Sometimes you spend so much time with your paddle in the water that it feels like you've become one with the river.

Jay Thurston can say that about the Wisconsin River. He successfully paddled down it in 12 days with his partner Gary Kitzman in 1958. At that time, the 12 days was considered a speed record.

Thurston, teamed with Mike Kinziger, also conquered the Wisconsin River in 1983 -- 25 years after his first attempt. This time the pair completed the 442-mile journey in nine days, again setting a speed record.

Thurston, of Viroqua, and Kinziger of Moscow, Idaho, will again try to tame the river on June 13, hoping to again set a speed record -- finishing the trip in six days and about 10 hours. Thurston, now 75, and Kinziger, 60, are very familiar with the task ahead of them. They canoed the St. Croix River, 177 miles in length, in 41 hours in 1984. One year later, they took on the Yellowstone River, canoeing 600 miles in five-and-a-half days -- this, too, set a speed record.

Remembering his trips to the Wisconsin River, Thurston talks about his impending June trip as if he's going to visit an old friend.

"The Wisconsin is a beautiful river with many portions of breathtaking beauty," Thurston said. "We know the river pretty well and know how to handle a canoe. Even with the experience and being in tip-top shape, a lot of things have to go in your favor to complete a goal like the one we have set for ourselves."

Kinziger said he's behind the plan to finish according to the itinerary, but knows some of it is beyond the pair's control.

"All you need is one bad day of weather and you're done when it comes to setting a record," Kinziger said. "The Wisconsin, with big open water at places like the Petenwell (Flowage) and Castle Rock (Flowage), can have waves so high they'll just swamp you."

It's a fate that Thurston knows only too well.

Back in 1981, Thurston teamed with another canoeing companion, Jim Forer, hoping for complete the Wisconsin River in record time. A day after they started from the headwaters of the Wisconsin River at Lac Vieux Desert along the Wisconsin-Upper Michigan border, eight inches of rain fell.

As the river swelled, it became a dangerous temptress. Thurston and Forer were dumped while trying to shoot the Whirlpool Rapids just south of Rhinelander. The pair gave up their attempt just five miles east of Tomahawk.

When they failed to make it through the rapids, Thurston said, "…Right there I know we wouldn't finish the trip. We're just lucky to be here." Thurston would jokingly add, "We planned for everything except eight inches of rain."

Over the years, Thurston and Kinziger have both carved out a niche for themselves in canoeing lore. Neither the United States Canoeing Association nor the Wisconsin Canoeing Association recognize a "record" for canoeing speed on the Wisconsin River. All that exists, really, is anecdotal evidence.

In 1984, Mike Schnitzka and Bill Perdzock, then both 21, canoed the Wisconsin in 6 days, 18 hours. Schnitzka and Perdzock also canoed the Wisconsin again in 1995. They paddled day and night for 97 hours and 22 minutes, taking only four hours off to sleep, and ended at Bridgeport -- approximately five miles short of Mississippi River.

However, the key difference is that Schnitzka and Perdzock used a "closed" canoe, while Thurston's attempts have been in an open canoe. There is a distinction between the two and an advantage for a "closed" canoe, as it doesn't take on water in bad conditions to nearly the same degree as an open canoe.

And despite having set an itinerary with a finishing time in six days and 10 hours, Thurston says the big picture involves two other goals.

"At this point in my paddling career I'm more interested in first, completing the trip; and, second, beating the time we set in 1983," he said.

Thurston has the anecdotal evidence of his efforts and attempts tucked neatly into a red binder. It contains numerous newspaper articles, maps and diaries -- all covered in plastic.

While the binder is nearly full, there are still about a dozen pages in the back that remain blank. While Thurston and Kinziger both know the Wisconsin River, nobody as of yet, knows what those final pages will hold.

This is the second part in a series of stories that will tell the journey of canoeists Jay Thurston and Mike Kinziger as they plan to canoe the Wisconsin River starting June 13.