Jake Stachovak dreamt up the “Portage to Portage Paddling Project” when he was a kid. A 5000 mile solo kayak journey around the Eastern United States, it’s an adventure that will link the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes via the Gulf Coast, East Coast, and New York Canal Systems starting and ending in the small town of Portage Wisconsin.

He is a fabulous writer and photographer and is showing us parts of the United States of America that are largely forgotten. He started in the middle of an El Nino winter and has been paying the price.

Jake in Florida, 61 days into "The Project"