The Perils of Kayaking to NOLA

Speaker: Josh Matthews

In 2015, encouraged by Jeff Rasley, I pushed off from his modest White River dock and set sail for New Orleans. 1400 miles later I arrived and was greeted by NOLA Coast Guard and was told that I wasn't allowed to be kayaking on the Mississippi. The talk will focus on the real and potential dangers I faced: misleading maps, Silver Carp, barge and river traffic, dams, alligators and mosquitos, night fall, sun exposure and dehydration, inclement weather, and many more!

Josh Matthews was raised in Indiana. The day after he graduated from Marian University in 2013, he booked a one-way flight to Kathmandu with Scientech Club members Jeff Rasley, Jerry Williams, and David Culp. He taught in Vietnam before returning to the US a year later to teach elementary and high school.

He has lived in New York city where he learned about real estate. He has traveled Europe including walking El Camino de Santiago - a 500-mile pilgrimage across Spain.

He has had a lot of adventures on his way to becoming a real estate agent, a husband and a father to Andril and Sophia.