Some of the people at Rivermiles.com... Russ Payzant Russell Payzant lives in Olathe, Kansas, is married to Jerilyn Payzant and has five children. He works for a manufacturing company designing commercial equipment. Served in the US Marine Corps during Vietnam. Serves on community organizations and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He enjoys building things in his garage.  Scott Mansker Scott Mansker lives in Olathe, Kansas.  He is married to Cristi and has two children.  Scott works at Project Choices, part of the Olathe School District.  The program helps youth involved in the court system progress towards graduation. Karin Thomas Travis Worley "HOW WE GOT STARTED IN BOATS" Russ My first impression of boats came when I was five-years old, my mother who took me across the San Francisco Bay on one of the old ferryboats. I still remember the enormous “walking beam” that would rise up and down turning the huge paddlewheels. I loved to look at the wake behind the boat; it was all so grand. But the most memorable thing was the ship when it came into the wharf and fit just so into the pier with waves splashing above the cars. I had no boat mentor. I just tried to build one every time my brother and I could find wood. Our first one, that floated, was when I was about nine-years old in San Jose, Ca. It lasted just one great afternoon. Since then, I’ve made and sailed in a few different kinds. My brother became a sailing ship captain and I have sailed with him on the Pacific and the Caribbean.  He took it to a new level.  During the last few years, after meeting Scott Mansker, he and I built a number of river craft. We have traveled thousands of miles on rivers. But the Gulf trip was the greatest, I will never forget. My most frightening river experience was the 'night of fog.’ We were coming down the Mississippi from Wisconsin in the Riverkeeper; the trip had been about 500 miles. We decided to travel all night instead of making camp. Later, heavy fog filled the Mississippi low lands and visibility was 6-feet with a light. We continued in the early morning hours in this wet cloudy thing. Even the heavy tow barges tied up to trees. We crept down many miles by feeling our way with nothing more than a depth finder and GPS. Scott and I were alone on the river, pitch dark and heavy fog. Hours of looking through these ghostly images made by our lone headlamp caused some odd views, the river current went one direction, the fog another. A dam, a barge, another boat, or rocks, it could have been curtains. The Riverkeeper with its small battery was our life line. Then we saw a small light in the dark, a ramp, and a bathroom. We found a safe harbor.

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