Washing and ringing out laundry by hand on a boat dock isn't how most people picture spending their Labor Day. But that's how 31-year-old Michael "Tug" Buse was spending his in St. Joseph - a short pit stop on a long, ambitious journey.

Mr. Buse, a film instructor at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, decided to go through with an idea that's been floating around his head since college: Get to the ocean, not by car or plane, but by a small, hand-built sailboat.

"I realized I could go all the way from Sioux City to the sea on the Missouri River," he said.

Mr. Buse began saving up money for the trip when he was in college and put away enough to take the time to live independently through the estimated 14-month journey. Five summers worth of work and an additional $20,000 later, Mr. Buse crafted a 14-foot vessel he aptly named "Adventure" and set sail Aug. 17. His voyage will take him from the Missouri River to the Mississippi River and down to New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico, where he plans to sail along the Gulf Coast around Florida and up the East Coast until he reaches Brunswick, Maine, the home of his alma mater, Bowdoin College, in October 2010.

What had led to him stopping in St. Joe was mostly due to circumstance. Mr. Buse's electric outboard motor malfunctioned Saturday, forcing him to dock at the St. Joseph Outboard Motor and Yacht Club while he looked for a replacement motor. He was still searching on Monday.

His tiny, concrete-and-taupe-colored seacraft is dwarfed by the dock's larger, more powerful neighbors. It is adorned with a small flag for the state of Maine flapping in the breeze and carries cargo including toilet paper, sunscreen, oatmeal, multiple bags of granola and peanuts and at least one box of whole grain Cheez-its.

Since he arrived on Sept. 5, yacht club employees have helped out, giving him food, shower and shelter, while local boaters like Rick and Penny Adams, of St. Joseph, have aided him to find the gas-powered motor he needs for his trip.

"I told him whatever he wants, we'll try to do it," Ms. Adams said.

Mr. Buse said the desire to get back to the ocean, which he experienced regularly growing up in Seattle, Wash., and at college in Maine was what initially inspired him to do the trip. But what he's experienced so far is worthy of its own special memory.

"It's just been a really, really unique experience so far, and I'm only about 300 miles into it," he said.

Blake Hannon can be reached

at blakehannon@npgco.com.