super hero he brings a paddle to me the next day and my dad and brother end up paddling with me from Biscay to the Hutchinson Dam.
From then on it's been pretty non-stop. I spent about 15 hours in Hutch before I had to get in a car and start driving down to Kansas. I hadn't driven a car in a long time, within the first 5 minutes of driving I managed to run a stop sign and kill it 3 times in an intersection. Wonderful. Anyway, I made it to Lawrence and everything seems to be working out just fine.
I am glad that so many people took an interest in my summer adventure. I honestly enjoyed sharing it. I hope my experience may one day inspire someone to have a similar adventure. Thank you all very much for the encouragement, it is very much appreciated. I have no definite plans for a future adventure at the moment, but I have many many ideas running through my head.
Lastly, if anyone is interested in a t-shirt please let me know. I have some materials left still. Instead of supporting a starving adventurer you'll be supporting a starving student. Send me an email at:
cartwizard@gmail.com
Rutherford Goldstein
