With 15 canoes and kayaks, Gary De Kock has always known that there is no such thing as “too many boats!” He led the first club kayak trip to Grand Island (Lake Superior) in 1988. In 2014, he and his wife, Linda, paddled a tandem kayak from source to sea on the Mississippi River (2291 miles). Gary is president of the Quiet Water Society which annually presents the Verlen Kruger Award to someone whose passion for water inspires the next generation of paddlers. With a love for big rivers, Linda De Kock and her husband, Gary, canoed the Missouri River (2.341 miles) from Three Forks to St. Louis in 2018. The voyage lasted 86 days and each day brought new challenges. The trip was used to raise funds for communities that lack safe water and adequate sanitation. Linda will be found regularly paddling the St. Marys River near Sault Ste Marie, Ontario as soon as the international border opens back up. bookmark

Canoe five iconic Midwest rivers with Gary and Linda De Kock. Share their 51 days of highs and lows as they made their way through the headwaters and portaged the 26 dams of the Wisconsin River. They negotiated 17 locks on the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, paddled upstream on the Des Plaines River to the historic Chicago Portage, and followed the Chicago River through downtown Chicago to Navy Pier. As always, living on the river and camping on its banks introduced them to new friends as well as local law enforcement. You never know what is around the next bend!