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f ■ t<NF. JL .. -'- ; 1 y £** f| % t'*-^ v %fl%* “C?V\ * ilJ -' s l l||j js, *« i-Pi "•v ? lai]Klpi!»^^^r !""" ,w^^,iii '"" i, ** —-•» *»* ~~ m ’HK /* y” ,\ v jWßßif:*Wß’‘'‘j*:** ’T. rr: jil _. I V » •• # Dtanwi ;,ggggL —" * * ik. A perilous journey It wasn't long before Guiders imagined journey met with reality. “The plan and the dream were purely romantic notions,” says Guider, who had little previous canoeing or camping experience. “Reality has a way of being a little more ugly than a dream.” Some of his journey's perils included overcoming 4-foot-high wakes from ocean-going freighters, negotiating around 200-foot-long river barges, and the time a docked barge accidentally discharged a spray of sewage into his parked canoe, destroying $5,000 worth of cameras and film stock. And then there were the deadly whirlpools lurk ing along the riverbanks. "They are like monsters, roaming the river like inverted tornados,” says Guider of the swirling 30-foot-wide menaces. “They don’t seem to have a path. You try to avoid one only to have another come at you. If a whirlpool gets you, it could suck you down 90 feet and you might never come back up. “Every day on the Mississippi, I would ask myself if I wanted to live or die,” says Guider, who also had run-ins with a bear, coyotes and pair of deadly cottonmouth snakes. “There was no gray area, you did what you had to do. It was basically being a caveman, and at the end of the day, I was just so exhausted that 1 could barely set up the tent.” He undertook no specific training regimen for the ordeal either, electing to paddle his way into shape, losing 30 pounds over the course of the first leg. It was a blessing in disguise that Guider began his adventure on a small creek before graduating to the larger rivers. “Each river had its own experience and its own challenge, which prepared me for the next,” Guider says. "Had I gotten on the Mississippi at the start, 1 would’ve died.” Meeting real Americans But the journey also provided wonderful sur prises, like the people he met and photographed, such as George Rye, an elderly fisherman from Encountering river wildlife “His conversation lifted my spirits,” says Guider, who adds that no matter where he went, people along the river were full of generosity. “People looked out for me wherever 1 went,” he says. “From the guys on the harbor tugs who offered me food and showers, to the people in the towns and riverside campsites who would drive me to the market to replenish my supplies. Every per- Cumberland City, Tenn., who regaled Guider with yarns of old trips to Alaska and the joys of early morning fishing on the Cumberland River. Rye was the proud owner of a 30-year-old pickup truck that evoked questions from friends as to how long it would be before he'd sell it. Rye joked that he planned to die in it, thereby saving on the cost of a casket. (Continued on page 8) jil “Every personal meeting was memorable.” - • j&x: k ant > fjj. , . • , i ' £j» Locals at Jim’s Place Restaurant in Greenville, Miss. k ' ll A harbor worker at Louisiana’s Madison Parish Port Page 6 • www.americanprofile.com