We Were on the Missouri, 2005

About the Book

On a seven month canoe trip, new scenery, weather, and situations were expected; new friends were an added delight.  Ten of these people tell some of their life stories as they relate to the Missouri River of the Dakotas and Montana, including paddle wheelers and horse-powered ferries, ice flow hopping, a hilarious account of two kayakers trying to beg water in what looked like orange jump suits, and a wanabe canoer searching 120 miles of river for his wayward canoe.   Each author describes the Lewis and Clark monuments of their area in 2005, the year of their 200th anniversary.  True Americana in a small package, with original pictures of the West.

About the Author

The author admits to having had a wonderful life so far, capped off by a 7 month canoe trip at the age of 60.  Born in 1945 in central Wisconsin, he and 5 siblings were introduced to America by his parents as they towed their home-made trailer home to California and even to Alaska on the gravel of the Alcan highway in 1954.  Other highlights include 30 happy years of marriage beginning in Madison, teaching chemistry in the Peace Corps in Colombia, a Ph. D. from Vanderbilt, 2 healthy children born in Nashville and Denver, a short career in medical research in Denver and Chapel Hill, an even shorter stint of teaching college in northwestern Wisconsin, and 20 years of knocking around in Wisconsin as a self-employed handyman and painter.  After his divorce in 1997 and the death of his last parent in 2004, he managed to break even with his debts and pay the rent for 8 months ahead, leaving him free to attempt every fisherman's dream, a long camping trip on the water.  Some of the story of that trip is here.