I am planning a trip from Chicago to St. Louis with some friends. This would include part of the Chicago River, the entire IL river and some of the Mississippi. I am looking to go in late July and early August. The problem is done have a canoe/kayak. I don’t have the money to buy one at the moment. On the off chance someone has one that I could borrow for 2.5 - 3 weeks. I am sure we could pay the owner some sort of rental fee.
Try CASKA
Go to the homepage of the Chicago Area Sea Kayakers Association. Use the link to join the CASKA Yahoo group and post your questions/requests about the trip there.
There are 350+ paddlers on the list and there are likely people who can provide you with all sorts of help for your very interesting trip.
Here’s the CASKA link:
http://www.caska.org/home.htm