Ellen Magellen
Achafalaya Basin, Louisiana
I know Ellen because we both have rowed down the Mississippi River. It's a funny little club to be a part of. Entry to it is just the time and inclination to put an oar or paddle to water and pull and be pulled down towards the sea.. One thing I’ve called it is an American pilgrimage. When Ellen got to the end of the Mississippi River and stared out into the sea she decided that it might be a good idea to cross that by rowboat too. I get that feeling too. We talk about rowing and big adventures from time to time.
When I was heading to New Orleans to do some book research and maybe a Season 5 of Tinyboatsession I decided to give Ellen a call. I knew she lived somewhere along I-10 in cajun country . Turns out she was teaching flight lessons out of Lafayette. She invited me to go up for a flight. We soared over bayous and rivers and from this height the ocean didn’t look too far away. Later we rowed in among the cathedral of cypress trees of the Atchafalaya Basin we had seen from above. Ellen is herself of Cajun stock, and before adventuring and flying she’d done some acting. She had some classic Cajun jokes, known as Boudreaux and Thibodeaux jokes about two good natured if simple Cajuns who are always getting up hi jinx. Lets just say I put the cleanest one here. She also performed a Shel Silverstein poem that she brings out on the river trips when the time seems right.
Flying and rowing, it was a day! Ellen’s got her biggest days ahead of her. She’s rowing around the world. You heard that right. @ellenmagellanexpeditions