March 30, 2015 at 5:44 p.m.
River adventure
Couple planning 1,591-mile kayak trip
River adventure
The Wabash River runs just a few miles south of John and LaNae Abnet’s southeastern Adams County home.
They drive over it virtually every day. For years, they had joked about its waters and the possibilities they carry with them.
But they’re not kidding around anymore.
While many area residents have just returned from trips south for spring break, the Abnets are about to begin their journey — 1,591 miles, by kayak, from the source of the Wabash River to the Gulf of Mexico.
“I blame her,” said John of his wife, who started talking seriously about the idea last year after they met a woman who had made a similar trip from the headwaters of the Missouri River.
With John having recently stepped away from his career in the automotive industry, it seemed to LaNae the perfect time for such an adventure. And in their searches, they haven’t found records of anyone else who has made the trip they’re planning.
“We’ve always done things that were different,” said LaNae, 52, a former math and English teacher at East Jay Middle School.
For John and LaNae, who have been married for 11 years, ventures into the outdoors are nothing new.
They’ve kayaked the Pigeon River in Tennessee and the rivers of Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and have made trips all over Canada.
They have explored the waters of northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada on what they call “end of road” trips, during which they’ve driven until the road ends and then kept going in their boats. Their kayaks have been in the Arctic Ocean’s Beaufort Sea, which is north of Alaska and western Canada.
And they’ve spent time in the Hudson Bay area, including a trip on which they spent two days on the water before flagging down a train to take them back to civilization.
“It’s just natural. Ever since I was young I’ve like the outdoors,” said LaNae, 52, noting that she’s usually red-cheeked in pictures from her childhood because she spent so much time outside. “It’s just always been part of my life.”
“For me, it’s freedom,” said John,, 53, who took a job at MyFarms in Portland after leaving his position at Setex, a Honda supplier, a little over a year ago. He stepped away from MyFarms earlier this month. “I think we all have that inherent itch for freedom.”
They drive over it virtually every day. For years, they had joked about its waters and the possibilities they carry with them.
But they’re not kidding around anymore.
While many area residents have just returned from trips south for spring break, the Abnets are about to begin their journey — 1,591 miles, by kayak, from the source of the Wabash River to the Gulf of Mexico.
“I blame her,” said John of his wife, who started talking seriously about the idea last year after they met a woman who had made a similar trip from the headwaters of the Missouri River.
With John having recently stepped away from his career in the automotive industry, it seemed to LaNae the perfect time for such an adventure. And in their searches, they haven’t found records of anyone else who has made the trip they’re planning.
“We’ve always done things that were different,” said LaNae, 52, a former math and English teacher at East Jay Middle School.
For John and LaNae, who have been married for 11 years, ventures into the outdoors are nothing new.
They’ve kayaked the Pigeon River in Tennessee and the rivers of Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and have made trips all over Canada.
They have explored the waters of northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada on what they call “end of road” trips, during which they’ve driven until the road ends and then kept going in their boats. Their kayaks have been in the Arctic Ocean’s Beaufort Sea, which is north of Alaska and western Canada.
And they’ve spent time in the Hudson Bay area, including a trip on which they spent two days on the water before flagging down a train to take them back to civilization.
“It’s just natural. Ever since I was young I’ve like the outdoors,” said LaNae, 52, noting that she’s usually red-cheeked in pictures from her childhood because she spent so much time outside. “It’s just always been part of my life.”
“For me, it’s freedom,” said John,, 53, who took a job at MyFarms in Portland after leaving his position at Setex, a Honda supplier, a little over a year ago. He stepped away from MyFarms earlier this month. “I think we all have that inherent itch for freedom.”
But none of those trips lasted more than three weeks. Just the planning and preparation for this venture have been going on for about a year.
Most who attempt such journeys buy prepackaged meals, John said. But he and LaNae are taking a different approach.
LaNae has prepared 720 complete meals along with snacks, all dehydrated and now packed in a series of boxes. She’s used two methods — making extra large meals and then dehydrating the leftovers for use on the trip, and dehydrating ingredients separately before putting them together. The selections include spaghetti, chili, ham and beams, soups, casseroles and many meals made with a rice or mashed potato base with meat and vegetables added. A lot of their desserts are puddings.
“My dehydrator was going 24/7,” said LaNae, who plans to post all of the recipes on their website at http://www.separateboats.com. “When something was done, I was sticking something else in.”
They only have room to carry a week’s worth of food in their kayaks. The rest will be shipped to post offices along the way, with the couple planning to make hikes to those locations to retrieve the supplies for the next leg of their trip.
In addition to wetsuits and some thermal clothing, they’ll each have just three sets of clothing — one to wear, one to have dry to change into at the end of the day and a third to have drying after being washed in the river.
“It’s a logistical nightmare,” said John. “And it’s a shot in the dark, because nobody has done it this way.
“We have an itinerary on our web site, but that’s going to be wrong.”
While they enjoy the uncertainty and the adventure, John and LaNae wanted to make their trip about something more.
The couple, which attends The ROCK church in Portland, sent out letters to charities in search of one to sponsor. Some responses came back, but eventually LaNae felt called to support something more familiar.
Their fundraising efforts via donations on their website are focused on “The Fortress,” a home for unwed mothers in Uganda. The ROCK has been involved with the “The Fortress,” which is seeking to raise money to build a better facility.
John and LaNae are also naming their boats — one “Work,” the other “Pray” — with their faith in mind. Those monikers are taken from a scripture passage pastor Jeff Horsman likes to paraphrase: “Work like it depends on you. Pray like it depends on God.”
Their journey will begin Friday with the couple starting from the headwaters of the Wabash River, located in a farmer’s field just south of the Mercer/Darke county line and west of Ohio 49. That first leg will be a 12-mile hike, following the river as it first cuts slightly southeast in Darke County before turning north into Mercer County and then back west toward Fort Recovery.
John and LaNae plan to spend that first night at home before pushing their kayaks off Saturday from Ambassador Park. They plan to camp somewhere near New Corydon that night, and their rough itinerary has them set to be at Roush Lake in rural Huntington on April 16.
It’s that stretch, they say, that is the diciest.
“It’s narrow,” John said. “You don’t have a lot of maneuverability.”
They originally set an end date of July 15. Now they are projecting the trip to take a full four months, planning a pace of about 15 miles per day, six days a week.
“We wanted to take our time. We want to enjoy it,” said LaNae, noting that they plan to take Sundays off to relax. “It’s not our goal to see how fast we can do it.”
From Huntington, the river turns southwest and is soon joined by the Salamonie and Mississinewa rivers.
John and LaNae hope to reach Lafayette by the end of April, and Terre Haute about a week later. Their schedule calls for them to traverse the rest of the Wabash, which then forms the border between Indiana and Illinois, by mid-May.
The Ohio River leg of the journey is expected to take less than two weeks before the couple spends about two months on the Mississippi. The goal is to reach Memphis by mid-June, pass the northern border of Louisiana in early July and finally reach New Orleans about July 30.
John’s brother, Del, will meet them at their destination so they can drive back home to Indiana.
John and Lanae plan to blog throughout their trip, during which they expect their sixth grandchild to be born, so anyone interested can follow their progress. They’ll post not only to their website, but also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the “separateboats” moniker.
They’re not sure what will happen on the journey. Weather and water are unpredictable, and they know their year-long best laid plans will sometimes, or perhaps often, go awry.
But they’re excited for the adventure, to meet new people along the way and to have what they expect will be a life-altering experience.
“I’m just anxious to see who we are and what we’re like in August,” said LaNae. “If this doesn’t change us, then there’s something wrong. That’s an exciting thing.”
Most who attempt such journeys buy prepackaged meals, John said. But he and LaNae are taking a different approach.
LaNae has prepared 720 complete meals along with snacks, all dehydrated and now packed in a series of boxes. She’s used two methods — making extra large meals and then dehydrating the leftovers for use on the trip, and dehydrating ingredients separately before putting them together. The selections include spaghetti, chili, ham and beams, soups, casseroles and many meals made with a rice or mashed potato base with meat and vegetables added. A lot of their desserts are puddings.
“My dehydrator was going 24/7,” said LaNae, who plans to post all of the recipes on their website at http://www.separateboats.com. “When something was done, I was sticking something else in.”
They only have room to carry a week’s worth of food in their kayaks. The rest will be shipped to post offices along the way, with the couple planning to make hikes to those locations to retrieve the supplies for the next leg of their trip.
In addition to wetsuits and some thermal clothing, they’ll each have just three sets of clothing — one to wear, one to have dry to change into at the end of the day and a third to have drying after being washed in the river.
“It’s a logistical nightmare,” said John. “And it’s a shot in the dark, because nobody has done it this way.
“We have an itinerary on our web site, but that’s going to be wrong.”
While they enjoy the uncertainty and the adventure, John and LaNae wanted to make their trip about something more.
The couple, which attends The ROCK church in Portland, sent out letters to charities in search of one to sponsor. Some responses came back, but eventually LaNae felt called to support something more familiar.
Their fundraising efforts via donations on their website are focused on “The Fortress,” a home for unwed mothers in Uganda. The ROCK has been involved with the “The Fortress,” which is seeking to raise money to build a better facility.
John and LaNae are also naming their boats — one “Work,” the other “Pray” — with their faith in mind. Those monikers are taken from a scripture passage pastor Jeff Horsman likes to paraphrase: “Work like it depends on you. Pray like it depends on God.”
Their journey will begin Friday with the couple starting from the headwaters of the Wabash River, located in a farmer’s field just south of the Mercer/Darke county line and west of Ohio 49. That first leg will be a 12-mile hike, following the river as it first cuts slightly southeast in Darke County before turning north into Mercer County and then back west toward Fort Recovery.
John and LaNae plan to spend that first night at home before pushing their kayaks off Saturday from Ambassador Park. They plan to camp somewhere near New Corydon that night, and their rough itinerary has them set to be at Roush Lake in rural Huntington on April 16.
It’s that stretch, they say, that is the diciest.
“It’s narrow,” John said. “You don’t have a lot of maneuverability.”
They originally set an end date of July 15. Now they are projecting the trip to take a full four months, planning a pace of about 15 miles per day, six days a week.
“We wanted to take our time. We want to enjoy it,” said LaNae, noting that they plan to take Sundays off to relax. “It’s not our goal to see how fast we can do it.”
From Huntington, the river turns southwest and is soon joined by the Salamonie and Mississinewa rivers.
John and LaNae hope to reach Lafayette by the end of April, and Terre Haute about a week later. Their schedule calls for them to traverse the rest of the Wabash, which then forms the border between Indiana and Illinois, by mid-May.
The Ohio River leg of the journey is expected to take less than two weeks before the couple spends about two months on the Mississippi. The goal is to reach Memphis by mid-June, pass the northern border of Louisiana in early July and finally reach New Orleans about July 30.
John’s brother, Del, will meet them at their destination so they can drive back home to Indiana.
John and Lanae plan to blog throughout their trip, during which they expect their sixth grandchild to be born, so anyone interested can follow their progress. They’ll post not only to their website, but also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the “separateboats” moniker.
They’re not sure what will happen on the journey. Weather and water are unpredictable, and they know their year-long best laid plans will sometimes, or perhaps often, go awry.
But they’re excited for the adventure, to meet new people along the way and to have what they expect will be a life-altering experience.
“I’m just anxious to see who we are and what we’re like in August,” said LaNae. “If this doesn’t change us, then there’s something wrong. That’s an exciting thing.”
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