Jennifer, left, Jackie and Bill Ayars
One Father, Two Daughters and a Mission.
The idea for a jet-skiing trip down the Mississippi River came while poison dripped slowly into my arm. I was 50 years old and fighting non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer of the white blood cells.
My survival motivated me to find a mission, both to celebrate my life and to nurture my relationship with my daughters.
Our 1,700-mile journey down the Mississippi River challenged us like nothing we had done before. It became a turning point in our relationship. We became a team determined to reach the finish.
The completion of the trip was supposed to be the end of this story — and the end of this book. But on February 25, 2016, Jennifer died of a drug overdose — a loss that has been deep and painful beyond what I have ever experienced.
This book is for you, my dear co-pilot, friend and lovely daughter, Jennifer Emerald Ayars.
All photography provided by Bill, Jackie and Jennifer Ayars and Susan Tarry
