Rolling on the river: Kayaker plans weeklong journey on the Mississippi from Cape Girardeau to St. Louis

Danny Rees was 43 before he learned how to kayak.

It was a childhood dream three decades delayed, but Rees wasn't going to let age keep him off the water.

And anyway, for Rees, a birthday's just an excuse for some self-assigned challenges -- feats of strength, just because.

Year before last, for his 57th birthday, he did 1,000 pushups. Next week, he's kayaking from Cape Girardeau to St. Louis. The weeklong journey is his birthday present to himself, if the weather's right, that is.

"If it's 90 degrees outside, I really have no desire to paddle in that," he said.

A pedestrian looks on Sept. 12 as Danny Rees carries his 17-foot kayak from his downtown home to the Cape Girardeau riverfront.

But the feeling of being out on open water, he said, is too invigorating to go without for long.

"Remember when you were a kid, and you went out in the woods to jack around and lose yourself?" he said. "You get out there and just wonder what's around the next corner. That's what it's like."

Since he started paddling, Rees has completed trips on the Missouri, Ohio, Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers. He's also paddled his way through Yellowstone National Park. His longest going without seeing loved ones, he said, was a windy 31-day stretch across the Missouri River.

"The first couple days, you're caught in the world still," he said. "You're thinking about the things you have to do and who made you mad about whatever."

But then, your paddle strokes begin to number in the millions. You pass the time however you can. You whistle. You scream. You sing.

"I could take you out on the river to a place where you won't see another living soul all day," Rees said. "What's great about it is that you can be three miles from Cape but still be totally alone. Set up in the woods. Be Huckleberry Finn."TYLER GRAEF

"Your body changes," Rees explained. "I lost 21 pounds on that trip. ... It gets to the point where you start thinking just about who you love."

And when you get back, he said, your perspective changes. A day's paddling is an hour and a half on the highway. Back in civilization, there's food all around. And cellphones. Before long, Rees said, you're itching to get back out on the water, to sleep on sandbars, to play Huck Finn for another afternoon.

So that's what he does. Whenever he gets the urge, Rees takes his dog, Kai, on the leash, puts his 17-foot kayak on his head, and walks from his downtown home to the Cape Girardeau riverfront and shoves off.

"You don't have to be a superman to paddle a river," he said. "Anyone who's willing to get up the next day and do what it takes can do these rivers."

Even someone who's 59 in October.

Danny Rees's kayak is dwarfed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers boat "Pathfinder" while paddling up the Mississippi River on Sept. 12 at the Cape Girardeau riverfront. Rees said staying aware of larger boats on the river is the hardest part about traversing the Mississippi.