A River Journey

I am on a river today. I’m on a ship in a foreign land sailing into the countryside. Not an ocean voyage, which I have done and is very different. I will be on several rivers in the course of this journey.

William Least Heat-Moon is best known for the modern classic road story Blue Highways, a book I wrote about earlier here. Since then, I read about another of his journeys that he chronicled in River Horse. This time he starts out from New York Harbor aboard a boat he named Nikawa, which means “river horse” in Osage. His plan was to reach the Pacific Ocean near Astoria, Oregon.

His companion is a First Mate he calls Pilotis. This would be a 5000-mile water journey. That would make it more miles than any other cross-country river traveler. He follows the path of other famous inland explorers, such as Henry Hudson and Lewis and Clark. 

In some ways, this voyage is similar to his earlier truck trip around the country. He runs into more real battles with nature (floods, submerged rocks, dangerous weather) but also meets interesting and helpful people with tales of their own, as he did on the earlier journey.

The landscapes of Blue Highways become riverscapes as they take the small motorized boat down rivers, lakes and canals from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The book also carries an ecological story about our lands and waters.

My journey is much more recreational and hardly roughing it, but our river journeys share some things. We both were seeking adventure and exploration of new places. We wanted to learn about the interconnectedness of geography and history. We try to pay attention to the natural beauty of the landscape and the cultural and historical significance of the waterways we travel.

In writing about his book, I recognize that we share some goals and hopes in our river travels. I won’t write a book about my journey. At best, I might write a few essays when I return home. But as I start on my trip, here is what his book has me thinking.

Heat-Moon faces challenges during his journey – navigating treacherous waters, encountering unpredictable weather, and dealing with mechanical failures. I have a captain and crew to deal with all that, so I hope any unexpected circumstances and obstacles will be minor.

Traveling by water allows you another kind of appreciation for the natural world that differs from my more frequent trips into mountains and forests. I think I am pretty good at reading signs in the environment – the behavior of wildlife, tracks, and plants – I’m not well-versed in reading the changing currents of the rivers. That is something to focus on this time – reading the river.

The rivers and land we both travel in our journeys were shaped by centuries of human history. I have been reading about the rivers I will travel in preparation for my trip As he travels, he learns about the historical significance of the waterways. In these foreign rivers, it is history I learned very little, if anything, about in my schooling which was very America-centric.

There is a diverse array of people from different backgrounds and walks of life I will encounter. Some will not even understand my English and I will not understand their French or German. Through our interactions, I hope to learn a bit more more about their cultural tapestry. Are there some commonalities that could add a degree of empathy and understanding on both sides?

We have all heard that the journey, not the destination, is the important thing in travel and life. Like life, this journey has many destinations, day to day.