(Memphis) Memphis has a visitor in town from England who took the long way to get here.
Kevin Brady has been paddling down the Mississippi for 110 days!
He took a flight from Europe to Canada, hopped on a canoe in Minnesota, and is on his way to the Gulf of Mexico.
He’s taking on this wild adventure to raise money for a children’s hospital back in his hometown.
Brady docked his canoe at the Mud Island Marina.
“It looks like this Monday, it’s going to get down to nine degrees and it’s going to be my coldest temperature yet,” said Brady.
His coldest temperature yet, and he started in Minnesota!
It’s been just him and his canoe battling winds, eating carrots for Christmas, and building campfires along the way.
Since September, Kevin has been enduring more than his body can handle.
“My back is constantly in pain, my shoulders are falling apart.”
His goal is to raise money for a children’s hospital in Gloucestershire, England.
“The Mississippi popped into my head and I looked into it and I have no canoeing experience whatsoever, absolutely zero.”
Yet, he’s come 1,600 miles and plans on 750 more until he hits the Gulf of Mexico.
He’s been taking video blogs of his journey.
“It’s not easy when you’re at flood level,” he says in one of them.
He’s been doing whatever he can to keep sane.
“It gets lonely and I start singing a lot,” he said with a laugh.
Now in Memphis, Kevin is in heaven.
“I get here and there’s a huge TV and an open fire and the sofa, and it’s just the best man cave I could ever imagine and I don’t want to leave here.”
He’s been welcomed into Dale Sander’s Bartlett home.
“I’m one of the River Angels that helps these guys when they come through here,” said Sanders.
No matter how hard it’s going to be, Kevin says he will get back in his canoe Sunday and head on down the river.
“I’ve come so far and raised so much money. I’ve got it in my head that quitting is not an option. It is not an option. It doesn’t matter how cold it gets. It doesn’t matter how much pain I’m in. I’m going to carry on. I’m going to get to the gulf.”
If you want to follow Kevin’s adventure or donate to his cause, click here.
