well its june 23 and .first i have to apologize for not keeping the blog up to date,cheap phone wouldnt post from the river...but my friends,followers and family have been following me on facebook,im in St.Louis underneath the arch and after an agonizing 4 day decision i am pulling out .i have been dehydrated very badly for days and rest and fluids are not helping and i know i am not safe traveling solo in poor health...but never fear the quest will continue in early spring and when i reach the gulf im going to hike back up the Appalachian Trail again.....with a better phone and the ability to blog daily ...Many thanks to the friends,family,followers and the wonderful people i met along the way !!!

feeling a lot better and should be leaving for the river on the 10th, i decided to start in the turkey river which leads to the Mississippi ..this will give me a couple days to get used to the new canoe and gear before i hit the Mississippi!! and  this way if i have any problems i cant handle on the river i can call in assistance that's only a few hours away...really missing all my friends from the Appalachian trail and if all goes well i  will hitch from the gulf of Mexico to the trail days party in Damascus,Va mid may....that's a 3 day party you don't wanna miss whether your a hiker or not !!!!!,just spoke to
" tom n huck" whos paddleboarding the Mississippi river to the gulf and then down to the keys,Toms a great guy and has offered me a list of places worth stopping at and a contact list of people he met who may be able to assist a solo paddler on the river !!!!!

haven't had a chance to write i got  sick from not changing the filters in my work respirator.....But I'm feeling a lot better.
Received a box of goodies from the kind folks over at thegearhouse.com
http://www.thegearhouse.com/?utm_source=henry&utm_medium=300x250banner&utm_campaign=sponsor

2 xl granite gear dry sacks,2 sm granite gear dry sacks'1 White Rock outback hat

2 packs pocket "duct tape",3 pack of lightload towels
18 packs of afterbite "itch eraser",12 pack of Tinder quik for easy fire starting
1 coleman travel camp soap good for dishes and hands
1 survival bracelet, if you need to you can unravel it for approx 10 feet of nylon cord
2 backpacker pantry instant garlic potato's..do yourself a favor and check out their site,great outfitter,for backpacking, ultralight gear and paddling.I'm sure some of my hiking friends already know of them they had a booth set up at Trail days 2010/2011. my thanks goes out to them for
 helping me out with gear !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
     My trip is still on and my date to leave should be April 10th,2012
still cant decide to just update my phone to iPhone or buy the hand held gps...and still trying to find a deecent PFD(life jacket) but otherwise i have most everything needed !!!

Pre trip---- Road trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gotta make a three state road trip to pick up some car parts for Van Jr.
and some supplies for work,soooooo im gonna do everything i can do in three states to find me a canoe or kayak today,,,if i wait any longer ,there is no telling what i might end up with,i have looked at so many ads from so many stores i  was even tempted by a sit on kayak with a mini sail!!!local distributor had ad on craigslist for canoes and kayaks for $299.00 and up,so took time to drive over for the classic bait and switch they tell me those ads posted two days ago were for 2011 models,which they just sold the last off but they were happy to offer me one of the same models a year newer ,for a mere      $300.00 dollars more !!!!i cant stand deceptive ads and won't spend any money  there at all....will update later and let ya know what happens.....

still in need of canoe!!!!

have just about everything ready for the trip except a couple essentials,the biggest need is a canoe,hard to canoe the mississippi without one !!! i have been waiting and checking craigslist and various paddler forums but anything decent always seems to be overpriced or too far away,so im kinda waiting till the last minute hoping i can still find something ,i have the resources to buy a new base model canoe but im giving it away at the end of the trip because the cost of havin someone drive from iowa to louisana just to transport my canoe would be more than the canoe is worth.....SO IF ANYONE CAN THINK OF ANYONE WITH A MID GRADE FAIRLY PRICED CANOE PLEASE PLEASE PUT ME IN CONTACT WITH THEM !!!!!!
       LOOKING FOR A COUPLE DECENT PADDLES AND A PFD WHICH I  WILL BUY NEW JUST TRYING TO FIND  SOMETHING COMFORTABLE AND LOCAL,I DONT WANNA GET SOMETHING OUT OF A CATALOG AND BE STUCK WITH A PFD THATS UNCOMFORTABLE.... AND STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHICH HAND HELD GPS WILL WORK BEST,
SO FEW MAJOR ITEMS LEFT TO PURCHASE SHOULD BE ATTAINABLE,HOPEFULLY NOT TOO EXPENSIVE.BUT I'VE GOT A COUPLE WEKS LEFT TO GET IT TOGETHER! BUT THE TRIP IS DEFINETELY ON FOR THE FIRST WEEK OF APRIL EVEN IF  I HAVE TO BUY A CANOE WITH ATTACHED BILGE PUMP!!!!
THE TRIP IS ON ANDTHANKS FOR FOLLOWING ALONG,BOUGHT A NEW VIDEO CAMERA SO IF IT SURVIVES THE TRIP IM HOPING FOR SOME GREAT VIDEO OF THE RIVER,ITS PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE   !!!!!!!!

work is hard but the adventures that follow are worth it !!!!!

been bustin my butt at work trying to get some of these 18 wheelers finished so my partner isn't overwhelmed while I'm gone ,but its seems like for every satisfied trucker he tells ten friends and now its almost to the point where every semi in Iowa wants to be polished ,i love the word of mouth advertising and I'm not whining by any means ,happy to have a business that's really starting to thrive we even did well during the winter when most polish shops wouldn't even bother opening ,I'm blessed to have friends and family that support me and my work/play ethic.....gosh that Mississippi river is calling my name and i cant wait to start paddling and the business is in good hands while I'm on the river !!!

wow thanks for the responses

just noticed in two days the lbog has hadnearly 500 visitors and they are from ten different countries!! i think thats incredible,thanks so much for all the encouragment !!

thanks for all the replys to sponsorship or help with used gear

opened my email today and was pleasantly suprised to see reply's from many adventurers and outfittters !
trying desperatly to upgrade some equipment/possibly field test gear,as many of you know  i hiked the A.T. last year with ancient gear ,it made it a little rougher on me but was a heck of a learning experience
looking for any support..gear (used is fine) returned merchandise dry bags used handheld gps a decent pfd (personal flotation device) wide brimmed hat,paddles heck even a used canoe as long as it doesnt come with a bilge pump or even just a sticker from your company for the canoe

going to check out some canoes and whats wrong with sponsors these days?

well i've got a few leads on canoes this week just gotta run around and check them out,weight is an issue obviously and a solo canoe would be nice but they are scarcer as, long as i dont need a bilge pump i guess it doesnt really matter what it is just as long as it will float for a couple thousand miles

Still looking for a used hand held gps if anyone knows of someone who might let it go cheap and im still looking for a decent but comfortable (PFD)life jacket

  I'm shocked to see i have followers on this blog from from nine different countries!!!
its amazing how the Internet brings people together
i will start posting pics of my gear soon so you can check it out and maybe someone  will feel sorry for me and my ancient stuff and donate/loan/sponsor me some new stuff !!!!

i have talked to a few manufacturers and since I'm not a proficient blogger they were hesitant to supply much of anything...their loss i think a 15 foot ad on two sides of a canoe traveling 2,000+ miles would be great advertising especially since anyone who would see it is in the right demographic .

different countries following the blog !!

United  States, Italy, United Kingdom ,Canada, Germany, Spain, Poland ,Romania, Russia

and if you could share this blog on your site or share it to your facebook it would be very appreciated http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fpaddlingthemississippiriver2012.blogspot.com%2F2012%2F02%2Ffollow-me-on-my-journey-paddling-down.html%3Fspref%3Dfb&h=_AQGkRhPaAQGb8L8L6xVpSbTzvgU2tOuWHBGrcwBKp0GIxQ

less then a month to go!!

less then a month to go!!
    i cant sleep and probably wont get very much until i get on the river ..anticipation is killing me
.my backpack sits in the corner and scream at me lets do it !!!
(backpack doesn't understand about finances)
I'm slowly getting rid of the caffeine a little bit each day. i had terrible headaches at the beginning of the Appalachian trail which miraculously went away every morning when i had some coffee ?? lol? and I'm not so bummed about putting on 40 lbs this winter cause i know it will disappear quickly with paddling.i have watched and read every bit of info i could get my hands on,and completely overloaded myself with info(someone should really limit my computer time !!) thanks to everyone who's following my ramblings,they will hopefully get better when I'm on the river,well the pics will at least

getting it all together.....

have been so busy researching stuff for the trip,my list of things to do only seems to be getting longer..trying to be well informed but am almost to the point where I'm just over researching this.My planing for hiking the Appalachian Trail was almost nil..i suffered a little but learning things along the way was better then anything i could of googled !!
people have been very supportive of my journey and its great to have a total strangers wish you  good luck and a few kind souls have offered gear or assistance when i get near their area of the river !!!!
Its probably a good thing i haven't found  a canoe yet ...I'm so psyched about leaving i probably would of just grabbed my backpack and started paddling and its still just a little too cold for that .....

follow me on my journey paddling down the mississippi river

While hiking the Appalachian Trail last year ( my 1st great adventure) ..i realized this amazing hike of a lifetime would come to an end and started thinking of whats next?It didn't take long for me to figure out a canoe trip down the Mississippi river was just the kind of thing i needed.So for the last few months i have researched every speck of data i could get my hands on...Blogs,video's facebook pages nautical charts and countless friends of hikers that i consider my trail family. I its official i will be leaving lake Itasca,MN on April 2nd  and heading the 2,300 miles down the mighty mississippi river solo in a canoe.i will update this blog and my facebook page as often as possible from the river.Besides my selfish reasons for wanting to spend months out in the wild..I feel i should share this journey with others who may not be physically able to do it them selves or too hectic of a lifestyle or maybe even those folks who are considering it and maybe my blog can give them that little push to get them started...after hiking the trail i met so many people interested in what it was like ,how we survived and such..I have to say the hiking and scenery was incredible..but the people met along the way and the lifetime friendships that have been forged are priceless !!!! Henry

please feel free to friend me on face book "henry schimpf" or check my face book page
"2012 paddling the mississippi" or email me notreallyme23m@yahoo.com