The First Stroke

On April 24, 2005, Richard dipped his paddle into the Yellow river near Lawrenceville, GA, firing up the inspiration of not only those he met along the way, but of those, like myself, who heard about his story much later.

That first paddle stroke in 45F water, marked the beginning of his 512 Mile, solo kayaking trip down the Yellow, Altamaha and Ocmulgee rivers to the Atlantic Ocean.

While the athletic/physical challenges of the journey that Richard had to overcome would keep younger men at home with their wives (Richard was 57 years old at the time), it was the very real connections that he made with the people along his journey’s route that struck me as the most rewarding accomplishment.

One of the larger newspapers in Georgia, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, tracked his progress to the coast, affording locals yet another reason to go fishing the day Richard was passing under their bridge, or past their fishing hole.

We are in the process of reconstructing this series of posts from Richard’s original paddle log from April 2005.  We will add the posts; maps and geo-tag the photo’s in the galleries as the details become available.