A Couple of Days Later

I'm sitting at my desk at work a couple of days after getting off the water. It was strange going back to emailing, paperwork, teaching, sleeping in my own bed, and eating whatever I want.

My great dad left this morning. He really made this project more of a success. Knowing he was there made it impossible to give up.

Last night our daughter Genevene came in to tell us something in the middle of the night. I only halfway woke up and thought the bed was the raft and we had floated into a strange room on the river-lake. I was beside myself with panic. Genevene looked just like a piling standing in the water. Julie calmed me down and I was able to go back to sleep feeling sheepish.

I'm still trying to figure out what this trip did for me. Going through all the material collected has been fun, and is helping me piece through the evidence of what transpired. It's hard to explain how I feel about it; pride, humility, peace, confusing, or just plain fatique.

I guess we'll see.

Matt's Last Day

Matt finished strong at 5:55pm. He was pleased to finish before dark.

His kids jumped for joy as he approached.

After a huge meal at a Chinese buffet, and prayers with the kids, he went right to sleep.

Here is a picture of him poling within sight of the end and a few of the sights on and around the river.

We'll have more information for you tomorrow.

Congratulations Matt!

Days Four and Five

Matt made good distance on Thursday in spite of not starting until about 5pm. He kept at it until after 11pm.

He has found it very difficult to pole in the dark. He needs to stay near the shore because the river at this point is too deep in the middle for his poles to reach. So when he encounters trees and other obstructions, he has to go out into the deep to avoid them.

He said he sometimes feels like Snow White when she was lost in the forest and the trees kept trying to grab and hold onto her. Matt is battling similar trees.

Rather than camping on the raft as he started, he now sets up his tent on the bank. His raft is too wet and cold to sleep on. The last two mornings he has woken to ice on his tent and on the deck of the raft. This is very unusual for the area—even in February. In the mornings he wears a woolen poncho. His gloves are too wet to wear so his hands are sporting painful blisters and worn skin.

His original pole started breaking down, so he cut two new bamboo poles. The shorter one is perfect except for the length. The taller one is too thin, so it has begun to bend like a fiberglass vaulting pole. Bamboo is a weed here. You can’t kill it and it grows and multiplies rapidly.

Matt has seen three automobile carcasses in the water. The wildlife he has seen include: Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Cormorants (in huge flocks), an opossum, several beavers, a few snakes, but no gators.

With the winding of the river Matt has been able to set up his canopy to act as a sail at times. It is especially helpful when he has to cross the river and his poles are too short to touch bottom.

Tonight he stopped at a well-lit dock with hopes to camp beside it. He approached the family and discovered that he knew some of them. They fed him catfish and shrimp and opened their garage so he could come in any time he needed to use their bathroom.

The area he is camping tonight (Friday) is called Melrose. It was originally settled and is still primarily populated by Creoles. These are mixtures of African and Native American slaves and their French and/or Spanish owners. Often the owners would have several children by their slave women. Due to disease in the middle 1700s, many of the European slave owners married their slave because of the lack of marriageable women in the area.

Some of the Creoles became prominent citizens—holding public office and owning very successful businesses. The culture of the area is very much influenced by this wonderful group.

Matt is fairly close to his original desired camping spot for Friday night. Barring some unusual challenge, he’ll reach the end by late afternoon on Saturday.

Pictures

Day Four

Matt didn’t get onto the raft until 4:00pm today because of the funeral he arranged and conducted. That experience was rich and powerful. But now he’s very much behind schedule. He plans to push well into the night in an attempt to make up as much ground (or water) as possible.

You can see one of the newspaper articles about him at http://www.DavidDeFord.com/TownTalk_article.pdf

Day Three

After the intense winds of the last two days and some storms last night (which killed more than 50 people in nearby state), Matt chose to spend the night at home instead of out on the raft. He and Julie went out for a short dinner, and then Matt went to bed exhausted.

He was back on the water by 7am today. He made it in time for a phone interview with a local radio program. I (his dad) was able to hear the interview in the car as I returned to their house.

The poling went well today. The weather changed drastically. Instead of temperatures topping out at 80 degrees, today’s high was 65. After two overcast days, he was able to enjoy cloudless sunny skies.

He marveled as a huge flock of cormorants silently flew past him. The only sound was the wind on their beating wings. He has seen a couple of swimming snakes, but no gators.

People along the river stop what they’re doing and talk with him. Obviously, the newspapers, radio and television interviews have sparked people’s interest. They seem to watch for him, and then call for their family to see him. Matt feels a little funny when he sees that he’s being videotaped by spectators.

Nancy James, her sister and boyfriend waited for him today. They had packed a lunch for him and visited him while he rested at their dock. People like them really give him energy. Their picture is above.

Matt’s been thinking about the contrasts of his adventure—and the differences between the actual event and what he had anticipated.

First, he observes that his pace is one of a bygone era. Travel was slow in those days, and so was communication. It took days to get word from one state to another. But in this project, the slower travel is like that of older days, but the communication using a digital camera, video camera, digital audio recorder, a blog, YouTube, and a cell phone is very much in the present. In seconds, information about his trek reaches a worldwide audience.

Second, he expected a week of peace and solitude—a time to experience nature uninterruptedly—a time of quiet contemplation. Instead, he ordered a pizza to be delivered to him on the lake. He has made arrangements for and will conduct a funeral. He has had numerous newspaper, radio and television interviews. And he has had numerous contacts from people on the shore.

Matt could have chosen to focus his efforts on making this a solitary experience. He could have closed off communications and planned an after-event presentation. He could have delegated the funeral work and stayed on the river. But he chose the unselfish path. He has included family and friends. He has allowed the people of his city to remember their own early adventures, whether actually experienced ones or not. He has chosen to honor his religious and church commitments and care for his deceased friend and his family.

By making these choices, Matt has lifted and inspired many.

Day Two

Matt had tremendous struggles with the high winds yesterday. He fought 25mph winds with gusts up to 40mph. It was very tough. He would push forward, and by the time he repositioned his pole he was blown backwards.

But he gained much strength and encouragement from Alexa Boyette who met him at her dock. She talked with Matt about her son’s trek nearly forty years ago (see below.) Also, another lady stopped her yard work as Matt passed. She told him she liked and admired what he was doing.

With such encouragement we can accomplish many great things.

He stopped for radio and television interviews as requested.

The shore patrol told him he needed to turn on his lantern at night.

He continued poling until nearly 11pm and was still short of his goal.

But today he made up all of his time. Since the river wound around the wind helped as much as it hurt. So he exceeded his day’s goal and even made time to go to dinner with his wife Julie.

His friend from church, Brother Dutile passed away yesterday. Since Matt is bishop of his congregation, he arranged funeral details by cell phone on the river. He’ll attend the viewing on Wednesday night, and conduct the funeral Thursday morning. He has his priorities right. (This is his proud dad writing.)

Matt has found some varied reactions to his project, but they generally fall within one of these categories:
· Bewilderment that he would want to tackle such a project (usually from women);
· Remembrances of similar youthful adventures (usually men);
· Expressions of mild regret that the person had dreamed of some adventure but never completed;
· Amusement of Matt’s playfulness and daring.

The Wards
Matt and his dad visited the Ward family the night before Matt’s launch. They wanted to inform them that he might camp on the raft near their home on his first night out. Mrs. Ward answered the door, and in true southern gentleness, invited them into the living room. She called her husband from the back room, turned off the television set, and sat to hear all about the excursion.

Mr. Ward enjoyed hearing of the plans and reminisced about his own adventures. Decades ago he and his young friends made arrangements with a train engineer to occasionally stop and pick up the boys and transport them several miles to the river. There the boys would camp, fish, and hunt game—whether in season or not. After a week or so, the engineer would pick them up and carry them home. He loved telling his stories, sometimes waving his cane for effect.

Mrs. Ward, however, couldn’t understand the project. She summed up her feelings when she pointed to Matt’s dad and frankly said, “You raised a dumb boy.” In spite of her pointed comment, she obviously enjoyed the visit and the tales of adventure it elicited from her husband.


Michelle Smith
Matt’s friend Michelle and her deceased husband had dreamed of similar adventures. They never fulfilled that dream, so she found satisfaction in seeing Matt fulfill his.


Greg Dolan
As children we took a bricklayer’s mortorbox and used it as a coolie, there was about eight of us in it. And we started drifting down the river, playing around, jumping out and having dirt fights, and doing fun things that kids can do. And then we realized we were about ten miles down from where we needed to be and we needed to return the mortar box to the construction site by the next morning so the bricklayers could use it the next morning for their work. So that proved to be somewhat of a problem in getting it back. But as kid we went ahead and did it—and it was fun.


Alexa Boyette
Mrs. Boyette came to see Monday’s launch. She had never met Matt, and knew no one in attendance. Here is her story:
“I became very excited about this launch when I read about it in the paper because my son did this nearly forty years ago. And I really wanted to be here to see Matt launch. I’m so glad the weather has been nice (this was about ten minutes after the launch—the wind problems came a couple of hours later).
“I was excited about this because my son, Steve Osborn, did this nearly forty years ago. I’m not quite old enough to have a son that old.
“When he was graduating from high school, he built a barge, and he built his so that it would be large enough so he could have provisions on it that would last for several weeks because he launched from Shreveport and had planned to go down to the mouth of the Mississippi. He didn’t get that far because the friends he was with, I believe they had gotten off in Marksville, and one friend stepped into a bed of red ants and so he was allergic and he became very ill and so they had to return immediately home.
“They didn’t have a way to sell the barge, but they left the barge. It was quite a barge, built on oil drums, I believe, and with several sides that he had cabinets built because he had to take provisions. He did stop along the way, he knew people along the way so he couldn’t order pizza like Matt’s going to do, but he did stop with relatives here and there. And they would give them a hot meal. But they did have provisions enough to last four weeks, I believe. And they made it for three weeks. I was very glad to see him return home.
“So this is very exciting, and I do hope to see Matt later in the day when he stops at Front Street.”

I have posted a couple of short videos on YouTube.

Beginning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv-AdXzY1B4

Speed Limit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mwzAOD4ycw

Middle of Day One

Matt made it to the Natchitoches town center at around 2:30pm. That’s later than he had predicted. The wind is very brutal. If he relaxes for a few seconds, the winds drive him back several feet. So his struggle to move forward is immense. He will need to continue poling until after 10pm if he wants to make it to his desired camping spot.

He was a hit downtown. Several shop owners knew to expect him. Matt’s dad visited shops Matt had requested to invite them down to see him. He called in an order for a pizza delivery at Beaudoin’s Famous Pizza. When the owner found out who it was for and what the project included, he delivered it himself and accepted no payment. When Matt’s dad told the hardware store owner that Matt was moored on Front Street, he dropped what he was doing and came to visit him. The gift shop owner was manning her shop alone, so she stuck a note on the door that said she’d be back soon, and locked the door.

It’s interesting to see how excited many of the town’s people have been. The hardware store owner has helped Matt throughout the raft preparation project.

Several people who were at the waterfront asked Matt questions about the project, and expressed bewilderment or a desire to do something similar.

Refueled and refreshed by the pizza, Matt climbed aboard and resumed his intense struggle against the wind.

The NeoHuckFinn Launch

Conditions: 70 degrees, strong southerly wind (head wind for Matt). Skies are overcast.
Forecast: 30% chance for rain today, 80% chance for thunderstorms tomorrow. Wednesday should begin to turn much cooler and clear.

Nearly thirty people attended the early morning launch of Project NeoHuckFinn. Matt was very pleased with the turnout. Several people from church, including the missionary elders, came. Also attending, some from work, some neighbors, and a television crew.

Matt read a Huck Finn quote, “We said there warn’t no home like a raft after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.” Then he said a prayer with his family and told us all good bye.

To board the raft, Matt had to make a six- or seven-foot leap. The raft heaved a little as he leapt onto it. He shoved off and started his long journey.

Once he got fifty yards out, we saw three people running down the hill—the television crew from Alexandria had arrived too late to interview him and to film the launch. He was still close enough to respond to our shouts and it was decided that they would meet a ways ahead. The crew interviewed Matt’s wife, Julie, and his four kids before heading to the rendezvous site.

The crew interviewed Matt for about twenty minutes and filmed the kids waving good bye as he launched again.

Shortly after Matt’s first launch, a wonderful Southern lady joined us. She had seen Matt’s article in the paper and wanted to see him off. Her son had a similar adventure nearly forty years ago. He had built a barge and floated about fifty miles down the Red River from Shreveport with several of his buddies. They planned to float to the Mississippi, but one of the boys stepped into a red ant pile and suffered several bites. His allergies put him into danger, so they had to abandon the barge.

When Julie and the family arrived home they had a phone message that a close friend from church had passed away. Since Matt serves as bishop of the congregation, he will have to interrupt his trek to work on the funeral. Details on this will follow.

Watch for television coverage all week at the following websites:

www.thetowntalk.com and www.KLAX-TV.com

Hopes and Fears for the Project

I have many hopes for the project, and they mostly stem from the origins of it.
For one, life is incredibly busy: all forms of communication must be satisfied; there are all sorts of media and other distractions. I hope for six days of quiet contemplation—six days to regroup, refocus, and really focus on the essentials. That’s really important to me with this project. It’s a little selfish, just get out there and enjoy some quiet, some physical work, and some peace.

I also want to draw attention to the historical sense of the Cane—that it was navigated very slowly. “Slow” is a very essential element of this project. That is an element that people continually try to dissuade me. “You could hide a little trolling motor on the back. Nobody would see it. It wouldn’t be noisy.” But the slow pace of the travel is an important thread that winds through this project.

Also, I see it as an artistic practice. I see the raft as the vehicle for the art. If you make art with welding or painting, then the torch and the brushes become the vehicles for the art. The outcome isn’t a visual piece of art—in the long run it’s what we call a happening or an event. I see myself out there on the river as a visual element. Every time I’m spotted, I think people will feel it’s kind of a romantic sight—this guy out there quietly and slowly poling his way down the river. It’s kind of like the gondolas of Italy or Huck Finn and Jim floating down the Mississippi.

Matt’s Pre-launch Fears
· Cold rain.
· It’s been instilled in me a fear that snakes may climb onto the raft.
· Alligators
· Headwinds the whole way
· Lightning
· The main fear is not accomplishing the project

Why the Cane River is Essential Today

Today Natchitoches is one of the few towns intersected by a beautiful fingerlake like the Cane River. It's a tourist draw, it greatly increases the value of real estate on its banks, and it accommodates recreation like fishing and boating. There are boat parades on the Cane. It draws the essential tourists to Natchitoches which depends on that boost to its economy. The Cane is the center of most city activities—the City of Lights display, the concerts, and the Green Market (farmers market and arts & crafts fair).

The Cane River Lake dominates the ambiance of the city. It’s the city’s defining feature.

The Origin of the Project

There is an initial spot that the idea was created. When I first moved here to Natchitoches I was reading River Horse: Across America by Boat by William Least Heat Moon. Moon traverses the United States, from the east coast to the west via the waterways. He wrote of the importance of these rivers and lakes to our country’s heritage. We originally traveled to a town by river. Now they are mostly covered up-we rarely see them except when we cross over them by bridge. While the people in the cities used to depend on the rivers, now we almost hide from them and the industries that have built up around them.
The book stirred my heart with appreciation and a sense of adventure.
As I crossed the Cane River going to and from work, I began to realize its importance, past and present, to this area. So I started thinking, "What if I found a way to experience it?"
It started gelling in my mind-maybe I could make a canoe or a pirogue. A pirogue (pronounced PEE-row) is a flat-bottomed canoe that was brought to this area by the French.
So I started talking to people about my ideas. I have a friend, Brad Ferguson, who had built a pirogue. He said it was very tippy and unstable. I wanted something that I could stay on and that would carry my gear adequately. So I decided I would build a raft.
The raft idea dated back to when I was a teenager in Houston. My friend Matt Reynolds and I were walking along a bayou and decided we would build a raft to float on the bayou. What a wonderful adventure! We never got around to that, so this project sort of satisfies that original idea.

The Cane River's Importance
Natchitoches was originally settled in 1714, and is arguably the oldest permanent settlement west of the Mississippi. It was at least the oldest settlement of the Louisiana Purchase.
The Cane River, as part of the Red River, flowed through Natchitoches and became the center of travel and commerce. If it hadn't been the offshoot of the Red River that came through this area, then there wouldn't have been this settlement.
There is a lot of history behind this river. There was a giant logjam, called the Great Raft. Once the Great Raft was cleared around 1830, the Red River found a shorter course to the gulf and abandoned the city. The Cane River began to dry up, the authorities built a dam on the south end to create this beautiful finger lake. As far as I can tell, they did this to maintain the aesthetics of the area.
That's how rivers were the essential element of the settling of a place. To settle in an area there had to be fresh water, and flowing fresh water was the most desirable.

Here is a map of the trip. Each color symbolizes the proposed length of each day of poling. I plan on traveling 6 miles a day at an average speed of .5 miles an hour.
Since June, I have spent time on Oscar practising the art of poling, sweating and freezing. Propelling a raft with a pole is about the slowest means of transportation known to man (I hope someone will post a comment that will tell me otherwise. I imagine a piggy-back ride on a three-toed sloth might be a touch more sluggish for example).
The Cane River Lake is, well, a lake. It was dammed at both ends to fascilitate proper aesthitics for the lovely downtown Natchitoches. As such, there is no current. Almost all movement on this river-lake is up to me.

Just over two years ago, I was reading a book entitled RiverHorse by William Least Heat-Moon. While absorbing his experience crossing the U.S. by rivers, I began to notice the small river-lake that crosses through Natchitoches, Louisiana, the town we live in. It's called the Cane River Lake. Within this time of contemplation, I decided that I would experience our little, historical river-lake from the vantage point of the water.

I began to design a simple raft to propel me down the current-less Cane, and plan my trip with absolutely no prior experience in this area.

On February 4th, 2008, my raft Oscar Bitley (Choctaw for "in the cut-off cane") and I will start the 36 mile trip down the Cane River Lake. I expect it will take six days and five nights.