Mississippi River
Reports from Mississippi River expeditions
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Heeeello? This is Iowa
We meet an angel. We are famous. A slew of interviews. Fresh apple pie. A storm sends us spinning.
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Quad-City Times: California artist travels Mississippi for ‘river people’ project
If you happen to see Wes Modes, 48, of Santa Cruz, Calif., and his dog, Hazel, floating around the Quad-Cities, stop and have a chat. Heβd love that. And you might become part of Mississippi River history through his “Secret History of American River People” art project. Modes, 48, is traveling through the Quad-City area…
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Poor Freddie has a broken shaft but Green Gables Marina has their best man on it. #Shantyboat
Poor Freddie has a broken shaft but Green Gables Marina has their best man on it. #Shantyboat
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River Angels tow the stranded Shantyboat several miles to the mechanic
River Angels Kris Klavon and Craig Wainwright towed the stranded #Shantyboat several miles to the mechanic as the opening salvo in their adventurous day.
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“Oo, it doesn’t look good.”
Poor Freddie. The #Shantyboat got a tow across the river to Mike at Green Gables Marina who said “Oo, it doesn’t look good.” May be in the market for another small Mercury engine soon.
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Bike statue in Fort Byron Illinois. A moment of rest after the #Shantyboat took a beating in big ass waves.
Bike statue in Fort Byron Illinois. A moment of rest after the #Shantyboat took a beating in big ass waves.
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Rough seas for the #Shantyboat. 15mph South winds with 20mph gusts on a 10 mile long north south reach.
Rough seas for the #Shantyboat. 15mph South winds with 20mph gusts on a 10 mile long north south reach.
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@justlikeharmony piloting the #Shantyboat through very rough seas. #river
@justlikeharmony piloting the #Shantyboat through very rough seas. #river
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New #Shantyboat invention! A Caucasian Floater, a White Russian made with ice cream.
New #Shantyboat invention! A Caucasian Floater, a White Russian made with ice cream.
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Logistical difficulties on the next episode of Shantyboat Guys! #Shantyboat #realitytv #dramanodrama #riverlyfe
Logistical difficulties on the next episode of Shantyboat Guys! #Shantyboat #realitytv #dramanodrama #riverlyfe
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Modern fertility symbol in Camache Iowa. #Shantyboat
Modern fertility symbol in Camache Iowa. #Shantyboat
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Shantyboat spotted in Dubuque
#Shantyboat spotted in Dubuque. River coincidence: this photo was sent to someone downriver who I ended up interviewing two weeks later.
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Downtown Clinton Iowa looks like an economic bomb dropped on it
Downtown Clinton #Iowa looks like an economic bomb dropped on it. On the other hand, #Walmart is doing a brisk biz in the edge of town. #Shantyboat #lowerwagesalways
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Secret History interview with Jenna Sanders, co-owner of @392caffe in Clinton, Iowa
Secret History interview with Jenna Sanders, co-owner of @392caffe in Clinton #Iowa. #Shantyboat
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Mini Stories from Clinton, Iowa
Clinton Marina History My Grandmother owed and operated the Marina that you are at right now until the 1970s.Β It was called the Anchorage then.Β Her name was Agnes (Schrader) Lutz.Β Everyone called her “Aggie”.Β She fished, hunted, made her own fish nets and decoys.Β She was named the first queen of our 4th of…
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Wallet contents drying out after dunking
Wallet contents drying out after having been dunked in the river s second time during an impressive storm. #Shantyboat
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Secret History on the front page of the Clinton Herald
Secret History on the front page of the Clinton Herald with @justlikeharmony. #Shantyboat #smalltownfamous #frontpage #art #river
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A Teeny Tiny Journey Through History
It is only by the good grace of God, that I am not holed up in a garage somewhere right now adding grimy details with a double ought paintbrush to a tiny little building of my own tiny imaginary town.
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Twin Towns of Gritty Charm and Regret
A reality TV star, a gay couple, a 12-year old hippy with an edge, and showers of vegetables and catfish
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International Sculpture Center: Wes Modes: Secret History of American River People
The Mississippi River runs deep through American culture. From early Native Americans to Mark Twainβs The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the Blues and Hurrican Katrina, the history of the country is in constant flux, much like the river itself. The fascination with the mysteries and power of the worldβs fourth longest river is subtle, but…
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Rumors of the Death of Drive-Ins Greatly Exagerated
While we were in Galena I got a wild hair. I knew there was a drive-in somewhere around and thought it would be a fun family outing. When one of the girls told us excitedly that she’d never been to a drive-in that decided it. The drive-in was almost 40 miles away, but hey, you…
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Life with the Party People of Galena
We came to Galena for the day and stayed for four nights, meeting new friends, and someone we were supposed to meet a year ago. And we learned that there ain’t no party like a Galena sandbar boat party.
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The Magic of the Lock 11 Fishing Barge
Ed told us we absolutely have to go up around by the dam and check out the fishing barge, which he described as kind of a fishing pier, a bar, a restaurant (sorta), and a bait and tackle shop. I don’t know what I was picturing, possibly a mellow park setting and a touristy bar/restaurant,…
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Hazel on the River
Since Hazel has a more devoted following than the project, we offer a view of Hazel’s adventures on the river.
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Setbacks, the Musical – A Nautical Tragicomedy
The scene opens with the newly recruited shipsmates standing in a regimented line in order of height. The SKIPPER looks at his shipsmates affectionately and takes the iDEVICE out of his pocket to take a photograph.
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Two Nuns, A Gambler, and an Heiress walk onto a boatβ¦
Weβve been the talk of the town to some degree. Dozens of people have made their way to the docks at the National Mississippi River Museum to check out our shantyboat. Many of them were clutching the article that came out in the Telegraph Herald last Friday. A lot of places we go, people ask…
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National Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque
The shantyboat is in Dubuque at the National Mississippi River Museum. The project is exhibiting and people are checking it out. I ask kids a simple question, and the reaction I get is split.
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The Real Reason We’re Here
Naturally, the adventure down the river, the playful interactions of the crew, the observations about the river and river culture are the sexiest most interesting part of the Secret History journey. The project is at heart about listening, to the river, to the rhythms of our journey, and to the people in the places we…
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A Brief Visit to Harper’s Ferry and a Mysterious Man
We meet a mysterious man in a historic town, but not the one you are thinking of.
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An Unexpected Accident, Clamming Goldrush, and Bald Eagles in Lansing
A breakfast disaster, repairs, an interview with a clammer, and a trip to see bald eagles coming to a McDonalds dumpster near you.
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The Night of the Biblical Plagues
We try to be just and virtuous people, but God knows the mind of the divine is mysterious and unknowable. And thus one evening in Lansing, Iowa He brought down his wrath upon us, perhaps because we had drunk two too many White Russians and did not even offer Him a cocktail.
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Inside the Shantyboat through the Driftless Area
A tour of the shantyboat and the Misssissippi’s unique Driftless Area
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Karen Galema, Mississippi River fisherman
Karen Galema in her life has been a fisherman, an EMT, a bookkeeper for the large fish market in Lansing, and finally the manager of the Lansing River History and Commercial Fishing museum. This is an excerpt from our interview in Lansing, Iowa along the banks of the Mississippi River.
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Shantyboat Guys New Episodes!
On the shantyboat we are 24 hours in each other’s hair in a 10′ by 8′ space, so we get a little punchy. What started as a story about a production company trying to make the non-drama of the Secret History expeditions into something cinematic and dramaful, turned into a silly idea.
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Introducing The Shantyboat Guys!
A few years ago when I was working on the shantyboat and keeping a build blog detailing the build, I got a call from a New York production company interested in a reality TV show about people living in homemade boats. They were calling it…
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Fellow Workers
I was sitting with Jeremiah in the Donboat under a tree in a backwater of the Mississippi and we were quietly listening to a recording of Utah Phillips while sitting and watching the changing sky and its echo in the still water. Here are some influences to the project.
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The Story of the Donboat
We brought the Painted Pig, a small johnboat we bought in the Bay Area. When we put it in the water we found it was about as rigid as a pie tin and as stable as a top. With one person in it, the water line was a few scant inches from the gunnel and…
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Louise and the Winona Backwaters
A promised date with Louise results in a shantyboat tour of the backwaters of Winona.
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Waukon Standard: California artist seeking stories of river history, lifestyles
A rustic recreated 1940s shantyboat, a daring river voyage, and a meticulous archive of river stories are all part of a multi-year art and history project being undertaken by artist Wes Modes of Santa Cruz, CA and entitled “A Secret History of American River People.” Modes set sail last summer on the Mississippi River to…
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Two Prairie Island Indian Community Interviews
I had the tremendous honor of interviewing two members of the Prairie Island Indian Community, part of the Mdewakanton Sioux band (“people born of the water”), located just north of Red Wing.
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Heartland Boating: A Secret History of American River People
Ten years ago, Wes Modes of Santa Cruz, California, was reading about a group of kids who were making whacky, homemade boats and then cruising them down the Mississippi River. That type of adventure resonated with Modes, a computer programmer and artist with a love of the water and an appreciation for the lyrical qualities…
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A Word About Hazel Dog
Of course you know our ships hound Hazel. Did you know she has her own Twitter and Instagram feed? Hazel’s Tweets Hazel’s Instagram
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Showing Off the Shantyboat in the Twin Cities
We were fortunate to have the opportunity to exhibit twice in the Twin Cities over as many days. One was at the Minnesota History Center as part of Nine Nights of Music. The other was at the St. Paul Yacht Club as part of a River City Revue. The History Center is like an enormous…
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Two Great Interviews in the Twin Cities
All and all, it was an amazing and emotionally exhausting day that came closer to my desire to highlight contested history, resistance, histories that didnβt make the establishment narrative, and stories about women, people of color, and non-dominant cultures.
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Minneapolis City Pages: River City Revue explores Mississippi culture
The event gives you a chance to see the art shanty boat created by Wes Modes. Last year Modes, who is an MFA student at the University of California, took his boat on a trip down the Mississippi, collecting stories of how people live on the river.
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StarTribune: Pictures of the day.
Top Photos for June 30. Kara Yorkhall and daughter Juliette,3, stepped unto the back deck after chatting with captain/artist Wes Modes who will traveling on the Missississippi for the next three months or so. At the Minnesota Center, gathered on a 1940’s shantyboat on display as part of “A Secret History of American River People”…
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An Afternoon Thunderstorm
A summer rainstorm blows in while we are in the tin-roofed shantyboat in the St Paul Yacht Club in St Paul MN.
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Down to St. Paul and Out in a Storm
A lock and dam, a sacred place, and then out on the river in a small boat in a pounding rain storm.
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Mississippi Launch and an Evening Expedition
Another blowout, a launch, a full house, an expedition, a bonfire, and a wedding.
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Dubuque Telegraph Herald: River exhibition will dock in Dubuque
A rustic shanty boat, a daring river voyage and a meticulous archive of river stories encompassing a multi-year art and history project. It might sound like something out of the fictitious works of Mark Twain. But for California artist Wes Modes, it has been his reality for the past year-and-a-half.
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River City Revue — People of the River
Are you in or near Minneapolis? See the Secret History project. Wednesday, July 1st, 7-9PM Saint Paul Yacht Club on Harriet Island Get Tickets & DetailsΒ Here! Featuring ‘A Secret History of American River People,’ an art and history project created by digital and new media artist Wes Modes: https://peoplesriverhistory.org/ Walk the docks ofΒ Saint Paul Yacht…
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2015 Summer Voyage on Upper Mississippi
Starting in late June, the Secret History shantyboat will be back on the Upper Mississippi River for a series of exhibitions and an entire summer of fieldwork gathering river stories.
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Ice on Frog Slough
The other day I had just finished talking to the great people at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum which boasts an amazing collection of art by European masters and contemporary artists. I had a moment or two before my next interview so I went down to the river where the boathouses on Frog Pond had…
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Ken Lubinski on the Resilience of Nature
Ken Lubinski, river ecologist at the USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center in La Crosse talks about a winter walk and the resilience of nature.
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Unusual photos of the Shantyboat
Two unusual portraits of the shanyboat from inside, one a panorama and the other an interactive frozen moment.
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PA’s Diary #2, lovingly entitled A Leaf on the Wind
The Production Assistant’s report, a lock and dam, a cute town with no river rats, and a storm.
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This River Life Drawing to a Close
For weeks and miles people have been asking us, “How far you going?” and really we had no way to answer that question. We had no idea how far we’d get. We knew, however, that we had limited time.
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Brownsville Boathouses
After La Crosse, we made our way down to Brownsville where there are several groups of boathouses. Boathouses are houses that float, differentiated from houseboats which are mobile.
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Jim Ehrsam and Other People Not Interviewed
On the day before we were leaving La Crosse I met aΒ man who’d lived in his boathouse on the Black River for 65 years.Β It kills me thatΒ I didn’t have the time to interview him, though we did sit for a while and watch the sunset. I’ve found it takes about three days to set up…
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A Night in Winona and the Production Assistant’s Report
A report back by PA Jeremiah upon his departure at La Cross, Wisconsin
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![Small and Not So Small Town Press [Updated]](https://peoplesriverhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/5D3_0978_0-672x372.jpg)
Small and Not So Small Town Press [Updated]
We’ve done our best to try to let people know we are coming downriver. Some of the local press have picked up our story.
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La Crosse WXOW: 2 art students take journey in shantyboat on Mississippi
Two art students from California are traveling down the Mississippi River this month in a one of a kind boat, while working on a project called Secret History of the American River People.Wes Modes and Kai Dalgleish are both masters art students at the University of California Santa Cruz, floating down the river in a…
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La Crosse Tribune: Artist plies Mississippi in Shantyboat to net historical portraits
California-based artists Wes Modes and Kai Dalgleish are traveling down the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to Davenport, Iowa, collecting oral histories and stories of river people. Modes, a grad student at University of California Santa Cruz, is doing the project for his master’s thesis. The Shantyboat, built largely from salvage from a chicken coop, is…
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Typical Shantyboat Questions and Answers
Within minutes of arriving at the town docks, we have visitors. Our conversations follows a typical pattern kinda like this.
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Charming La Crosse, Wisconsin and a Theory About the Uneven Distribution of Social Capital
A sprained ankle, a man in a bowler hat, charming downtown La Crosse, Mr. Johnson acts up, and a theory about social connectivity
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Winona Post: History afloat down the river
It is August on Latsch Island, that beautiful time of year when everything moves a little slower, from the water that laps up the sides of boathouses, to the mellow hum of nearby cicadas. Inside a small shanty boat anchored off a sandy plot of land beside the Wagon Bridge, two people sit relaxed at…
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Into the Storm on the Open River
Unless we survive this storm. We are anchored on a long northwest reach in a stiff northwest wind with waves whipping up around us. The anchor is holding for the moment. How did we get here?
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Electronics Are Not Waterproof (URGENT)
URGENT SITUATION: My iphone took at drink in the Mississippi River. I rely on it for all the work I do on the Secret History project (research, connections, internet connectivity) and I need a replacement desperately.
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Stuck on a Sandbar, Civil Defense, and Flying Predators
While making our way downriver, we saw lots of barges that were hung up waiting for a dredging operation around Alma. We found the mothership of tugboats. This one was enormous, with all the little tugs suckling at it like piglets. It is hard to convey the scale of this boat. We also encountered working barges…
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A Watery Death on Lake Pepin Narrowly Averted
The sun was shining and the wind was still and the waters were calm on legendarily treacherous Lake Pepin so we started drinking white Russians, what could possibly go wrong?
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A High Speed Water Chase, Flyswatting, and Madness
We venture on to Lake Pepin where we encounter both miracles and madness
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Engine Solutions, Party in the Lock, River Days, and a 97 Year Old Woman
More of the generosity of strangers in Prescott, WI and Red Wing, MN. A small town celebration and meeting lots and lots of great people.
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Minneapolis Star Tribune: Shantyboat heads down the Mississippi, gathering stories
The Mississippi River has changed in many ways over the past century, becoming cleaner, less industrial and less economically essential. But there are still places where the banks are lined with houseboats. βThereβs folks who are river rats whoβve had their own river-rafting journeys starting in Minneapolis. Many of them have floated all the way…
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Lauren Donovan on Nearly Drowning at Lock 11
Lauren Donovan, who kayaked the length of the Mississippi River from Lake Itasca to New Orleans, talks about nearly drowning in Lock 11 near Dubuque, Iowa.
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Mike’s Shantyboat
Mike Mosedale is a great fella I met in St. Paul at the River City Review a few weeks ago. Since then I’ve adopted him as a great friend. He’s generously dumped on us all kinds of sweetness — oars and cleats for the Dottie, an old fishing pole, beers, great stories.
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Engine Troubles, Burger Lexicon, A Theft, and Much Generosity
St. Paul, MN to Prescott, WI and the many awesome people we met as well as a story of grievous mischief and unimagined generosity.
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Hastings Star Gazette: California artist in shantyboat stops in Hastings during Mississippi River tour
Hastings Star Gazette/Pierce County Herald byΒ Chad Richardson Itβs not uncommon to see boats moored on the public dock in Hastings. Thereβs not much common about the boat that Wes Modes and Kai Dalgleish are traveling in, though. Their unique boat, which was parked in Hastings on July 30 and July 31, drew all kinds of…
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Peter Rachleff on the Creativity of Poor People
Peter Rachleff, Professor of History, talks about how poor people in the Twin Cities have historically used the sawn ends and off cuts from the sawmills to build shanties.
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First Few Days on the River
We’ve had our first few days on the river. We went through out first few locks! Amazing. Especially going down, like being in a giant bathtub when someone pulls the plug. We met friends at 34th St beach where Robnoxious hosted a lovely going away party for the crew of the Secret History shantyboat. He…
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Living on the Shantyboat
Here are a few shantyboat details minutes before our departure from Boom Island.
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Send Off Party
Our Minneapolis friends are organizing us a Shantyboat Send Off Party Saturday evening 7pm at 34th St. beach In SW Minneapolis! Come see the boat, the crew, and hazel the dog! Camp fire & beers. Feel free to bring a bon voyage gift! Such needed things as AA & AAA batteries, rope, cornmeal, gallons of…
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Shantyboat Runabout
Today we powered up Mr. Johnson and motored about in the tiny Boom Island marina we have been moored at since we launched. Hazel and I crossed under the pedestrian bridge and out into the wider river.
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Shantyboat Open House
Drop on by to check out the Shantyboat, share stories, and browse the growing Secret History library.
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The Secret History Shantyboat is Afloat
This afternoon after two years of building, months of planning, and nearly a week of driving, we launched the shantyboat in Minneapolis.
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Minneapolis Reconnaissance
I have been in Minneapolis for the last week doing reconnaissance for our upcoming journey. Here is a selection of photographs from the trip.