Journey Down the Missisipi – November

Gareth    General Outdoor, Trips     journey down the missisipi, missisipi, wild camping

We are lucky enough to have sponsored with Rab’s help Michael Barrett who is walking the entire length of the Missisipi in aid of Ahsma, a charity that supports education in Columbia. His blog can be found at Journey Down the Missisipi, but he is also going to be posting for us as well. In his latest extract, he gives the low down on November.

November

Well it has been a long walkabout so far to say the least. Last time I wrote I was a few days walk out of the city of Mineapolis. I caught good weather all the way to Minneapolis and covered good ground quickly, averaging around 33 kms each day. I was lucky enough to have s friend who lives in St Paul which is the twin city of Minneapolis and was treated to a shower, a bed and a good feed on arriving, gotta tell ya, it was a place I found hard to leave!

The next week saw me heading south east towards the city of La Crosse in Wisconsin. The walk has been attracting a lot of media attention and none more so than around this area. After doing a few interviews on the local TV and being in a few newspapers in that area, it became common for these two or so weeks for people to invite me into their homes for dinner or lunch and even people yelling encouragement out of their shop windows in the smaller towns, it was small things, but it is those small things that gave me a boost at times when I was really stuffed and struggling to keep going.

The middle area of the Mississippi river was very beautiful and I was lucky enough to be able to follow the river almost on the edge for 100s of kms. It has been the best part of the trek to date, wandering along the rivers edge through small little villages on the river – exactly how I had pictured the adventure from the beginning.

The people I have met and that have helped me out have been amazing. If had not met these people in my path I have no doubt that I would stil be 100 kms further north struggling with the cold weather. They really have been the best part of the whole experience so far, it’s amazing how many people you meet with a good heart.

I am now in a motel about a weeks walk from Memphis. I am in a motel as with today arrived the first day I have seen snow here since begining the trek. I am huddled up in my warm room tonight trying to enjoy it as much as possible as tomorrow I will be heading out into the snow and wind accompanied by the temperature of around -4c. Wish me luck…

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