Adventurous boaters headed to Gulf of Mexico

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By David Heitz | Thursday, June 26, 2008 |

Justus McLarty from New York city, who is a production manager for Saturday Night Live, stands on the bow of his pontoon boat in the docks at Moline. He is traveling the Mississippi River from north of St. Paul, MN. to Venice, LA. and hopes to be there around August 24th. (John Schultz/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Buy this Photo

Mark Twain still is inspiring river rats to fall in the love with the Mississippi and write about it.

Modern-day Tom Sawyers and Huckleberry Finns docked two boats Thursday in Moline behind the Radisson Hotel. Both are piloted by city slickers, both are about as primitive as a watercraft can get and both carry adventurous souls with a mission to tell their stories about romancing the river.

In a once-every-500-years flood.

“The first two weeks was nothing but storms,” said Justus McLarty, who put his human-powered boat, “The Big Getter,” into the water June 1 at the Russell A. Sorensen Landing on the Minnesota River, near the confluence with the Mississippi. He has had as many as three passengers at a time with him along the way, be they friends or total strangers.

McLarty, a New York City man who works as a production manager for the NBC television show “Saturday Night Live,” said the high water has not proved too much of a problem. “It’s kind of helped us. We’re just floating right along. I’m surprised by how few boaters we’ve seen, but I think it’s because the river’s so high.”

He plans to follow the river all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Ironically, two men from California put their boat, “Evangeline,” into the water one day and four miles apart from McLarty with the same mission in mind.

“We’re kind of doing it the way Huckleberry Finn would do it if he were around these days,” said Bill Bowles, from San Francisco, who is making the approximately 2,000-mile journey with friend Max Livingstone, from Berkeley. Bowles is a filmmaker and Livingstone works as a general contractor. “Everyone keeps telling us we picked a hell of a year to go down the river.”

Bowles said Evangeline had a close call a couple of days ago in Clinton, Iowa. “We went under a rail bridge and missed it by 3 inches, the water was so high. That was pretty dicey.”

McLarty made his boat himself. It consists of a small houseboat on a pontoon frame. It is powered by two pedal-driven propeller stations located at the stern on both sides of the craft, as well as a set of oars for rowing on the front deck. There is an outboard motor that can be used for emergencies, safety and to make up lost time. He figures the boat and his trip together cost him about $15,000.

Bowles and Livingstone’s boat is more traditional and not quite as fancy. They paid $2,800 for it. “We figure Huck Finn would have had a junky old boat,” Bowles said.

The three boaters — all total strangers — have come to know one another as they hopscotch down the Muddy Mississippi. Now they’re stuck in the Quad-Cities until Lock and Dam 15 opens to pleasure craft.

All of the men are dedicated to sharing their stories. McLarty’s adventures are reported daily on his Internet blog, biggetter.com, and Bowles and Livingstone’s journey is being chronicled with video blogs at bigrivershow.com.

For McLarty, the best part of the trip has been the people he has met. He said he has been amazed by the friendliness of Midwesterners. “And the bluffs. I would not have imagined all the bluffs.”

He even has taken interest in the not-so-scenic industry that lines some sections of the river. “I have gone up to plants and asked for tours, and they immediately shut up or walk away,” he said.

For these boaters, the trip symbolizes sticking a toe into Middle America’s most celebrated artery. Bowles said he has been around the world, noting, “At some point I realized I knew more about Madagascar than Missouri.”

McLarty is the type who seems to have an unsinkable zest for life. He named his boat after one of his grandma’s old sayings: “The worst thing is to go through life with a great big wanter and a little bitty getter, so keep your getter bigger than your wanter.”

Bowles said he simply had to experience life on the river. “This is one of the classic American stories and a classic American journey. It’s in our shared cultural understanding of who we are as Americans.”

David Heitz can be contacted at (563) 383-2202 or dheitz@qctimes.com.