Stories From The River

A Dad’s Essay on Being Part of the Bear Naked Crew during the Flood of 2008

Looking out over the water there was no other vessel in sight only the debris of some lost struggle with the fury of the currents. “Swing her around hard boys. Phew, that was close we nearly hit that one.” I said to the crew. That was 35 years ago in a mock sea voyage aboard an old rusty combine as my great sea ship along with my first cousins as some of the finest sea mates a man could ask for. The sea was the waving brome grass and the ship’s masts were the Chinese elm trees at the end of a shelter belt in a small farm in eastern South Dakota. The wheel used to raise and lower the head of the Minneapolis Moline G4 combine was nothing short of a replica of a ships helm wheel with wood handles and a classic spoke pattern and it concocted no end to a young boy’s imaginary sea voyage. 35 years later it was my son, Nate, hanging on to that same wheel but it was long since removed from that old combine and was now fastened to the bow of a home made vessel floating down the great Mississippi River during what has already become the “Flood of 2008”. Another “woop” and “he-haw” is heard from the man at the helm as he twists the wheel to move the rudder of the Bear Naked as it crashes through yet another set of 4 foot white cap waves, bucking a 20 to 30 MPH headwind, and riding the currents of the rising Mississippi River flood waters. The continuous pounding of the white caps and the splash over was now beginning to run down the middle of the cabin on its way to the stern. At the stern is the ship’s engineer and navigator, Nick, for this stretch of the river channel and he’s manning the 9.5 HP 1970 Johnson Seahorse and he echoes one “woop” with another and is grinning from ear to ear. I know I was smiling and chuckling to watch this exchange. I imagined the thrill and excitement felt by these shipmates was no less than that of those young boys so many decades ago, only this was very real and potentially very dangerous. Eventually, we did have to pull off toward the shore in a protected cove where many abandoned summer homes had been left to fend off the flood waters as we made repairs to the right front pontoon barrel. A spare bolt was used to replace some lost hardware and the pontoon was as good as new. We turned back out into the channel and headed for Burlington, Iowa. Less then four days later the crew of the Bear Naked would be standing shoulder to shoulder with the inmates of the Iowa State Penitentiary and working.

The first time my son casually mentioned that he and some of his college roommates were going to float down the Mississippi River in a home made raft I thought it a good laugh and strictly an opportunity to get the ol’ man’s blood pressure up for the pure sport of it. He wasn’t kidding. The blood pressure did rise but went down quickly as I reflected on what fun that would be if I were 20 years younger and with no care in the world. Given the stubborn nature of this kid and at an age when parental controls seem to hold little sway I decided to help him and his roommate design and fabricate the vessel that might actually have a chance of survival on the big river. We started in March 2008 with a few drawings and a list of supplies. 3 months later and many late weekend evenings the Bear Naked pontoon barge was completed and was ready for trial runs. The frame is made of 14 gauge steel tubing, the deck 3/4” external plywood, the cabin roof and sides 1/2” left over house sheathing. The outboard motor is a donation from Grandpa O. Other odds and ends were either made from leftovers or made from other donations through friends and relatives. The vessel is 20 feet long and is nearly 9 feet wide. The cabin dubbed the “Bear Cave” is 6 feet high, 8 feet wide and 10 feet long. There’s room enough for two single beds with lockable storage underneath, a sink, and a gas camp stove. There are solar panels atop the cabin that are connected to batteries to store sufficient power for the various lights and charging of other accessories such as a laptop, marine radio, GPS unit, cordless screwdriver, and cell phones. All in all this is a pretty luxurious vessel for a couple college schmucks. The construction process alone was a great opportunity to spend time with my son and his friend. I don’t expect they’ll be many of those chances left before their own busy lives take them other directions. Our first trial launch was in Colorado Springs at the tiny little Prospect Lake in Memorial Park. The trial run was successful and a few more tweaks were made before a second successful trial run. This second run was accomplished in Lake Pueblo which is a much larger reservoir in Pueblo Colorado. The vessel was able to make reasonable motorized progress against very high headwinds, white caps, and six adult sized individuals. The Bear Naked was ready!

This aquatic adventure was adapted around the simple premise of a Huck Finn river raft floating down the Mississippi River. However, after research of previous “floaters” this vessel was updated to accommodate the navigation of other life threatening man-made obstacles such as barges, bridges, locks, and dams. What we hadn’t envisioned was the historical flooding of the Mississippi River with all its contributories supplying the flood waters. Who ever heard of “shutting down” a river like the Mississippi? The Bear Naked is not amphibious and must depend upon portage through locks and around low bridges.

What has been truly remarkable about the fist leg of this adventure is not the vessel, it is not the man-made obstacles, it is not the lovely scenery, it is not vicious storms, nor is it the river itself. It is the people of Iowa we’ve met along the way and those we’ve had to depend upon to keep “a float”. Relatives and complete strangers that we have met and broke bread with have been the most helpful and caring people. Getting to the river and on the first leg of the river was only accomplished through the generosity and unselfish availability from their busy lives. Here are the examples: After suffering through two trailer tire blowouts, lost lug nuts and wheels literally falling off we received a tow from the interstate to a shop area where we replaced and upgraded the axle and wheels of the trailer carrying the Bear Naked. Thank you Phil, Mike, and Jake! We had meals and a night’s stay provided while repairing the trailer. Thank you Katina and Chris! When we reached Davenport, our launch point, we were received by Larry and Todd who took a better of their Monday to help us ready the vessel and get educated about the Might Miss and her locks at Lock 15’s Visitor Center where we also purchased our Navigation Charts which have proven to invaluable. Larry also suggested a marine radio for lock operator contact, general safety contacts, and weather updates. Good call, no pun intended. In Lock 17 we busted a shear pin for the prop shaft on a submerged log and we needed to make repairs. Thanks go to John the lock operator for his patience and suggestions. Then there was the long hike to get gasoline in New Boston, IL where a friendly gentleman offered the bed of his pickup to take us into town and back. On the other side of the river from Burlington, Iowa a couple offered us their quiet cove to anchor for the evening out of the heavy current. Thank you to Kevin and Darlene for that quiet patch of shore. One of biggest challenges and concerns was our entry into Fort Madison where the river had risen to levels that would not allow our vessel to pass under the train/car double-decker bridge. They closed the bridge to river traffic 20 minutes prior to our arrival. Furthermore, the current was extremely fast and there were few options for us to find safe harbor. We tucked in behind the only available docking structure where four private residences where preparing for the rising flood waters. As luck would have it one of the private property owners, Ed, was there to greet us. Tom and Kathy were coming over the double-decker bridge at precisely the same time we were transiting to the docks and also greeted us shortly after tying up. They proceed to the store to get us some goodies, as well as, other items for a real meal. Over next 48 hours we met the most wonderful folks and their kids at this last stop and we had dinner and drinks at their beautiful cabins. Dennis allowed us to tie up to the dock and Roger let us beach the Bear Naked on his submerged lawn. Sara, yet another local property owner, offered us their shower facilities in the cabin. Craig gave us sage advice and when it became painfully obvious that we would not likely get anywhere for the next two weeks, or more, and he assisted us pulling the Bear Naked from the river. Craig and Tom helped us load the Bear Naked on the trailer. How did our trailer get to Fort Madison from Davenport you might ask? Well, that would be Larry from Davenport again helping out on his Father’s Day to drive down our vehicle and trailer so that we could get things loaded up. To all the fathers that took time out of their day to help this dad, I offer a heart felt Thank You! Finally, Cathy and Shelly asked their parents, Jeanne and Pat, to allow us stow the boat while we wait to re-launch. There are still others that offered help, advice, gifts of small geode gem rocks from local creek bottoms, and even a fresh baked strawberry pie. What’s remarkable is that as big as this list has become it only represents a little less than one week of the Bear Naked adventure. It suggests what is good about the great people of this nation and of Iowa and their willingness to help complete strangers from another state.

As hard is it is to leave behind the Bear Naked and this part of the adventure for this dad it is far more difficult to witness folks loose their property and the massive damage to their lands as we floated down the Big Miss. We witnessed communities coming together sandbagging levies and structures in towns along the river, large machinery operators working through the night shoring up levies along the river, folks removing what they could from their homes and summer cabins before the higher flood waters came to take away or ruin what is left. As I write this on Monday the flood waters are expected to continue to rise and crest on Wednesday. Our adventure will come and go but what remains behind in that river is a mess of misery for a lot of folks. At least the crew of the Bear Naked knows first hand that if anyone can pull through flood disaster of 2008 it is the folks of Iowa.

First impression of the Mississippi River is that it is every bit as awesome, mysterious, and dangerous as the folklore and stories suggest. She clearly takes and gives back what she wants. We spent a week riding the rising flood and it could have turned out very different for us. We were treated to wonderful stories and pictures of fun on the river and grim stories of close friends taken down into the river never to be given back. As I reflect on those stories and my memories of peering down into relatively calm eddies throughout the river chutes and the main channel I can only now think of the Grim Reaper smiling back. Unfortunately, nearly all the islands were overrun with flood waters but still beautiful. In fact, many of the branches of the trees were touching the water and resembled images of the swamps of the south. The massive barges passing by were impressive and demanded respect. Everyday was a new adventure and in almost every case completely different from the previous adventure. One thing required constant diligence on the river and that was the large branches, stumps, and whole trees floating down the channel and chutes. The helm wheel that Nate and his Grandpa built into the bow of the boat became a real asset for this kind of constant observation. Many lessons were learned and likely many yet to be learned.

In time, my son Nate and his crew mate Nick will be back to finish their journey south on the Mighty Mississippi and I have memories that only some dad’s may dream to have with their own kids. “Hard to port Nate!” and “Give her the onion Nick!”

Oh yea, about working with the Iowa State Pen inmates, it turns out that while we were determining our fate with the river rising we decided to volunteer a few hours of our time to local community and help position sand bags against the flood waters. We were detailed to an area around the historical train depot and museum where many of the local ISP inmates were already located and we were just part of long line of help to set the sand bags. Unfortunately, the waters rose so fast that by the next day the collective efforts of the inmates and other community volunteers turned out to be futile and the whole of the Fort Madison historic buildings was overrun with flood waters.