Planned to perfection

The best laid plans …
Sometimes they turn out just right. Or, even better than expected.
Despite a year of planning, southeastern Adams County residents John and LaNae Abnet fully expected their trip to be disrupted by deluges, dams or other distresses. On a trip spanning nearly 1,591 miles, something was bound to go wrong.
But at the midway point of their journey from the headwaters of the Wabash River south of Fort Recovery to the Gulf of Mexico, their itinerary has not led them astray.
“It’s gone great,” said LaNae, a former East Jay Middle School teacher, while sitting on a sandy beach Saturday on the banks of the Mississippi River about 30 miles north of Memphis, Tennessee. “It’s better than I ever could have imagined.
“For it to all fall in place has been really kind of amazing.”
It’s gone so well, in fact, that the Abnets are about two weeks ahead of schedule.
They’ve spent the last two days off the river — Saturday because of wind and Sunday because of rain — but have already traveled 807 miles and should arrive in Memphis today, a stop that was scheduled for June 16.
Their success has been in part because their planning panned out.
They studied gear, trying to select the items that would be most utilitarian on a voyage for which space would be at a premium. Their key items include a durable set of cookware, neoprene boots, wetsuits, a solar panel power unit and camp stools that have also served as drying racks for their clothes.
Perhaps their most useful item, John said, is a VHF radio that has allowed them to communicate with tow boats and barges. It has helped to safely navigate the same waters as the much larger vessels.
“On their forward-looking radar, we look like a log,” said John, 53, who worked at MyFarms in Portland for about a year before stepping away two weeks before the voyage began. “And they don’t always have their rear-facing on.
“Without the radio, we’re just a random thing floating around out here. But with the radio, we can become part of the game …”
Another key part of their preparation was food.
Instead of buying prepackaged meals, LeNae put her dehydrator to work. She made 720 meals, including desserts, either by dehydrating leftovers or dehydrating individual ingredients and then combining them.
“It’s amazing,” said John, noting that the breakfast casserole and pasta dishes have been especially tasty. “The food looks awful, but it really does taste good.”
Because of limited storage space on their kayaks, the Abnets planned to send packages ahead to post offices to be picked up along the way. That’s worked out as well, with their longest round-trip walk to pick up food coming in at about two miles.
One is awaiting them at a marina on Mud Island in Memphis, and the next is on its way to a post office in Helena, Arkansas.
And though they haven’t really needed assistance to continue their trip, they’ve found help around nearly every bend in the rivers. It started with help getting the boats to their launch point in Fort Recovery, and has also including donations of food and drink, help charging electronics and even warm beds and showers.
“The people we have met, the things that they have done for us … the people that happen to be at the right place at the right time,” said LaNae. “It’s almost as if somebody called ahead and said, ‘Hey, Abnets are going to be (there) … go down and meet them.’ But you know that’s not the case.”
At one point, they got help they didn’t know they would need.
John and LaNae, 53 and 52 respectively, planned a six-mile hike to get around the levee at Markle. It would take them uphill into the city, south on Indiana 3, over a bridge and down a dirt road back to the river. They could do it, but with kayaks and supplies to pull behind them, it would take a day.
They were preparing to start the trek following a day off because of rain, when Jeff Miller pulled up in his truck and asked what they were doing. When he heard the story, he offered to get his trailer and with the help of his son, Drew, haul the kayaks.
As they drove south on Indiana 3, they found an impediment that would have been a disaster for the Abnets had they been on foot. The bridge was closed.
“We would have drug those boats all day for 6 miles to a bridge we couldn’t get over,” said John, noting that Miller had to circle back and then take a rural detour to cross the river. “It was probably an 8 or 10 mile drive. That one there was amazing, because if he hadn’t pulled up, we’d still be sitting there. We could have not pulled our boats that far. That was really an amazing provision for us.”
The Abnets have been well ahead of schedule most of the way, having made it to Lafayette 10 days before they planned. They reached New Harmony, Indiana, their final stop on the Wabash River, two weeks earlier than expected, and their pace has only increased.
With stronger currents, they have traveled more than 25 miles in a day five times since reaching the Mississippi River May 21. (They reached that mark just twice in more than a month on the Wabash River.)
John and LaNae look forward to the rest of their trip, which they are using to raise funds and awareness for “The Fortress” — a home for unwed mothers in Uganda — and hope it continues to go as unexpectedly smoothly as it has so far. If it does, they expect to reach the Gulf of Mexico well ahead of their projected July 30 finish.
“It’s worked out almost exactly as planned,” said John, “and I didn’t think it would.”
Their success has been in part because their planning panned out.
They studied gear, trying to select the items that would be most utilitarian on a voyage for which space would be at a premium. Their key items include a durable set of cookware, neoprene boots, wetsuits, a solar panel power unit and camp stools that have also served as drying racks for their clothes.
Perhaps their most useful item, John said, is a VHF radio that has allowed them to communicate with tow boats and barges. It has helped to safely navigate the same waters as the much larger vessels.
“On their forward-looking radar, we look like a log,” said John, 53, who worked at MyFarms in Portland for about a year before stepping away two weeks before the voyage began. “And they don’t always have their rear-facing on.
“Without the radio, we’re just a random thing floating around out here. But with the radio, we can become part of the game …”
Another key part of their preparation was food.
Instead of buying prepackaged meals, LeNae put her dehydrator to work. She made 720 meals, including desserts, either by dehydrating leftovers or dehydrating individual ingredients and then combining them.
“It’s amazing,” said John, noting that the breakfast casserole and pasta dishes have been especially tasty. “The food looks awful, but it really does taste good.”
Because of limited storage space on their kayaks, the Abnets planned to send packages ahead to post offices to be picked up along the way. That’s worked out as well, with their longest round-trip walk to pick up food coming in at about two miles.
One is awaiting them at a marina on Mud Island in Memphis, and the next is on its way to a post office in Helena, Arkansas.
And though they haven’t really needed assistance to continue their trip, they’ve found help around nearly every bend in the rivers. It started with help getting the boats to their launch point in Fort Recovery, and has also including donations of food and drink, help charging electronics and even warm beds and showers.
“The people we have met, the things that they have done for us … the people that happen to be at the right place at the right time,” said LaNae. “It’s almost as if somebody called ahead and said, ‘Hey, Abnets are going to be (there) … go down and meet them.’ But you know that’s not the case.”
At one point, they got help they didn’t know they would need.
John and LaNae, 53 and 52 respectively, planned a six-mile hike to get around the levee at Markle. It would take them uphill into the city, south on Indiana 3, over a bridge and down a dirt road back to the river. They could do it, but with kayaks and supplies to pull behind them, it would take a day.
They were preparing to start the trek following a day off because of rain, when Jeff Miller pulled up in his truck and asked what they were doing. When he heard the story, he offered to get his trailer and with the help of his son, Drew, haul the kayaks.
As they drove south on Indiana 3, they found an impediment that would have been a disaster for the Abnets had they been on foot. The bridge was closed.
“We would have drug those boats all day for 6 miles to a bridge we couldn’t get over,” said John, noting that Miller had to circle back and then take a rural detour to cross the river. “It was probably an 8 or 10 mile drive. That one there was amazing, because if he hadn’t pulled up, we’d still be sitting there. We could have not pulled our boats that far. That was really an amazing provision for us.”
The Abnets have been well ahead of schedule most of the way, having made it to Lafayette 10 days before they planned. They reached New Harmony, Indiana, their final stop on the Wabash River, two weeks earlier than expected, and their pace has only increased.
With stronger currents, they have traveled more than 25 miles in a day five times since reaching the Mississippi River May 21. (They reached that mark just twice in more than a month on the Wabash River.)
John and LaNae look forward to the rest of their trip, which they are using to raise funds and awareness for “The Fortress” — a home for unwed mothers in Uganda — and hope it continues to go as unexpectedly smoothly as it has so far. If it does, they expect to reach the Gulf of Mexico well ahead of their projected July 30 finish.
“It’s worked out almost exactly as planned,” said John, “and I didn’t think it would.”