Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Alternate Transportation to Jim Berry Wedding
We undo the mooring ropes at Lake Macatawa in Holland, head out the channel to Lake Michigan and go south to Saugatuck where we go up the Kalamazoo River, past Kalamazoo, to Galesburg, and then back through Kalamazoo to Lake Michigan. We then head across the lake to Milawaukee, turning south to the Navy Pier in Chicago, and down the Chicago Sanitary Canel to the Des Plains River. Near Joliet we pick up the Illinois River, winding our way south through Peoria to just north of St. Louis. At that point we pick up the Mississippi River south for a short distance before we head west on the Missouri River. We wind through Missouri to Kansas City where the Missouri River heads north along the Missouri/Kansas border, north along the Missouri/Nebraska border, and when we get to the northern part of Missouri we take a short detour up the Nishnabotna River which gets us to a few miles from Sidney, Iowa. Retracing our route south to the Missouri River, we then head north to just below Omaha, Nebraska, where we pick up the Platte River. The Platte River will take us west, through Kearney, through North Platte, then into Colorado and onto Denver. Once again we retrace our route east to pick up the Missouri River again, go north, past Omaha and head to Pierre, South Dakota, then to Bismark, North Dakota, then northwest to Great Falls, Montana. At Great Falls we need to pick up the Jefferson River south to Beaverhead River to New Hawkins Lake. There is a little tributary from New Hawkins Lake in Montana to the Lemhi Pass, which is 8000 feet high. At this point we need to carry our boat a few miles over the pass, into Idaho, to pick up a tributary which flows into the Salmon River in Idaho. We should be ready for the portage at this point because there are about 200 dams we had to go around on the Missouri River to get this far so we have had plenty of practice. Hopefully we picked up a lot of family along the way for just this occasion. Anyway, the Salmon River goes northwest and meets up with the Snake River on the Oregon border. We still head north through Idaho to Washington where we pick up the Columbia River which goes west and exits into the Pacific Ocean. We go south to California and dock nearest to where the wedding will be. We then break up the boat for firewood and have a grand bonfire before the wedding. One note, in order to make it in time we need to leave on January 15.
# posted by Bob @ 6:22 PM 
Comments:
<< Home
Since I'll be coming from Grand Rapids, I'll have to take the Grand River to the Big Lake, turn South and I'll meet you at the Big Red...which will take me days, so I'll be leaving here on the 12th...
Gosh, I just read that travelers on such vessels must be at least 5 months old! Good thing Levi turns 5 months old on the 14th! So, count all 3 of us in to join on the trip out west. We'll be ready the 15th to go...we'll wait by the small water fall in Milham Park--I'm not good with water ways, but I'm sure you can figure it out! See you there! :)
Post a Comment
<< Home
