The Wonderfully Fantastic and Sometimes Curious Life of John Patrick Rausch

       I’m gearing up for a big car camping trip across the west right now and thought I’d break this one up into a few updates since the trip will be roughly three weeks give or take. The plan is to hit glacier, visit some family and friends in Washington and LA, then the national parks in Utah. Roughly. I consider this my first “legit trip” because I actually built a bed, a little kitchen, and a shower into my Odyssey.      Well everything was going swimmingly until I encountered the single handed most frustrating thing that can happen before big trips: sickness or injury. Some of my biggest adventures have been foiled or nearly foiled by this. Last summer my first two racing blocks got off to a rough start when I unexpectedly lost about 15 pounds (165 down to 150) right before I left. This oddity resulted in a…bad time…till it got squared away later in the race season. It just so happened to strike again though. A handful of days before my proposed departure date I whacked the absol

       Sharply at 3:30 am I was awoken by a whirlwind blasting sand into the tent and covering me from head to toe in the course and fine abrasive I so hated. Little did I know the impending storm would be much worse….      This is the story of how I came to decide that kayaking 300 miles on the Missouri River, solo, and inexperienced, would be a good way to celebrate my graduation from college. It is also the story of how many people tried to talk me out of it. Lastly, it’s the story of an epic adventure that I’ll never forget and probably repeat pretty soon.      Sometime in early April I sat down to figure out my summer plans.  I knew that I had two weeks before Blueberry season home on the farm that I could utilize for roving. The original idea was to actually spend that time portaging and floating the Boundary Waters, but that proved to be too much planning and specific gear needs to meet my two week time frame. So after a brief chat with my friends Devin and Tristan, who have flo