Diary entry from the book {Prometheus Lives} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

          Saturday July 8   Early morning I hit a marina and call home for the pick up point. I will be spending the day in St Louis. The guy who owned the marina was a very knowledgeable river man. He was out of the military, had some kids and had bought the marina seven years ago. He didn't like the fast boats, and neither do I. He said you don't need that much of an engine to enjoy the river. I leave the partially open marina with three cold pops, and a gallon of water that rides in between my legs  near the seat. I am very thankful for the liquid. (Mc Cann Landing)
         Very beautiful scenery today. A lot of river houses, cabins, many people having parties, speed boat traffic everywhere. I'm sticking to the Missouri side to avoid traffic. The heat today is burning me up.

Diary entry from the book {Prometheus Lives} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Diary entry from the book {Prometheus Lives} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

        Friday July 7, 96 degrees  Long day in the sun. The days heat is becoming debilitating.
        Just after Lock and Dam 25 I stop at a restaurant and gas station. The man that owns the place gave me a free soda, and a nice talk under a shady tree.
         I leave to find a place to camp. After I had everything set up a pontoon boat glides up and I end up talking to a very enthusiastic couple about my river journey. The woman was very well read on Mississippi River Adventures. A man had done the river in a pool chair, another had swum the river, and others in log rafts.

Diary entry from the book {Prometheus Lives} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas 

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

               Iowa farmsteads are like islands

       Floating amid the sweet sunshine of corn.

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

  Just another Bush trying to crown himself king

     George W. Bush, better known as "Twig".

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} By Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

                           The world is a parade
                         The parade is the world
                          It is fit for you to ride
                 Or fit for you to stand and stare.

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

                             I live in a castle
                               With a moat
                             With a garden
                     I feel the dripping stone
                    I hear the wheels go past.

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

The American dream is to never use your legs again

For the man that rides his golf cart everywhere

For the man who sits in his easy chair

For all those individuals who think state and county parks are for driving through

Another incredibly dull ride

I salute your obesity America

Where we strive to please.

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

                A river run wild is no menace
                 But if you capture the heart
                   Of a free flowing river
                   You kill it, you taint it
                  And make it dangerous.

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Dear Mr. Partridge walks around spraying in his lawn

Leaving nothing behind but that mono blade

Society has the will to control nature but in doing so we fool ourselves that we are creating something better, something tidy, and clean

It is useless and trite to bring control to things that should be wild

I prefer to lay in the dandelions and let them grow old and have the seeds float about me

Humanity does not have a great admiration for the success of other species

And there leaves us with Mr. Partridge blindly spraying his lawn.

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

                    It aint love, It's money honey
                            It aint fire, it's pain
        Desire is a game that commits you to evil
            When you have no one else to blame.

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

                          Sitting in a lawn chair
                     As I see headless chickens
                       Running across the lawn
                    I smiled and knew truly that
                     I was among good friends
                There was no reason to be angry
                   But anger ruined the smile
      A man who said I had nigger hair as a boy
                     Said he didn't know me
           I set him on fire among the concrete
         Deer that he stumbled upon in his pain
            There was that mad feeling of joy
And then there was a shallow sickness of sorrow
  And the Owl says, thanks to you I have a job
          And the lawyer said, thanks to you
         I hovered over the body, and ate the
                       Decomposing flesh.

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas   

Poetry from the book {Lion and the Sun} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

          We've never met a war we didn't like
        Every place we fight we end up staying in
         Japan, korea, Europe, Afghanistan, Iraq
     The U.S. is a world wide babysitting service
                 We can't get health care
     But you can be gun fodder for the system
   Keep the oil flowing through the war machine
     The department of Defense is are greatest
                        Welfare Program.

Poetry from the book {The Lion and the Sun} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

                           I knock myself out
                             I twist and shout
      And there is not a damn thing that I can do
                  Welcome to the waiting game.

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Entry from the book {Prometheus Lives} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

                  The Mississippi River Diaries

        Interviewer: So how was the Mississippi?

                       Thomas: I don't know.

Interviewer: Were there many islands out there?

                           Thomas: A few.

            Interviewer: Would you do it again?

                          Thomas: Maybe.

   Interviewer: I bet you saw some great sunsets?

                       Thomas: Yea I did.

Interviewer: Did you have to exercise to prepare for the journey?

                          Thomas: No.

Interviewer: For the record could you tell us how long the river is?

                 Thomas: It's 2545 miles.

        Interviewer: How many days on river?

                    Thomas: Around 75.

        Interviewer: What exactly is a kayak?

      Thomas: I have nothing to say about that.

            Interviewer: Is the river polluted?

            Thomas: It looks clean but it isn't.

   Interviewer: Why did you go down the river?

                Thomas: Because I needed to.

Entry from the book {Prometheus Lives} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

                     We hide within each other
                We know we will have to return
                     So we stay a little longer
                      The night burns the sky
          And we hope romance never leaves us.

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

                Sitting on the swing with Mindy
                        Doing the name game
                    Poetry Slam at Saints Rest
                               Rodeo Poetry
                            Cornstalk Poetry
                            Cornfield Poetry
                            Fields of Poetry
                        Poetry from the Heart
                           Share your Mind
                     Flying Pigs Poetry Slam
                     Poetry from the prairie
                 Poetry under the prairie skies
                Poetry under the prairie Moon.

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

                   I will meet you in the valley

                      I will love you forever.

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

        What happens when you stare out there
                      And the drawer is bare
                  The tree is dead by design
       He drinks alcohol to get through the day
         His knowledge is about as crucial as
                       A bowel movement
                  It's the slowest day of all
      When you watch the clock on the wall
You hear it turn, you hear it burn your life away
                 You try to save yourself
             But you always die in the end.
  

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

      Cowboy Charlie said we should rob a bank
              If you get caught jail isn't so bad
                     My brother works in one
          You just don't want to take no shower
                                said Charlie.

Poetry from the book {Bunny Hop} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas   

Diary entry from the book {Prometheus Lives} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

         Thursday July 6  My carry over in the morning was nothing, and worked out well. Pretty scenery, quite a few boats on the river.
          I stop at Louisiana, Missouri for water and groceries. A man directed me to the public access dock, just after the boat club. Had a nice talk with a older gentleman who had been down the river to New Orleans in the 1940s.
          I portage lock and dam 24, and make a call home at Clarksville, Missouri, and search for an island camp across from the town for the night.
         There has been very little rain, the river levels are down.

Diary entry from the book {Prometheus Lives} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Diary entry from the book {Prometheus Lives} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

         Saturday July 1st  27 miles   Portaged Lock and Dam 17 on the far west side. The barges are stacked up and taking several hours to lock through. I will probably start portageing more than locking thru.
         A speedboat comes racing towards me, and stops just short of me. The wake throws my kayak up in the air and slams me back down. A sheet of water slaps me across my face.
          They wanted to know if I was okay, they had never seen such a small craft on the river before. A family in a canoe glides by as were talking.
           I am camping on a beautiful sandy island covered in flowers that are called butter and eggs.


          

Diary entry from the book {Prometheus Lives} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

           Friday June 30  Held up by barges at Lock and Dam 16, pass through in the afternoon. I swing out of Muscatine into some side islands. The main channel is busy with barge traffic and some industrial activity. I enter Blanchard chute witch is fairly pretty and have a peaceful paddle for a while. I come out into the main channel with all these beautiful islands surrounding me.
          I can't get through number 17 in good time so I turn back and take the first viable campsite. I hope for luck in moving through in the morning.

Diary entry from the book {Prometheus Lives} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Diary Entry from the book {Prometheus Lives} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

            Friday 14 Around 44 miles paddled. Last night as I slept on a table rock in my bivy bag a convoy of barges moved up the river. Ten or more barges lighting up the night in a midnight parade, with those purring engines. It seems like a long time ago, a dream. Their search lights moved to and fro in the night.
           I went through large desolate bends with rock bank levees thin of trees. Dry Islands, sweeping lowlands, the sand shores are lined with a wet ring.

Diary entry from the book {Prometheus Lives} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

Diary entry from the book {Prometheus Lives} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

          Thursday June 29   I'm back on the river again. Starting from Sunset Park Marina Quad Cities the Illinois side. The Quads are a land of cops and robbers, chimney plants, and dead bodies floating in the river. This is where I picked up my river maps before I started my journey, and saw a dead body floating in a pool next to Lock and Dam 15. I paddle 13 miles and end up camping on this island of pure poison ivy. This bald spot I camp on has been worked on by a machete and weed eater. Someone has created a fishing camp. I am thankful for the spot.

Diary entry from the book {Prometheus Lives} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas