The Big River Show

Why are you doing this?

We each have some individual reasons and we have some reasons in common. This is a time in our lives when a project of this scope is feasible. We don’t have children to support yet, we have jobs that allow for this kind of time off, and the wild blue yonder is calling out to us quite loudly telling us that there are adventures to be had and lands to explore.

Bill’s reasons: In the Spring and Summer of 2007, he video-blogged his way around the world, traveling to 8 different countries on four continents. He’s excited about adventuring in his own country for a change, and he suspects that he’ll find some places along the river that are just as foreign as Madagascar or Mongolia.

Max’s reasons: I went to New Orleans earlier this year to visit a friend. I was astonished to find that a lot of the damage from the hurricane still there. Some of the sections of town have been completely abandoned and were left defunct. But I also saw people creatively overcoming problems with novel solutions with entrepreneurship and a sense of dedication to humanity. I want to see what I can do to help and be inspired in the process.

Do you have any boating experience?

Bill has rafted the San Juan and Green Rivers in Utah, has sailed with his father on Lake Tahoe, and been a passenger on a Royal Caribbean Christmas Cruise. Max has sailed in the San Francisco bay, boated to the Farralon islands, and is very familiar with the Staten Island Ferry.

What is your route?

We are traveling from Minneapolis, Minnesota to New Orleans, Louisiana. It’s a distance of approximately 1800 miles. Along the river, we will pass Davenport, St. Louis Memphis, and Baton Rouge.

Is it safe?

We’ve been given various opinions on this question. The Mississippi River not a gentle stream. It is more than five miles wide in certain places, and this year it is at its higher water level in 80 years. Last week a guy told us that he saw a Styrofoam dock sucked under the surface in an eddy just off the shore of Memphis. South of St. Louis, the river is essentially a highway for river barges, and these barges probably pose the greatest danger to us. However, we’ll have a powerful engine to get us out of the way, and a marine radio to communicate with the barge captains. Other dangers include, but are not limited to tornadoes, lightning storms, hurricanes, drowning, and swamp foot. Basically, its gonna be awesome.

What kind of boat are you using?

We’re going to buy a pontoon boat; the biggest one we can afford. We will use it as a base for constructing a houseboat– The least expensive houseboat imaginable. A club-house that floats.

Is this some kind of Huck Finn thing?

We’re not trying to emulate anyone here but perhaps there is some universal draw to letting the river take you where it will. We realize we are certainly not the first people to travel down the Mississippi but we will be the first to video-blog the whole thing.

Why aren’t you building a boat?

To begin with, we are not structural engineers nor are we marine engineers—we don’t know how to build a boat that we would trust our lives to. And perhaps I could venture a question of my own—are you just asking that because Huckleberry Finn did it? Let us remind you that he is a mythological character that didn’t run into technical troubles with his raft because it wasn’t in the best interest of the storyline. And besides if he were alive in this modern day he would probably try to steal a vessel and we’re no thieves.