Originally published as a zine in 2018. Late in the month of August, 2008, Ben, Ryan, Jimbo, Jordan, Erin, John, Mitch, and I launched from a sandy shore in St. Paul, MN and traveled down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. That was when I was 22 and I considered a job one responsibility too many. The plan was to boat down the Mississippi to the southern tip of Illinois, take the Ohio River upstream to the Tennessee River and follow that to the Tombigbee River which would bring us to the Gulf of Mexico by way of Mobile, AL. It’s a known route for ambitious recreational boaters that is usually done on a solid middle class budget. I, with a whopping $2,500 to my name, doubt that anyone else in my crew had much more to spend, so naturally, we were interested in reducing travel expenses however possible. Ben already owned a tiny outboard motor that had just enough power to slowly get us around. We found a cheap pontoon style boat on craigslist that needed a healthy amo...
