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Man canoes Missouri in honor of mom

Stop in Omaha on 3900 mile journey
Posted at 4:35 PM, Aug 16, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-16 17:35:35-04
A son doing whatever he can to help keep his mom active during a difficult illness.
 
After a cancer diagnosis last year, he took his love for the outdoors and paired it with a new challenge. Jake Wasikowski explains the adventure that takes them from the Rocky Mountains of Montana to the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
"I like that I can cover a lot of mileage easily." It's a good thing Kris Laurie enjoys the travel because he has a long way to go. Over 3900 miles."I'm paddling the Missouri River from source to sea which starts in Montana and ends in the Gulf of Mexico."
 
Laurie is making this trip without his original paddling partner, his mom Leslie. "My mother and I did a 90 mile paddling trip in Alaska which was a very good experience for her in 2014 and right after she was diagnosed with bladder cancer." He knew walking on a treadmill wouldn't be the way his mom would want to stay in shape during treatment. "So we started talking about another big paddling trip and this sort of evolved out of it. She just padelled 500 miles with me from Helena Montana to Fort Deck Montana."
 
His mom is now healthy and looking forward to future adventures."She may be able to join me again down river."