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But after navigating nearly 1,400 miles over 68 days — in a canoe built in their home town of Winona — the brothers ended their voyage in New Madrid, Mo., after river conditions became too treacherous.
South of its junction with the Ohio River in Cairo, Ill., the river changed dramatically. The current grew stronger and barge traffic tripled. Wing dams created rapids and dangerous eddies along the far edges of the river, forcing their 181/2-foot Wenonah canoe into the main channel, where towboats push rafts of 36 barges — more than twice the size of those that navigate in Winona‘s stretch of the Mississippi.
“After three or four near-tragedies with towboats, we decided not to wait around for our luck to run out,” Joe, 27, said Monday from his home in the Twin Cities. “I wasn’t ready to ask my brother to sacrifice his life for a crazy canoe trip.”
Joe and Ben, 24, fell into sync with nature’s rhythm on their journey, rising with the sun, paddling 25 miles during the day, and crashing at sunset.
In a sense, the brothers had been preparing for the great trip their whole lives. “We’ve been canoeing since we were old enough to fit into life jackets,” Joe said.
Their father, Dave Palmquist, has been a naturalist at Whitewater State Park since before they were born. Their mother, Kathy, incorporates nature into her lessons at Madison Elementary School.
“Both parents raised us to enjoy and respect the outdoors, and know that we’re a part of it,” Ben said.
When their dad was in his 20s, he biked 3,000 miles through the Rocky Mountains and Canada.
“Our dad’s adventure influenced us to do something big too,” Ben said. “So we could have a story and experience of our own.”
The brothers set out Aug. 26 from Lake Itasca. As they made their way downriver, they noticed eagles, swans and other birds migrating south. “I felt like they were our companions,” Ben said.
The brothers also noticed a partially submerged church bus, old stoves, refrigerators and tires littering the river banks.
What began as a mission to raise public awareness of environmental issues facing the river ended with service, not to nature, but to fellow human beings.
The Palmquists strapped their canoe atop a rental car — determined to finish what they started — and traveled the remainder of their journey on four wheels, spending their last week helping Habitat for Humanity repair New Orleans homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
“We had heard there was still a lot of devastation, and we knew we could help,” Ben said.
The brothers hauled away what was left of homes Katrina destroyed over a year ago.
“The personal stories hit us hard,” said Joe, who met the homeowners of two houses he and Ben had helped prepare for renovation. “It was the perfect way to end the trip.”
The Palmquists used a digital camera and a laptop computer to document their trip on a Web site, www.brothersfortheriver.org.
Throughout the journey, whenever they stopped in a city, the Palmquists would leave their canoe n with all their gear n unattended.
Then, while they worked on homes, someone stole the computer and a camera from their room at the Habitat camp n known as Camp Hope.
They weren’t able to get their stuff back, but the Palmquists said the theft didn’t sour their memories or their passion for the river. When he sits at his bench at the University of Minnesota’s infectious disease lab, Joe thinks of the river flowing by and feels the itch to travel again.
Next time, he might try a kayak. And he’d like his brother to join him.
Back home in Duluth, Ben said Tuesday, “I’d rather be on the river right now.”
Joe--- wrote on Jan 12, 2007 8:20 AM: