CURRENT MISSION

Floating on a homemade bicycle-powered paddle-wheel raft from Kansas City to the Gulf of Mexico

ABOUT ME

I am Jamie Burkart, one of three rafters traveling together (Jamie, Laura, Libby). We built a boat from discarded materials to experience the connections -People-Places-Ideas- that the Missouri and Mississippi rivers offer to those who release themselves, those who live in a city on the water. My background is in digital art & interactive design. Laura is a writer / journalist & Libby studies cognitive psychology, bakes bread, and sells movie tickets. We work to engage the possibilities.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Our project is about jumping the social network, valuing and activating the latent connection potential. The river draws us into unexpected familiarities as this website does. We are working to promote a society of trust and openness by not being afraid of places we haven't been, things we haven't done, friends we haven't met.

Interests

• arts
• writing
• design
• flying
• boating
• traveling
• journalism
• psychology
• rivers

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Sitting on a 12x13.5 foot raft is very subtle as the current pulls us along. But the tranquility is punctuated by bursts of chaotic adventure such as the small waterfall at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. We had walked ahead and scoped it out from a bridge up river. It didn't look too bad. There was one spot we could get through without it being too rough. The next day we head out into "Chain of Rocks" and all is going according to plan. We navigate with our bicycle paddle wheel and oars to the smooth spot in the river and make it through. But then from there we suddenly have the perspective we couldn't see from the bridge! That was just the beginning of the falls! Our boat is tossed about like a water-park ride! We're going so fast! Rocks are sticking out of the water! There is a whole tree stuck in the falls that we flying toward! The boat sticks and spins! Oh my gosh. We made it through alive. And the boat that we built together in two weeks, two weeks ago, actually held up! Hugs all around.