‘Overwhelming’ end

After more than three months during which nearly all of their travel was by kayak, John and LaNae Abnet got in their truck.
From New Orleans, they began the two-day drive back to Adams County.
“Even just driving home, it was just really odd,” said LaNae. “Even as a passenger … we got on the highway and I felt like we were going so fast.”
As suddenly as their journey ended, the speed of their lives changed. A trip that took 98 days to complete on the Wabash, Ohio and Mississippi rivers, required just two days to retrace by truck.
The Abnets are now back at their southeastern Adams County home following their 1,591-mile journey from the headwaters of the Wabash River to the Gulf of Mexico. To the best of their knowledge, they are the first to have completed such a trip.
“The first week back we were both kind of an emotional wreck,” said John. “It was just overwhelming.”
During the year leading up to the trip, the Abnets laid out their itinerary. They expected it to take about four months, setting today as the target for arriving at the Gulf of Mexico.
However, the first leg of the journey went smoother than planned, and they were several weeks ahead of schedule before they reached the Mississippi River. They reached their destination three weeks early, paddling into the Gulf of Mexico on July 7.
“It was kind of mixed emotions,” said LaNae. “The whole year of planning and we actually did it, that was so exciting. But then again, it was also very sad because we were done.”
“It was very fulfilling,” added John. “Just the fact that it was such a big undertaking, and then all of a sudden it was completed and we made it. … It was very rewarding.”

After the good luck early in the trip, there was a time when the Abnets thought they might not make it.
Jay and Adams counties experienced heavy rain and flooding throughout June and early July, and eventually that water made its way south. From the time John and LaNae reached Vicksburg, Mississippi, the river was at or above flood level.
Concerned about their safety, they considered putting an end to the trip. But after a conversation with a friend who previously worked for the Army Corps of Engineers, they decided they could safely continue.
“There was a lot of wondering just how safe we would be and whether or not we should continue,” said John. “And then the biggest challenge is that the shorelines are gone.”
That made it difficult to find places to get off the river and camp, but the Abnets made the best of the situation.
Their original plan had been to finish in New Orleans, but “mile zero” of the Mississippi is beyond the city. And the true end of the river for purists comes even further at the end of South Pass, one of three passes the river breaks into as it enters the Gulf of Mexico.
The difficulty with going to the end of South Pass is that it would have then required a difficult 25-mile paddle back upstream to the last available road in Venice, Louisiana. But some friends — Michael and Paul Orr — met along the way in Baton Rouge offered to use their boat to pick up the Abnets at the end of South Pass, allowing them to complete a true “source to sea” excursion.
“That’s how we were able to go clear to the Gulf of Mexico, because they brought us back,” said LaNae. “Had they not brought us back, we would have gone to mile zero.”
Having completed the trip, they find themselves looking at life a little differently.
For three months, they had everything they needed in their two little boats. Now they find themselves using the word “need” less and trying to take into consideration whether some of the little details of everyday life are of any consequence.
“Our perspectives are different,” said LaNae. “Things that we thought were important before really aren’t quite so important.”
While getting back to their regular lives, they’re still raising money for their charity. Already, they have brought in nearly $6,000 for “The Fortress,” a home in Uganda for unwed mothers.
They have several speaking engagements planned, including on Sept. 30 at Swiss Village in Berne, and anyone interested in reading more about their trip via daily journal entries can do so at their web site — http://www.separateboats.com.
As the issues of daily life — fixing sump pumps and searching for jobs — return, the Abnets also want to make sure they don’t lose the lessons learned on their trip. They’re considering their next moves carefully in an effort to make sure they’re “where they’re supposed to be,” John said. “It’s kind of like a blank sheet.”