I grew up on the Mississippi River , in Rock Island, Ill. I knew of the river's moods and might but always took it for granted. And yet I'd long wondered what it would be like to travel the Mississippi from source to sea — in a canoe. So, after a decade of imagining and a year of serious preparation, I and three other retired graybeards from suburban Chicago — Tim Clark, Tom Lobacz and Bill Baar — headed north in late May to put in at the Mississippi's headwaters at Lake Itasca, Minn. The river begins as a baby stream gurgling past 25 feet of stones that permit you to "walk across the Mississippi" which, of course, we do. A webcam allows people to watch the "walkers" from afar. My wife calls to tell me she sees us. I wave. For its first 60 miles, the Mississippi actually flows north, meandering through marshlands so expansive that an errant turn will find you lost. All of our gear is strapped into two, 18 1/2- foot Kevlar canoes : a single dome tent , a...
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