Overview

The Big Getter Voyage Map
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In the summer of 2008 I will be taking a pontoon houseboat down the Mississippi River from Minneapolis St. Paul to the Gulf of Mexico. It will be my home and vessel as I descend the mighty Mississip. This will be a healthy and relaxing trip, an adventure worth experiencing, and a good-livin-hell-of-a-time. For six years this trip has been living as a fantastical goal within me. I know the beginning is around the bend, and that makes me smile like I just lost my training wheels.

The boat is not traditional in many ways except for that it floats. It is a unique HPB (human powered boat) that in basic appearance looks like a hybrid between a cataraft on steroids and a traditional houseboat. There are four different systems of propulsion that can be operated individually or in conjunction with one another. Its primary form of power comes from two pedal-driven-propeller stations located at the stern on both sides of the boat. They resemble recumbent bicycles with a propeller instead of wheels. In addition, there is a set of oars for rowing on the front deck. The boat also has, for those occasions when the current is strong, sweeps that can be operated from the top of the cabin. Sweeps are long oars that resemble gigantic hockey sticks. They protrude fore and aft of the boat and are used for steering and lateral movement but not necessarily to gain downstream momentum. Lastly there is an outboard motor that can be used in emergencies, for safety and to make up lost time.

The 3-foot diameter inflatable pontoons are 22 feet long and are attached to a frame constructed from 2” Aluminum pipe. The frame also doubles as the skeletal structure, which supports a hanging floor, two side decks, a front deck and a cabin. Plywood that is cut to the right dimensions and fastened to the aluminum pipe forms the floor and decks. As for the cabin, it is waterproof nylon, canvas and mesh all sewn together and fitted around the aluminum pipe. Inside the cabin there are four berths, a living area, a kitchen and storage. Oh yeah there is a bathroom too, outfitted with all the amenities a camping king would expect.

From June through August I’ll weave approximately 1800 miles through 10 states to the ever-nearing Gulf Coast. Geographically speaking the Mississippi River is separated into two sections, the upper and lower, with the dividing point lying at the confluence with the Ohio River. Both section are as unique as they are long and will offer a river front glimpse at Middle America. One major difference of the Upper Mississippi is that it is a series of pools created by channel dams, while the lower half is free flowing. Due to this, the average current will be much faster downstream of the Ohio River. Along the way I will ‘lock through’ 27 locks, visit the homes of Mark Twain and Elvis, dodge barge traffic, and do some fishing and sunbathing. I intend to explore as much as possible, learn what I can and enjoy life to brim.

If you’d like to come, believe me, I want you to. In fact, I want as much company as possible. The cabin will sleep four, so I hope to have three others with me at all times. The invitation is open to everyone and anyone, family, friends, friends of friends, and especially to characters I meet along the way. There is an itinerary in the blog archive that will help you choose when, where and for how long you would like to join the adventure. Don't worry; I expect the trip will take me 100 days, so you'll have all summer to fit in a Mississippi get-a-way.

Navigation Tips

Once you have selected a blog from the blog archive you will have to scroll down to view it.  ;)  

Day 68, 31 Miles - MM 548 to MM 517

We had planned to resupply in Greenville, Mississippi but the water front was not only fairly inaccessible from the river it was not close to town either. Kathy and I found a small patch of sand to beach the boat and hiked up the levee to a small RV park where we were able to fill our water jugs. The water flowed out of the faucet brown so we let it run for a while but there was no change. We went to a different spigot hoping for clear water looking water but found the same coffee colored liquid. We decided this could be our cleaning and bathing water and we had enough drinking water to last us the 100 miles down to Vicksburg. I saw a man down the way so I decided to ask him what he knew about the water. "I've lived here 70 years," he said, "and every time I draw a bath it looks like someone has already bathed in it." "It's clean water and sweet to drink, it just looks muddy." He continued on and on about the water and how it hadn't killed him yet. Evidently, according to the old timer, in the town of Greenville when you order water at a restaurant it has a golden tint. Back at the boat we re-evaluated our food supply and although we were down to just carrots, cabbage and canned goods it was enough for at least a week so we left Greenville unladen.

Looking back at the bridges and the tail of the storm

Downstream a few miles there are two bridges that cross the river and as we approached them  so did a north bound 35 barge tow. The clouds had grown dark and I could see wind whipping the tops of the Arkansas forest. A little fishing boat mached by us and I was reminded of the horizontal tornado that Johnny Lawless and I encountered two months ago in Minnesota. Just like that incident this storm was on us in no time and although the wind wasn't vicious the rain was blinding. Our visibility went belly up. The bridges downstream disappeared completely and so did the barge in a very disconcerting way. We couldn't see a dam thing, I became very disoriented and only new which way downstream was by the water flowing under the boat. I didn't want to chance getting to shore since that barge was out there somewhere so I motored against the current and the wind and held our position outside the channel about a hundred feet off a red buoy. That buoy saved us. Relentlessly it rained, and after 20 or 30 minutes of motoring in the same position visibility cleared slightly to reveal the barge. The pilot had driven up against the shoreline and was waiting out the storm just like we were. I still could not see the bridges half a mile down stream and we stayed there for the next half hour until the storm was in front of us. Finally the bridges were in plain sight and barge traffic had resumed, I sighed heavily and turned downstream. 

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