Lake Itasca State Park by Artist Troy Richard Thomas

I drove up to the lake in 1989 with my Mom in a little red S-10 pickup truck. The week before the lake had been iced over. The ranger told my Mother that a kayaker had died on the lake three days ago. This news made my Mother very upset, since I had 2,500 miles to go. My Mother offered me a plane ticket to Hawaii if I skipped this river adventure. I paddled a hundred yards on the lake and portaged. My first campsite on the Mississippi river was literally carpeted with billions of ticks.

If you are kayaker it's nice to have a Mom that will drop you off and pick you up at the other end.