Man getting big adventure on homemade boat

A boater from New York City drew a bit of attention as he stopped over in Prairie du Chien June 14 through June 17 as part of a summer-long river adventure on his homemade boat.

Justus Mclarty, 30, launched
near St. Paul on his birthday, June 1, and expects to finish in Venice, Louisiana in about three months. It will be an 1,800-mile trip down the Mighty Mississippi, the world's third largest river.

"I'm meeting a lot of interesting and friendly people," said Mclarty, who will try to average 20 miles per day in his human-powered craft.

"It sparks a lot of conversations," said Mclarty about his trip and his boat called "Big Getter." Mclarty designed Big Getter himself and also built the craft with help from family and friends.

"It cost a lot, but it's well worth every penny. I will tell you that much," he said.

The craft is kind of a small houseboat that sits upon a pair of large, blue pontoons. There are two bunks with sleeping bags and just enough room on the floor for two more people. A person could also sleep up on the roof on a nice night.

The "cabin" is also equipped with a propane stove, a sink, a solar-powered shower, toilet facilities, a cell phone and a laptop computer. The computer is powered by a marine battery that remains charged by a solar panel.

The cabin is made of a waterproof nylon, canvas and mesh sewn together and fitted around aluminum pipes. It has screened windows that can be opened to allow for breezes to waft through.

There are also storage areas built in to the front of the boat for gear and supplies. Mclarty also sits near the front of the boat and rows with two large oars. The boat can be steered from the roof with two large wooden rudders that look somewhat like two giant hockey sticks.

"I've been wanting to do this for six years," said Mclarty, who noted that it took about that long to build the boat.

He said that the name "Big Getter" was inspired by his great, great grandmother who had lived in Oklahoma Indian Territory before Oklahoma was a state.

"She had a saying, ‘Keep your getter bigger than your wanter,'" said Mclarty. "Maybe more people should live that way."

Mclarty has an outboard motor at the back of the boat just in case, but he only uses it to help get through locks sometimes. He wants to make sure that his trip is all human powered. In addition to the two oars, Mclarty said that he hopes to attach a pair of recumbent bicycles to his boat a little further down the river. Thus, he could provide peddle powered propellers.

"The scenery is just beautiful here," said Mclarty, who noted that he as seen deer, eagles, beaver, an otter, a coyote, turtles and various waterfowl so far on his journey.

Mclarty is the only person making the full trip but family members and friends will be joining him on different segments along the way. He will also have a few weeks when he will be on Big Getter by himself.

Mclarty said that the turgid river is making his trip quite a bit easier because of the stronger current.

Mclarty, his mother Alice, his father Lynn and his grandfather Marvin set off from Prairie du Chien at the Lawler Park boat launch June 17. Immediate family members will ride along for a ways and then will conclude their part of the trip.

Interested persons can chart Mclarty's progress on his website www.biggetter.com, where he chronicles his adventure every day.

PdC man charged with 11 counts of fraud

A 46-year-old Prairie du Chien man was charged in Crawford County Circuit Court June 20 with 11 counts of securities fraud.

Tracy L. Stevens faces up to a total of 66 years in prison and $110,000 in fines if convicted of all counts.

Stevens is charged with borrowing money from 11 people in and around Prairie du Chien from April 15, 2005 through Feb. 7, 2006 and not paying the money back.

According to the criminal complaint, Stevens had an action filed against him on July 22, 2003 by F&M Bank. A judgement was filed against Stevens on Aug. 19, 2003 for an unsatisfied judgement of $4,047.01. The judgement was docketed on Oct. 6, 2003.

According to the complaint, numerous people loaned money to Stevens after this judgement was filed and docketed, but that Stevens failed to disclose this unsatisfied and unpaid judgement when he secured these loans.

According to the complaint, Stevens borrowed a total of $212,000 from the 11 people. To date, Stevens owes a total of $195,000, the complaint said.

Stevens told three of the lenders that he needed the money to pay expenses associated with his late father's estate, the complaint said. He told the eight other people that he needed the money to pay for cleaning supplies and equipment that he needed for clean-up work in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, according to the complaint.

Stevens also promised nine of the people various amounts of interest in addition to his repayment, the complaint said. The interest figures ranged from 15 percent to 100 percent, according to the complaint.

Two previous similar charges against Stevens had been dropped due to technicalities. These latest charges were then filed.

At the age of 75, many people would consider a walk to the grocery store good exercise, but Jay Thurston isn't one of those people.

Last Friday, 75-year old Thurston of Viroqua and canoe partner Mike Kinziger, age 60, of Moscow, Idaho, set an all-time speed record for canoeing the 436-mile length of the Wisconsin River.

This is their third, and fastest, trip down the river. In 1958, the trip took them 12 days. They canoed it again in 1983, setting a record time of eight days, three hours and 13 minutes.

This time, however, on the 25th anniversary of that record-setting trip, they broke the record by completing the trip in seven days, three hours and 27 minutes.

Although they had not expected the flooding, they did not abandon their plans, and put in at Lac Vieux Desert in Vilas County Friday, June 13 at 4:55 a.m. Admittedly, the flooded waters helped them make good time. "We were paddling six to seven miles per hour in a swift current," said Thurston. He said they expected the current in the Mississippi to be even stronger because of flood conditions, but that turned out not to be so. "The Mississippi wasn't backed up into the Wisconsin beyond about 50 yards."

If the flooding helped them make good time, it also made conditions more dangerous for them. Thurston said there were a couple or railroad bridges that proved especially treacherous where the current was constricted between the supports. Coming in at Stevens Point, he said, they were "surfing the waves in a canoe." Their canoe, a Minnesota Two, manufactured by Wenonah Canoe Company of Winona, Minn., has a higher front than most. "We would not have made it in the canoe we had 25 years ago," he said. Thurston said the average person shouldn't even consider taking a canoe down a flooded river.

Thurston said that for most of the trip they were paddling at 52 strokes a minute, but the last day were paddling at 62 strokes. They put in 16-hour days. Thurston said he began training for the trip five years ago. "I have never worked so hard in my life—physically and mentally—as I did to get ready for this trip," he said. Because of that, he said, at no time was he ever exhausted or tired. "I wondered if a 75 year- old could do this and do it well, and I proved I could."

Thurston's wife, Diana, was the support person for the trip. "She found us everything but ice cream," he said, referring to a trip she made into Muscoda in search of ice cream cones. It was Diana who gathered supplies daily for the canoe, located motels and campgrounds (Kinziger slept in a tent during the trip, but Thurston and his wife stayed in motels), and made them oatmeal with bananas for energy and potassium to keep joints from cramping up. They kept in touch by cell phone, and she was there to meet them at the end of every day.

There were many others who supported them simply by their encouragement. At every stop, Thurston said, friends came to meet them, and a group of his high school classmates from Pardeeville met them at one stop. "It makes you want to keep going for them," he said.

The reward for the trip, said Thurston, was being able to canoe, once again, the river from its source to its mouth. "If you succeed you become a different person; it prepares you to confront other challenges," he explained.

Thurston noted the changes in the river. "Fifty years ago, he said, "it was a deserted polluted river with almost no eagles. This time we saw more eagles than geese. They've done a fantastic job of cleaning up the river."

Thurston said the last section of the river from Boscobel to the Mississippi was one of the prettiest because of the hills. "It is also," he added, "a lot more wild and remote than most people realize. You don't see homes or cottages along this section of the river."

The duo's original plans had been to canoe up to Prairie du Chien once they reached the mouth of the Mississippi, but because of the high waters, they went downstream and took the canoe out at Wyalusing State Park.

Jay Thurston, left, and Mike Kinziger, right, visit with the small crowd that gathered as they brought their canoe into the boat landing at Boscobel. They completed their journey down the 436-mile length of the Wisconsin River the next day.

Justus Mclarty stands on the bow of his boat Big Getter along with his mother Alice, his grandfather Marvin and his father Lynn.