The Adventure of 2017 involves physical effort!

I'm rowing down the Cumberland River 546 miles. Starting just below Cumberland Falls in Kentucky, ending at the Ohio River in Kentucky after traveling a lot of miles in Tennessee. 

Map of Journey from Laurel River in Eastern Kentucky to the Ohio River

New boat launched

I plan on doing it alone because I want to go when I want to go, rest when I want to rest and stop to smell the flowers I want to smell.  

The first thing everybody ask, "Are you in good enough shape to do this?" My answer is, "Maybe not the first week. But I will be by the time I finish."  


I'm thinking I'll loose 30-50 pounds because I will have controlled diet on the boat and could burn a few thousand extra calories a day. I have looked at MRE's, but they have a pretty high caloric content.  I really don't want to be burdened with an ice chest, so that introduces some restrictions.  It's not like I will be in the middle of the ocean for a month, I will be going through towns with grocery stores for fresh fruit.

I just finished designing the moving seat and foot stretcher (foot rests as they would be called by normal people). 

Have a bid on some rip stop nylon for a cover to keep me out of the rain. I plan on sleeping in the boat most of the time, as there will be room. Ken Palmer tells me you can dip cloth in Thompson's Water Seal to make it water proof. Hmmm. 

Anchor - check. Anchor light - check. Self-inflating mattress - check

I've been wavering between wanting to take a sail and being a purist and rowing the entire way. With a sail, I need to register it... another small expense. But it came with a little sail and a Dogwood tree mast. 

I'm going to promote the Cumberland River Compact along the journey. They have done a lot of good work to clean up the River. They asked me what I worried about most on the trip. That was easy - keeping my sleeping bag and cell phone dry!

The boat is a classic Scandinavian design  called a Feiring .  The name of the boat means "four oaring".