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Canoeing was the conventional mode of transportation for the earliest adventurers who braved the treacherous waters of the Mississippi River.
Kristian Gustavson, a Bloomington, Ill. resident, and his father, William, are reliving the adventure two of Kristian’s uncles followed down the Mighty Mississippi 42 years ago.
“We’re following the same route in the same canoe taken by my uncles – Bob and Greg Gustavson,” young Kristian said Tuesday as he and his father stopped at the Helena Harbor for an overnight stay.
Once the Gustavsons arrive at the Port of New Orleans they plan to contact relatives to pick them up and make the trip by vehicle back to Bloomington.
They met with John Ruskey, the Clarksdale, Miss. resident, who opened his second Quapaw Canoe Co. outlet in late June on Ohio St. Ruskey, a Colorado transplant, opened his first canoe company on the banks of the Sunflower River in downtown Clarksdale three years ago.
“There is a growing interest in canoeing,” Ruskey said, who is still getting his business set up in Helena. He envisions canoe races on the Mississippi River perhaps as early as October.
The 17-foot Grumman canoe was sturdy enough for the previous Gustavsons to make the trip down the Mississippi River four decades ago and Kristian Gustavson sees no reason to think it won’t work again.
“We’ve traveled along the Mackinaw River (in central Illinois,” Gustavson said. “We decided to give this a try.”
Their starting point was Cairo, Ill., where the Mississippi and Ohio rivers converge. The waters are still very high from the snow and spring rains, Gustavson said.
“It’s tricky down the main channel of the Mississippi River,” Gustavson said. “For every 100-200 yards we move back and forth across the river we go about a mile downstream.”
Gustavson called his experience “humbling” because of the Mississippi River’s “subtle power and strong currents.”
The Gustafsons said the Mississippi River shaped the geography of the U.S. and continues to play an important role as the nation revisits its interest in commercial navigation along the nations’ major waterways.
Kristina Gustavson, a political science graduate from the University of California at San Diego, is an ecologist who practices what he believes.
“My eco-fuel converted truck (1989 Ford 250) burns restaurant grease,” Gustavson said. “I still use diesel to get the engine started, but the grease is relatively inexpensive and readily available.”
Gustavson said he could acquire vegetable oil grease for less than $2 a gallon. He has a 40-gallon tank in the flat bed of the pickup.
“Co-ops collect the grease and sell it for $1 a gallon,” Gustavson said. During his years at UCSD Gustavson became an active wind surfer.
“I enjoyed Big Sur,” Gustavson said. Wind power is another alternative form of energy he espouses.
Through a grant with Surf Riders Foundation, Gustavson is making his river odyssey to “raise public awareness of non-point source pollution.”
Gustavson said pollution from chemical discharges – industrial, agricultural and others – upstream “have a definite impact on the oceans (i.e. Gulf of Mexico) downstream.”
Gustavson said his research focuses on the qualitative aspects of pollution rather than quantitative data.
“I want to find out what goes into the water and why they do it,” Gustavson said. “Collective contamination from chemicals applied to lawns, farm chemicals and disposable plastic bags are among the sources of pollution.”
Canoeing was the conventional mode of transportation for the earliest adventurers who braved the treacherous waters of the Mississippi River.
Kristian Gustavson, a Bloomington, Ill. resident, and his father, William, are reliving the adventure two of Kristian’s uncles followed down the Mighty Mississippi 42 years ago.
“We’re following the same route in the same canoe taken by my uncles – Bob and Greg Gustavson,” young Kristian said Tuesday as he and his father stopped at the Helena Harbor for an overnight stay.
Once the Gustavsons arrive at the Port of New Orleans they plan to contact relatives to pick them up and make the trip by vehicle back to Bloomington.
They met with John Ruskey, the Clarksdale, Miss. resident, who opened his second Quapaw Canoe Co. outlet in late June on Ohio St. Ruskey, a Colorado transplant, opened his first canoe company on the banks of the Sunflower River in downtown Clarksdale three years ago.
“There is a growing interest in canoeing,” Ruskey said, who is still getting his business set up in Helena. He envisions canoe races on the Mississippi River perhaps as early as October.
The 17-foot Grumman canoe was sturdy enough for the previous Gustavsons to make the trip down the Mississippi River four decades ago and Kristian Gustavson sees no reason to think it won’t work again.
“We’ve traveled along the Mackinaw River (in central Illinois,” Gustavson said. “We decided to give this a try.”
Their starting point was Cairo, Ill., where the Mississippi and Ohio rivers converge. The waters are still very high from the snow and spring rains, Gustavson said.
“It’s tricky down the main channel of the Mississippi River,” Gustavson said. “For every 100-200 yards we move back and forth across the river we go about a mile downstream.”
Gustavson called his experience “humbling” because of the Mississippi River’s “subtle power and strong currents.”
The Gustafsons said the Mississippi River shaped the geography of the U.S. and continues to play an important role as the nation revisits its interest in commercial navigation along the nations’ major waterways.
Kristina Gustavson, a political science graduate from the University of California at San Diego, is an ecologist who practices what he believes.
“My eco-fuel converted truck (1989 Ford 250) burns restaurant grease,” Gustavson said. “I still use diesel to get the engine started, but the grease is relatively inexpensive and readily available.”
Gustavson said he could acquire vegetable oil grease for less than $2 a gallon. He has a 40-gallon tank in the flat bed of the pickup.
“Co-ops collect the grease and sell it for $1 a gallon,” Gustavson said. During his years at UCSD Gustavson became an active wind surfer.
“I enjoyed Big Sur,” Gustavson said. Wind power is another alternative form of energy he espouses.
Through a grant with Surf Riders Foundation, Gustavson is making his river odyssey to “raise public awareness of non-point source pollution.”
Gustavson said pollution from chemical discharges – industrial, agricultural and others – upstream “have a definite impact on the oceans (i.e. Gulf of Mexico) downstream.”
Gustavson said his research focuses on the qualitative aspects of pollution rather than quantitative data.
“I want to find out what goes into the water and why they do it,” Gustavson said. “Collective contamination from chemicals applied to lawns, farm chemicals and disposable plastic bags are among the sources of pollution.”
