Mississippi kayaker stops in cities on way to New Orleans

Article by: Star Tribune
Updated: July 17, 2009 - 9:25 PM

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A loosely planned kayaking odyssey stretching the length of the Mississippi River made a stop in the Twin Cities area Friday.

Ryan Jeanes, temporarily navigating the nation's most storied river solo, awoke Friday after overnighting in Monticello and was targeting Anoka by day's end in his inflatable kayak. His documentary-making partner, Phil Hull-quist, broke from the route in Brainerd -- due to work demands in Tennessee -- and intends to rejoin Jeanes in St. Louis.

Jeanes, 31, and Hullquist, 25, started more than three weeks ago at Lake Itasca and hope to finish in New Orleans within three months.

The trip's most recent dose of kindness from strangers came from a group of inner-city kids from the Twin Cities who made and gave Jeanes a sail made of firewood and a bedsheet on Thursday. Jeanes said he was impressed with how well it works.

The cool weather this week has been a mixed blessing, Jeanes said.

He loves having "fewer mosquitoes" to contend with, but when he awoke Friday morning at his campsite, he recalled thinking, "I do not want to get out of this sleeping bag."

Jeanes' first self-starring production, "The Hitchhiking Movie," documented seven days of thumbing rides from New York to Los Angeles.

To read Jeanes' blog entries about his experiences along the Mississippi, visit www.11visions.com.

PAUL WALSH