Ryota made some great progress on Day 26 by clearing the windy section of the Columbia at Hood River. He made 70 miles in 2 days and all the way down to the Vancouver/Portland area.  He sent me a text message of his accomplishment and .

Hi Matt!  I cleared all gorge! And I have received mail from Dennis.

I have a fellow long distance riding friends, Dennis & Karen, that has been watching this story with similar interest to me.   He reported that Ryota was able to stay with some fellow Japanese kayakers he met from a kayak forum…after the authorities tossed him out of the park because camping isn’t allowed.  (You have to appreciate the kindness of PNW people sometimes even if The Man gets in the way).

I am now having a dinner with Dennis

Dennis & Karen also took Ryota to dinner and an IPA Wednesday night at The Quay in Vancouver. (you see a theme developing here on how the PNW treats guests on epic adventures)

Dennis said:

For a little guy he can sure put away the food. Fixed him up with a halibut dinner, Ninkasi IPA and cheesecake. Taught him about bald eagles and ospreys and told him to be on the lookout for them down the river. And told him he would miss the Rose Festival Fleet by only about a week. I also shared I had been on the USS Missouri when it visited Astoria on its way to its final home in Hawaii.

Dennis also reported that Ryota is  looking to score a satellite phone for some increased contact and weather forecasting reception.  There are cell phone reception dead areas off the coast and he relies on text messages from friends and daily weather forcasts.  He was eyeing Dennis’ GPSMap 478, especially when he showed him the marine maps and weather, but he’d probably have trouble keeping it charged up–especially with the extra XM antennae for recepition.

I imagine that another hurdle will be coming as Ryota passes Astoria.  There the Columbia River transitions into a giant bay and estuary….with  a confluence of wind, tide, and ocean waves rounding the corner of Washington.  It’s a special Coast Guard station and not coincidentally titled, “Cape Disappointment“.  Not to say it’s always dangerous, but conditions can change rapidly to conditions like this:

Hopefully, he’ll have something more like this:

Dennis also remarked that he’d like to catch up with Ryota again as he journies further.  I would like to as well…and wondering if maybe his PNW friends should start think about a send-off as he heads into Canada later this season.

Ryota Yamada left Kennewick 11 days ago and while I’ve been monitoring his progress–it’s seemed a bit slow to me.  Even with my limited kayak experience and I wasn’t sure if he was exploring every nook and cranny along the way,  if the spring westerly winds of the Columbia were affecting him, or something else.

So, I sent him a text message Monday morning (he was nice enough to give me his cell phone when we first met) and learned he was camped out at Quesnel Park for the evening.  Since I didn’t have a council meeting it was a perfect, if not windy, evening to ride down and catch up him.

Knowing he’d stocked his kayak with dry goods  just before departure I stopped at the grocery store on the way out of town and bought some fresh fruit including apples and a banana.  I also figured a gallon of water, a Metrx bar I like to eat when I rally, and a small flask of some brandy from Black Heron Distillery would be welcome gifts too.

Crossing the Columbia at Umatilla I saw the spring run-off through McNary Dam and puzzled a little exactly how he got his kayak around it or if they let him go through the locks.  The wind howled and was actually a bit sketchy for me on my new V-Strom.

Aiming into the wind west towards Boardman I turned off at a nondescript exit with gravel road going to a semi-developed little park.  His kayak was parked along the shore of a white capped lagoon, tent up in the trees to reduce wind slightly, and a honk from my bike yielded  a set of hands unzippering his tent.

He beamed, we shook hands, and even hugged.

Looking around there weren’t any real structures to get out of the wind so he invited me into his tent where I brought my gifts.  He perked up seeing the fruits and thanked me.

He showed me a nautical map of the river and told me how he portaged around McNary Dam on the North side.  Again, Ryota’s English is not perfect, but  I think some locals helped him with a pickup truck and took he and his kayak over to the Oregon side near the marina–which I’m sure was a much better reentry point to the river.  Yes, he’s in a kayak, but it’s also loaded down pretty heavily with gear.  Swirlies below a gushing dam, I suspect, are a whole different proposition than a wild river for a kayaker.

Sitting in his tent I couldn’t help but soak in a little bit of his experience 10 days in.  A pack of opened Tillamook jerky lay on one side, a few clothes and water proof bags lined the other, and an English article about sailing lay at one end.

Outside the wind howled at a constant 20+ with gusts to something more.  Puffy gray and black clouds loomed in the distance and sun cast longer shadows as the evening faded.  Besides the white caps of a frothy Columbia–the water was muddy from a full day of wind…and it came directly and perpetually from the direction he wanted to travel.

“Sailing not so good in the wind.”, he said.

Having done a little bit of sailing on a Hobie I knew it was impossible to sail directly into the wind, but even the best boats manage maybe 20 degrees from the apparent wind.  Ryota said he could do about “45 degrees…lots of tacking.”

Another gust tugged at a tent peg and he smiled, “I probably am going to be here for a couple of days.”

All at the same time I felt excited about his adventure I felt a little forlorn he was stuck in this scrubby little riverbank in the middle of nowhere.  If Kennewick Man had come this way it was with the wind certainly, but I couldn’t help but feel the emptiness and isolation of the Columbia Basin scablands as it must have existed 10,000 years ago and 10,000 miles from where he might have come from.

Even in modern times there was a pickup with a fifth wheel trailer attached across the unimproved dirt parking lot, but their shades were down and uninviting.  Ryota has made 77 miles (River Mile 256) of a 10,000 mile journey and while I know I can never fathom the depth of his adventure–I have more than a clue that it is a daunting one.

But, Ryota told me about numerous acts of kindness by locals on his trip so far, that he was “still having fun”, and very satisfied with living out a long-time dream.  I’d like to think me bringing him an apple made him even feel a bit more connected.

We talked a bit more and I queried him about his plans for Puget Sound–drawing a complete mind blank that from a kayak perspective he’d really not want to have anything to do with points like Seattle.  Somehow I had it in my mind he’d point the kayak into Westport and magically navigate to Olympia or something.  Not even close!

He mentioned needing to go through Customs in Canada and guessing he has planned some place like Victoria as he rounds the corner of Washington at Neah Bay….maybe crossing from Port Angeles.  I figure I’ll learn more as he keeps making progress.  He has 256 more river miles to first think about.

I asked him about family and he said he regularly corresponded with them via e-mail and phone.  Seems he has a girlfriend (which by estimation is one of the extremely understanding variety) and I shared details about my girlfriend.  We also talked of motorcycles, visiting Machu Picchu (which he’d been already), and keeping in touch.

Ryota is moving slowly, but he’s doing well.

He texted the next day, “Everything you give me has made vitality.  You know exploration well   Thanks buddy!!!”

I opened the Tri-City Herald several weeks ago and was floored to find a tourist camping out on Clover Island about to embark an adventure of truly epic proportions.  I’ve kayaked overnight from Vernita to Pasco and thought that was an adventure, but Ryota Yamada is planning to kayak from Kennewick to JAPAN!!!

He’s starting in Kennewick because it’s where Kennewick Man was discovered years ago and potentially connected to the Ainu people that may have migrated or traveled here thousands of years ago.

The story unfolded further as I later had my monthly lunch with the 3 other community mayors and was enthralled by Steve Young’s story of meeting Mr. Yamada, and that he actively sought “the Mayor of Kennewick” out to start his journey.  Before lunch was over I decided I had to go try and meet him myself.   Plus I had an ace up my sleeve that I guessed Mr. Yamada didn’t know–exactly where Kennewick Man was discovered.   Many know the general area, but few know within a hundred feet or so.

Tuesday evening I went down to Clover Island and knew exactly where he was camped because the window to the left in the picture above was my Mom’s office for about 20 years.  I essentially grew up on that island and threw at least two tons of rocks into the river below.

He wasn’t there, but his camp was.  I left my business card and $20 bill as a small gesture to his adventure and I had also e-mailed him via his website earlier.  It turns out he was at Kennewick’s Council meeting, but we connected via cell Wednesday morning.

He very much wanted to see the site and like an excited 8 year old I dropped what I was doing to go show him. When I arrived we exchanged pleasantries, I tried a bow, and he said I was welcome to visit his camp anytime I wanted.  My guess is he was probably more impressed by my title than anything, but it was interesting to see that as he loaded his camera and GPS into the car–I own the exact same brands of Canon and Garmin.  It even appeared that we had the same model camera and that I used to own the handheld type GPS he had.

While his English was broken and vocabulary limited to have a free-flowing conversation–I found him fairly easy to talk with at a slower pace.  I had some experience in college with Japanese speakers and found his accent and pronunciation pretty easy to get around.

Driving to the middle of Columbia Park I found that he also shared a love of motorcycles and smiled again when we both own Honda XR motorcycles.  His is a 250cc air-cooled and mine a 650cc water-cooled, but a Honda is a Honda and they are to similar not to laugh.

Ryota was also my age (42 to my 43) and a “retired” physicist.  In hindsight, I think it may have been a language issue and he may have been on long term leave or sabbatical, but what little I got to know him I could imagine he had done well for himself and was in a place that kayaking the world could now be his life.  I felt like an 8 year old again….

Arriving to an unlabeled stand of Russian Olives I began tromping through the brush–not actually having penetrated themself before.  I knew the area was several hundred feet away from the edge from a Google Earth view I had confirmed the evening before.  It was rougher than I expected and my set of dockers are now headed to the cleaners as a result.

Ryota and I crawled and climbed our way through the brush and stood for a moment talking.  He asked (or at least I think he did) why they were hidden and hard to get to.  I couldn’t give him a solid answer, but suggested that there’s a common perception that anything old in North America MUST be Native American by default.  NAGPRA and the court case of Kennewick Man certainly supports the inertia.

The idea that migration may have occurred 9000 years ago…or who knows how much longer before that is unconventional.  I suggested many want the status quo–including tribes.  I quickly added though, “I hope science prevails though.”

He smiled at that.  He completely understood.

Once we made it to the willows I knew we were in the right spot and he pulled out his GPS.  He wanted to kayak there later and take things in on his own time.

“It is also quite an honor that Matt Watkins, Mayor of Pasco (one of Tri-City) visited
my tent and took me to the exact place where Kennewick Man was
discovered. I really appreciate it. And Mayor also gave me a good
friendship. We crawled in messy bush getting covered in mud for several
tens minutes, and then found out it. I am so glad that I will be able to
start my expedition from the spot Kennewick Man discovered.
Someday in near future, I really want to have a nice motorcycle trip
with Matt in Hokkaido Japan or in here United State!” – Ryota Yamada

My time was limited, but I did the best to take in the scene.  Kennewick Man had died within a 50 feet of where I stood, along the banks of the Columbia, with a spear head in his hip, hands to his sides, and head pointed upstream parallel with the river.

Owsley concluded the man was deliberately buried, between two and three feet deep, his body placed in the grave, head slightly higher than feet, hands placed at his sides.

Cars rushed by on 240, but I tuned them out and imagined my home community 9,000 years earlier.  I also thought about Kennewick Man….who was about 40 when he died.

The skull reconstruction always reminded me of Jean Luc Picard from Star Trek.

The area had been capped over by 600 tons of boulders (I remember seeing the helicopter fly around) and then planted willows over the top (which were the tell-tale sign I knew we were in the right place.)

Ryota set up his camera and took a picture of the two of us.

After he got his coordinates recorded we tromped out a much easier path to the main road and hopped in the car.  I found Ryota fascinating and asked him if he had eaten breakfast yet…which he hadn’t.  He was happy to go to breakfast with me.  I took the long way back to Clover Island by going back on Canal Drive to give him an elevated view of the area and as I rolled through downtown Kennewick I had another brainstorm.  One of oldest picture of Kennewick I knew of hung in Cork’s Pharmacy (along with a copy in my Mom’s old office) as an 8 foot long panoramic photo and would have shown where Kennewick Man was buried in 1906 before the Russian Olives took over.

Ryota liked the photo including a steam engine in the distance.  It seems he had an interest in trains as well.

Then we went to breakfast and started talking about motorcycles again.  He knew my FJR1300 well–especially since it was manufactured in his country and he was enthralled by video of riding through the Cascades.

“I have same GoPro camera! This reminds me of Hokaido Island.  You come and ride.  My guest.  I show you.”

I’d made a new friend…..

Several videos later he was enthralled by the WABDR and added, “I think Americans only cruise roads on Harley.  You do forest good.  I come back to ride with you?”

Which I added, “If you come back I’ll get you a motorcycle to ride.  I’ll show you the Cascades.”

He’d made a new friend too…..

After this skinny short guy put away a big asparagus omelet and hash browns I took him back to Camp Ryota and shook hands a few more times.  We parted, but I think we’ll keep in contact.

It was a good day.

UPDATE:  Tuesday, April 24th, 2012.

Ryota embarked on his adventure on Thursday, April 19th at Columbia River Mile near SM 333 (“Statute Mile” in nautical parlance).

As of Tuesday, April 24th he’s kayaked nearly to McNary Dam near SM 300.  Only 33 miles in 5 days, but I think he’s enjoying himself and probably exploring many nooks and crannies.  I’m sure with his sail–he can cover many more miles if he likes.  33 miles down…about 9,967 to go.

I’m going to try and track his progress from his blog and present in an aggregate breadcrumb style, but my go to map of GoogleMaps doesn’t have the option to display via water.