Days - 9 & 10

GOOD NEWS - GOOD NEWS - GOOD NEWS...and a little bit of bad.

Lets go ahead and get the bad out of the way right now so we can get on with the good. Day 9 didn't get Capt. Ned as far as he had hoped. I talked to him at 8:30 pm and he said he was unable to use Wilson all day. It was completely manual. He paddled 20 miles and ended up 4 miles from Darwin, Illinois, where he set up camp on the Illinois bank of the Wabash and had oooodles of noodles for dinner.

He said that in the morning he planning to stop in Darwin to do a little trading with the natives. Darwin, by the way is one of Clark County's first settlements. It still maintains a ferry for crossing the Wabash. The ferry is mostly used by the local farmers to access property across the river. Sounds like an award winning little town.

You're probably thinking that's not so bad, so he had to do a little paddling, he knew what he was in for. Well...it now gets worse. Day 10 lasted only 4 hours. He stopped around 1:00 pm this afternoon. Captain Ned currently resides in Darwin. Yep...4 hours to go 4 miles. Can you say...major head wind. He earned those 4 miles. I myself haven't talked to him yet today, but I know the call will be coming later and I can pretty much bet he'll say it was worth it. Oh he'll also say that he damn sure would have rather been hanging out with Wilson, but it's still all good.

Okay enough about that, lets get on with the good...I just save a bunch of money on my car insurance. I'm sorry I could resist. Day 9 wasn't all bad, yes he had to paddle all day, but he didn't have the head wind. He also informed Keith that he had his first fish bath. He said there were gazillions of carp jumping all along side of the kayak and soaked him. Pretty cool. He's now had breakfast with deer, he watched an eagle swoop down 30 yards off of the bow and snag a fish and now he finally had a bath.

Speaking of bath, I know he's had a couple along the way, but he will no longer have wait, wish or wonder when the next one is coming. My cousins Kevin and Larry hit the road around noonish today, day 10, and was heading south to meet up with their good 'Ol Uncle Ned. They're taking him supplies. One of the items being a very compact portable shower unit that will heat the water. Other items are a solar powered cell phone charger, which Larry said he tested the day before and it worked great. A small crank radio, that runs either on AA batteries, or you can just crank that sun-of-a...gun right up.

But wait...there's more...

Some of the best news for Capt. Ned is they have a cooler full of icy cold "Gold Tops". Well let's see here, it's now 6:20 pm 5/30/08 I'll bet their having a few of them bad boys right now. Okay, I'm jealous I wish I was there. So lets not talk about them. What they have or what they're doing, lets talk about us and what we, the readers, get. Not only will Larry and Kevin be taking some pictures of the captain, and his Darwin camp site, which I will get posted ASAP, but they also picked us up a couple disposable digital cameras. Our cameras include stamp addressed envelopes, so we will now be able get some action shots from Captain Ned Mott himself. I hope for our sake, because it's all about us, that he takes pictures better then he used to.

Day - 8

The good 'ol captain made a few calls yesterday. Larry reported that he talked to his Uncle Ned around 10:00 am. Capt. Ned got off to a good start and that he was currently kicking back letting the freshly repaired Wilson do all of the work. Oh, just FYI...Uncle Keith informed me of the contents of the survival kit, and yes it included Kentucky Chrome. It also included needles, thread, hooks, rope, velcro etc. See...I told you he was like McGiver.

Around 10:30 am my cell phone started rocking to the currently programmed ring tone of "Hell's Bell's" by AC/DC, I looked and Dad was displayed on the caller ID. Unfortunately the call was very short lived. The only thing I got was his common Bohemian style greeting of "hey mon" he then said "I'm alive, well and still grinning". I tried to respond with a simple that's good news, but I don't think he heard me. After we were disconnected I thought that he either had a Larry style phone signal or he was trying to practice the second 50% of the Eskimo Roll. He has the first 50% down to a science.

Now, I feel I must let you in on our family razzing of Larry and his cell signal. Every week or 2 Larry falls off the grid for a few days and doesn't respond to email or calls. We all know it's work related and that he has to travel, but that doesn't stop us from ribbing him. Larry is in the wireless signal business. Now you understand why we enjoy teasing him so much. And now for the plug...if you or anyone you know is having wireless signal issue within the walls of your home, warehouse, business etc. feel free to contact Larry...he's the man. http://www.indoorwireless.net/

Back to the kayak krooz...Keith reported that it was kind of late before The Kayak Kid set up camp and that he wasn't sure what was on the dinner menu yet. Camp was about 5 miles from Terre Haute. He's hit the 200 mile mark. Averaging a not too shabby 25 miles a day.

Capt. Ned is shooting for Hutsonville, IN in day 9. He said he met a fisherman who told him about a good spot to camp. Let's just hope that when we hear from him at the closing of day 9 he has an icy cold gold top in hand.

Day - 7

Captain Ned pushed off a little late today because he was having a big eggs, bacon and home fries breakfast and was busy telling tall tails at a small Covington restaurant and shooting the breeze with some of the locals. I imagine he was probably savoring the taste of coffee that he didn't make with Wabash water. He gave the locals he had befriended this blog address but he said he believes that he forgot to tell them .com at the end. But by the time he realized this he said he was too far down stream to paddle back and fix his mistake. "Damn the bad luck". He said he hopes they don't cuss him too bad.

Both Kevin and Larry reported that Uncle Keith's survival kit has come in pretty handy. I'm not sure exactly what's in this survival kit, but if it came from Uncle Keith, you know it's good stuff...he's like McGiver. I would almost bet that the kit included some good old fashion Kentucky Chrome...A.K.A. duct tape. The survival hit has assisted Old Ned, as he refers to himself, with fixing his lawn chair and stitching up his umbrella sail which he has named Wilson. He figures that it takes Wilson a good 5.5 to 6 knot wind before he turns inside out.

Capt. Ned said that even though he's run into some rain along the way, his trusty pal Wilson almost drown and he drank coffee made from river water he's having a blast. The only worry that may lay ahead is a natural dam, with a 5' demon drop, near the Ohio River that locals he had breakfast with told him about.

As previously stated, in yesterdays unofficial day 7 report, camp was 6 miles north of Montezuma, where he had to pitch his tent in the rain. And now there you have it...it's official.

We have a couple days to update here, but before we get too far into it I want to thank everyone in the family for helping keep me and this site updated. Now, since we have some new comers that were invited into this journey here is a quick introduction of the names & relation to Ned that you will see throughout the entries and updates...Keith and Becky are Ned's brother and sister in law. The nephews are Kevin, Shawn, Larry and Gary. Niece Lindy. Daughter Dawn and son Duane.

Here's a little background on Captain Ned to help bring the new comers up to speed on the man we hope you continue to read about. Captain Ned Mott is 69 years young, and if you read the first entry you know he is kayaking his way from Indiana to the "Rainbow's End". But what you may not know is that the "Rainbow's End" is a boat that he built in our back yard in Fort Wayne, IN. Originally known as the "HO-BO" the "Rainbow's End" has gone through many changes over the years so I'm unable to give you current dimension but when she was first built she was a schooner that was 42' on deck 52' overall. Just like everything else, hind site is always 20/20. After years of living aboard the "HO-BO" he realized what worked and what didn't. He ended up pulled her out of the water, horizontally cut her in half and started over. Grinning from ear to ear she went back in the water as the "Rainbow's End". Home. Home is currently docked in Tarpon Springs, FL.

Quick story - Last summer as Capt. Ned was scooting through on another one of his many adventures he stopped to see me and anchored where he normally does under the SR 520 causeway on the Indian River between Merritt Island and Cocoa, FL. My kids used to think their grandpa lived under a bridge. Anyway, we were kicked back drinking a couple ice cold Busch beers, better know to dad as gold tops, and as we were looking at these new condos that had just recently gone up right on the water, he asked me, "how much do you thing those ugly things cost" I said anywhere between 2 and 3 hundred thousand. He chuckled and said "fools, on this side of that sea wall it's free, I have a better view and come sun rise, my view is gonna change". You cant argue with that.

More stories will follow...trust me...there are a bunch of them. But now, on with the update...

Day - 4

Capt. Ned got started around 8:45 am and ended around 5:00 pm where set up camp on a sand bar on the edge of Lafayette. He said he had a tail wind and was able to use his umbrella as a sail for the first time. Hitting mind blowing speeds of 4+ knots. Rice is on the dinner menu.

Day - 5

Per Lindy, Ned got started around 10:00 am. The wind is picking up and the umbrella sail is working like a dream. Like a dream, that is until it blew inside out, came unhooked from the kayak and was sinking like the signal bars on Larry's cell phone. Wait a second...has anyone heard from Larry lately. Moving on, he got to the umbrella just before it sank. Day 5 ended in Attica with another 30 miles behind him, a couple new fishermen friends he met and some coffee made from Wabash river water.

Day - 6 - Happy Memorial Day and Thank You To All Veterans...Young and Old.

Captain Ned got a full charge on his cell phone and is making his rounds calling everyone. According all reports received and what I got straight from the source, he's still having a great time. His spirits are high. Speaking of spirits, I think that's why he was calling everybody to let us all know, not that he was safe or to give us a location update, but to let us all know that his camp site was a short, frying pans skip away from a store where he scored a cold sixer of gold tops that he shot through like shit through a goose. The gold top camp site was in Covington, IN where...get this...he pitched his tent right next to the no camping sign. He said by the time he noticed, it was just too late and too damn bad for anyone who may have had a problem with it. It was a short day, 8:30 am to 1:30 pm. 20 miles upwind all day. He said his shoulders were a little sore but that by the time he hits Tarpon Springs he going to look like Arnold Schwartzenager.

This is not the official day - 7 report, I want to wait to hear from Keith and anyone else who may have talked to him before the official day 7. I did however receive a mid day report from Kevin who talked to him around 11:30 am today 5/28/2008 and I talked to him around 8:30 pm, he said he's about 6 miles away from Montezuma, it's raining and that he had to pitch the tent in the rain, which was a bummer. Wishing he had more cold beer.

Day - 3

The rain forecast that Kevin had mentioned was confirmed. Capt. Ned said it rained pretty steady all day, but his gear kept him dryer then a pop-corn fart. He said he pushed off around 8:30 am and kroozed about 30 miles before setting up camp again. However, he did mention that before he pushed off this morning he had to lighten his load a bit. He is now less one frying pan. The damn thing just wouldn't fit. I believe we all know what he did with his computer when it was malfunctioning. So I don't believe you have to guess real hard as to what happened to the frying pan. He said day 4 may be lighter yet.

A couple 100 yards of the 30 miles was a quick paddle up into and then right back out of the Eel River. It's now official, Old Ned has kayaked the Eel River. Just as he told Uncle Keith yesterday he's getting better at navigating the river, but he's still smacking into his share of rocks. Damn rocks. Jokingly he said he was almost afraid to survey the bottom of the vessel.

Tonight's camp site, that he will not be frying any food at, is half way between Lockport and Delphi. He plans to get moving around the same time tomorrow. He's excited about hitting the 100 mile mark, which will happen early on. He said he's having an absolutely wonderful time and will continue to do so as long as the kayak holds out.

Day - 2

6:30 pm Captain Ned set up camp 7 miles from Logansport, IN and was getting ready to feast on some noodle soup. He said his day started out good when some deer joined him at breakfast, and the rest of the day went just as smooth. He also said the river was getting a bit wider and the current was slowing down.

Rain showers are in the weather forecast for day - 3.

Hello and welcome.



Yesterday 5-21-2008 Captain Ned E. Mott of Tarpon Springs, FL set out on his journey to kayak from Indiana to the Rainbow's End. Capt. Ned launched his kayak into the Wabash River just south of Huntington, IN.

Day - 1
It's been reported via Uncle Keith, Aunt Becky and cousin Lindy that he went about 25 to 30 miles and was traveling at 3 to 4 knots. He set up camp on the Miami/Wabash county line, just east of Peru, IN