Reuben Gold Thwaites
Back in December, my husband and I hatched out an improbable plan. We've slept on it, talked about it, researched what would go into it, and now it looks like we're actually going to do it.
This summer, Allen, Buddha (our new Boston Terrier), and I are going to do something many would find odd. We are going to float the entire length of the Ohio River from Pennsylvania to Illinois. We will leave a couple of weeks after I've gotten out of classes, around mid-May; Allen has already arranged leave from his part-time job.
While we're floating, I won't have access to the Internet.
I haven't mentioned this plan to anyone but Beth until now because I wasn't sure it was really going to happen. Any number of things might have turned us back from this strange quest, but so far nothing has. We've been able to work most things out. What hasn't worked out, we've let go and said we're going anyway.
Our son is going to live in our house, take care of our cats, pay our bills, and for 6-8 weeks, we are going to live aboard a small boat (small enough that most people consider it unlivable for more than a weekend jaunt) and see what it takes to live without many of the comforts we've become accustomed to.
I plan to take my laptop and several paper journals, as well as a small selection of books. I hope to write about the experience, to produce a series of essays or stories about what I learned. I've never written non-fiction before; I've never produced works without my "mask." I'm not even sure I can. If I can't, well, I'll just turn the experiences into fiction, I suppose.
For inspiration the last few months I've reread Steinbeck's Travels With Charley, William Least Heat Moon's Blue Highways, and Annie Dillard's wonderful Pilgrim At Tinker Creek. I've also read Afloat On The Ohio by Reuben Gold Thwaites, a man who floated the Ohio with his wife and two other companions at the end of the 19th Century.
I don't know what I will discover about myself during this trip, but I look forward to the voyage and whatever it may bring.
12 comments:
Should be qite an adventure!
*** Coy ***
My dear Theresa, how wonderful, how exciting, how bold, and how fun! I am very happy for you and wish you much self-discovery, along with a deeper intimacy with your husband, if that is even possible. And with Buddha along, you will have entertainment galore!
Can't wait for the literary outcome! I think you may find that throwing off the mask is quite invigorating.
Love, Vicky
http://www.livejournal.com/users/vxv789/
This sounds so exciting, and I think your journey into non-fiction will be an exciting one for you as well.
Be sure and take lots of Skin so Soft! Sounds like a great adventure! we will miss you.
What an amazing summer you have planned. Yesterday I was showing my 8th graders where George Rogers Clark led his men during the Revolutionary War, from Fort Pitt along the Ohio River to Vincennes, so I have just been looking at your route.
This popped up on my screen this am and I thought you might enjoy it as you plan your journey:
Contributor: Donn Stewart
~from Becoming Christ: Transformation Through Contemplation by Brian C. Taylor
The contemplative journey has some similarities [to living in a very different place]. At first, we enjoy the peace and quiet. We find it to be comforting. As we establish a practice of contemplative prayer, we feel newly centered and clear. We imagine that from now on we will be on a path of ever more clarity and peace. But like my family’s adventure into Mexico, we find that over time, the contemplative journey is not simple, smooth, predictable, and straight. It takes us out of the familiar and comfortable into completely new and sometimes difficult territory. And once we have really committed ourselves, there is no turning back.
This is because in contemplative prayer we make ourselves available to God for transformation. I believe that as we do so, assuming we are ready for it, the Spirit takes our offer seriously, and begins to work on us. The subsequent conversion of our hearts is not a small matter that simply has to do with giving us a sense of tranquility. Sometimes in order to make us truly free, we are bound and “taken where we do not wish to go,” as Jesus said to Peter about his future discipleship (John 21:18).”
I think that is absolutely Amazing!! How exciting. I cannot wait ti read about your experiences.
Kathy
Dear Pilgrim on the Ohio,
I think you are very brave for contemplating and carrying through with this journey. I myself am partial to running water...the kind that comes from a pipe. I would approach such a trip with trepidation, and the preparation itself would be kind of a journey. Is it for you? Congratulations for taking on something new.
My favorite travel book is Gretel Ehrlich's "This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland." I am so pleased to hear about your trip. For my journey I am going to lock the doors and close the blinds. It will be permanent night. I think it's called "cave."
Looking forward to hearing more about the journey.
--B.
This sounds like fun! Might I suggest getting a water proof case for the laptop (boats tend to capsize unexpectedly) and sign up for AOL By Phone. Then you can call entries into your journal during your trip. I think voice entries about your adventure would be GREAT!
Now I am green....with wander lust.
I will love to hear your tales!
PS: I disagree with you on one thing, you seem to write fine without your mask.
What a wonderful idea! I sure hope we get some morsels.
V
I am looking forward to descriptions of your travels.
Jude
http://journals.aol.com/jmorancoyle/MyWay
you have made my heart stand still. who could believe it. i actually felt it happen. i had lunch with a friend today who told me that she and her husband are going to france in june, to take a barge from Lyon all the way down to Nice. now this. something is happening, something wonderful.
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