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 !!