My Siblings' Current River Raft Trips

Photo re-imagining of the Raft Trip with help of Fotor AI & Photoshop.

Two Floating Sheets of Plywood

During the summer of 1971, we took two ambitious 26-mile trips down the Current River in Missouri. For the second trip, we upgraded our fleet to two custom-built rafts.

Our crew consisted of eight people, split four to a raft. The group included Chris M., Pat M., Frank S., my sister Alicia J., and me (Bryan J.), along with a few other friends.

From the Ground to the Riverbed

For the second trip, we used the same design for our rafts as Frank Steinmarch and friends had used for the final exam of their design project. We needed two rafts, so we hauled the materials  (2x4s, plywood, and inner tubes) to the Current River and assembled the rafts on the bank of the river. One raft was 8x10, the other was 8x8.

The journey spanned 26 miles from Powder Mill to Van Buren.

This was actually the second time that summer that Chris, Rhonda, Frank, and I had tackled this stretch. The first was in May with Frank Steinmarch’s Southern Illinois University (SIU) design class. On that first trip, we only had one raft, which we had built in our side yard in Energy. We transported it to Missouri on the roof of my mom's car—an executive decision that left a permanent dent in her roof. For the trip with Alicia, we learned our lesson and transported the raw materials to Missouri, assembling the rafts right at the river landing.

The Three-Day Trek

The trip lasted three days. Much like the May excursion, we lived off the river, sleeping in cow pastures along the banks or right on the rafts themselves.

We brought plenty of supplies since it was a 3-day trip. We had long poles to steer the rafts with, but one was lost along the way. Since we were on a river, the raft was always in motion, flowing along with the river, but we frequently had to steer around snags, fallen trees, etc. Also, under the river were many branches and so forth that ended up puncturing some of the inner tubes along the way

The journey wasn't without its excitement. At one point, we hit a squall. The rain came down suddenly and we were swept into an eddy. I had to use every bit of muscle I had to row and push against the riverbed using a long, handmade paddle to reach the shore. Once we made landfall, everyone scrambled for shelter beside a large log to escape the downpour.

The Raincoat and the Cowboy Hat

I was the only person wise enough—or lucky enough—to have brought a raincoat. However, Pat Marlow was wearing a straw cowboy hat. As he crouched down to hide from the rain, I reached over, plopped his hat onto my head for extra protection, and kept right on pushing with the paddle.

By the third day, the smaller raft had too many punctured inner tubes and we no longer could be on that raft. We tied it to the larger raft and only used it to keep our supplies on. At one point, we waited too long to steer around a large snag and we crashed right into the snag, breaking the rope and sending the smaller raft away from the larger left. We were able to get it back, but it was a bit of a shock when it happened.

Alicia recalls that we were floating down the river, she spent a lot of time just sitting on the edge of the raft with her feet in the water, feeling like Huckleberry Finn floating down the Mississippi.

About halfway through the third day we ran out of food and drink. When we reached the spot where we had left the car, we saw some fishermen on the bank who had a case of beer. We traded them both rafts for their case of beer, and finally our thirst was quenched.

Despite the squalls and the physical toll of rowing a plywood square, it was an incredible time. It was the kind of pure, unbothered fun you can only truly have when you're 19 years old. The experience even inspired my mom to take the whole family back to the river at Big Spring the following summer for a much calmer, one-day canoe trip.

True Story by Bryan Jennings