Daily stats
Start: 6:40 AM- Outside Greenville MS
Finish: 1:40 PM - On the river
Time: 7:00
Daily dist: 50 miles
Total dist: miles
Companions: None
Weather: Very thick fog delayed launch and slowed progress all morning. Things cleared and became very nice in the afternoon.

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!
.

Hey guess what… It’s raining. I think this is three nights in a row that I’ve had rain. I can’t complain though I pulled off the river early today to take advantage of sunshine and warm temps in order to spread out and get things dry. It felt good to get the dampness out of everything after yesterdays all day rain. This rain tonight is supposed to pass through by morning followed by a cold front that should bring dry conditions for the next several days. A dry cold front is good news to me, I’ll take cold and dry over warm and rainy any time.
I was prepped and ready to go nice and early this morning but a very heavy fog delayed my launch until I could at least see the fog rather than just bottomless darkness. When I finally did launch I had to navigate by staying within a hundred feet of shore to be sure I wasn’t drifting into the main channel. All was going well until I came to the inside of a bend and the shore line moved a half mile from the edge of the channel and a gauntlet of wing dams (at unknown depths) transected my course. The water is up fairly high but after running into a wing dam last week I’m a little gun shy.
Picture
Very thick fog this morning
Thankfully the first inside bend put me into an old cutoff channel which ran behind all the wing dams and far from any barge traffic. After about three miles of stress free travel the channel deposited me back into the main river channel. Still I was able to continue on by again following the shore line. After an hour of following the long route along the outside of every bend the fog lifted enough to allow me to see both sides of the river. I was lured away from shore in search of the buoy lines I like to follow then the wind shifted and in a matter of seconds a foggy trap closed in leaving me in mid channel with zero visibility. For the first time in this trip I fired up my GPS and along with a compass I did fly by wire navigation to follow the flooded edge of a towhead which put me safely at the edge of the channel and beyond the reach of wing dams jutting out from shore. I couldn’t see anything around me and had to put my trust in the GPS reinforced every so often by the sight of a buoy straining against its anchor chain on the edge of the channel.
The thick fog persisted until 10:30 when I was finally able to see both sides of the channel and far enough ahead to know what kind of barge traffic was on the river. Finally I was able to get up to speed and put on some miles. A gentle tail wind helped smooth out the river and I set a brisk pace to try to make up for the slow start.
Picture
The perfect sand beach for New Years Eve camp
My plan was to put in about 50 miles (shorter than I have been doing) and pull off the water early to have time to dry out. As I rounded the last bend I eyed a likely towhead in search of a nice sand bar to camp on and was rewarded by a perfect sunny, dry, and accessible spot… The perfect New Years Eve camp.

14 Comments
 
 
Daily stats
Start: 6:30 AM-
Finish: 2:30 PM - Outside Greenville MS
Time: 8:00
Daily dist: 67 miles
Total dist:729 miles
Companions: None
Weather: Off and on rain becoming steady rain after 2:00
I’m currently camped out on a grassy beach just above the highway 82 bridge just outside Greenville MS. I had a little drizzle this morning but got packed up and on the water before the rains really started. After off and on showers all day it decided to really pour about an hour before I got off the water. After setting up in the rain it has pretty much been raining all evening. The weather man promises a couple hours of sunshine tomorrow before more rain after sunset so I’m going to pull off the water a bit early to try to get dried out before I get all wet again.
Picture
A rainy day on the river.
I chose this spot because 67 miles is enough for one day and for it’s probable access to a cell phone connection. I wanted the cell connection because it would allow me to post a couple blogs as well as contact people further down stream to coordinate the next few days. Towns are few and far between down here so you don’t want to pass up access to civilization when it presents itself. As I’m nearing the gulf it’s time to think about gearing up for somewhat warmer weather and the likelihood of mosquitoes. Some of tonight’s duties included coordinating a couple gear drops into Baton Rogue which is my last pre-planned stopover before I enter the gulf.
If you were to look at the river channel just north of here on a map it would stand out as an unusually straight course relative to all the twists and turns in the river around it. That is due to the work of the Army Corps of Engineers who are responsible for maintaining a navigable channel for all the commercial traffic on the Mississippi. Before they started the process of channeling the river into it’s current route it meandered wildly from year to year and season to season all over the miles-wide flood plane that surrounds it. Stories are told of people long ago setting up a homestead on the west side of the river ending up living on the east side of the river when it decided to change course and cut a new channel.
On the lower Mississippi the Corps uses two main tools (among others) in controlling the river which include wing dams (or dikes) and shore revetment (reinforcement). - Up north locks and dams are used as well - Wing dams are simply long piles of rocks designed to deflect and direct the flow of the river toward the main channel. You find them most often on the inside of bends where the flow of the river tends to slow and build up sand bars known as Towheads. They show up on the river maps as long skinny lines spaced at intervals jutting out from shore much like the bony spines of a Bluegill’s dorsal fin. Shore revetment is simply piles of rocks set along a shore to try to prevent erosion. You’ve undoubtedly seen shore lines along many high traffic or moving water areas completely lined with rocks. Most often you’ll find revetment along the outside of a bend where the scouring force of the main river flow tends to eat away at the shore line. By concentrating the scouring power of the river into one main channel it has nowhere to go but down so in the main part of the river (especially in narrow sections) the river can be hundreds of feet deep. This conveniently reduces (almost eliminates) the need for dredging to keep the river deep enough for barge traffic. Of course all a paddler needs to worry about is the top six inches.
Picture
Army Corp of Engineers working on a dike
Picture
Barges full of rocks tor dikes
The straight section I paddled through today was created by actually digging out the bank to straighten the river past some very wild curves and bends. After going through the hairpin curves up around New Madrid where you paddle nearly 20 river miles to gain two miles in the direction you want to go, one wonders why the Corps haven’t straightened out the entire river so tow traffic wouldn’t have to travel so far. I have a sense there are several reasons besides the incredible cost of such a project. One is the fact that the curves in the river create a wider flood plane between the levy system that has been built to contain it during floods. If the river had been straightened the levys would undoubtedly have been pushed much closer to the river creating a much smaller flood plane thus less capable of containing flood water and more apt to overflow its banks. Another is the speed at which the river would flow if it was mostly straight. The curves act as natural brakes to slow the river a bit making it easier for upstream tow traffic to make headway. If straightened out tows would undoubtedly have to work much harder to move upstream. A indication of this I witnessed today when (for the first time) I saw tow boats teaming up and working together to move the rafts of barges upstream along the straight section I came through earlier.
Picture
They don't always get it right. This house belongs to my friend Elmore's family it used to be 100 yards from the river until the flow was directed toward this bank.
It’s interesting (actually a little confusing) to watch the Mississippi/state boundary weave back and forth across the current river on the map. Those borders were established along the old river channel as it existed before the Corps contained the river to where it is today. It’s not unusual to see an orphaned chunk of Arkansas surrounded by miles of Mississippi state land that could only be accessed from the Arkansas side after a long boat ride or an hours long drive to the nearest bridge
7 Comments
 
Day 24 12/30/2009
 
Daily stats
Start: 8:10 AM - Helena, AR
Finish: 3:30 PM - Smith Point (river feature) MS
Time: 7:20
Daily dist: 65
Total dist: 662 miles
Weather: Calm and cool
Picture
The Ikkuma didn't quite fit in Buddy's truck
Picture
Buddy and his son
This morning Buddy and his son came down to the warehouse at 7:00 AM sharp to help move me and my gear back to the boat landing. With my food bags now plump full to capacity it took a bit of fussy packing (and repacking) to get everything back into the Ikkuma. Once again a quick handshake farewell and pictures, (this time of me and the little Christmas tree my mother sent in the last food drop) and I was on the water again.
Picture
Me and the little Christmas tree. We never did take ours down till New Years anyway
With the late start (8:10 AM) I was not expecting to put on more than 50 miles today. However after just a few hours I had already surpassed the 30 mile mark and I started to wonder just exactly how fast I was going. So for the first time since St. Louis I dug out the GPS and fired it up. What I discovered was almost startling. Just floating in the current at rest I was moving 4 miles per hour. When I got straightened out and ran carefully in the main flow I was sustaining 8.5 miles per hour often spiking up to 9 mph. No wonder I was logging up the miles so fast this morning. Of course the slight tail wind blowing down stream helped too.
Actually after complaining about what an upstream wind can do on the river I must explain what a downstream wind can do. Instead of heaping the river up into waves as it does when it blows up stream, a down stream wind irons out the wrinkles in the water making it mirror smooth. It was in conditions like that which I spent most of the day. In addition I went four hours without a single bit of tow traffic. I was able to pick my line in the main current and just cruise. It was the best day of paddling yet. Everything just felt good with the boat and paddle and the miles flew by.
Picture
A beautiful day for paddling - I almost felt sorry for folks stuck at work :-)
Last night I spoke to John Ruskey from Quapaw Canoe company based in xxx with a Helena outpost as well. I had used the Helena location as a mail drop for my re-supply box. John was going to be running a tour in one of his multi paddler war canoes on the river today. Unfortunately he was putting in over 40 miles from where I started. We figured it couldn’t hurt to try to find each other during the day just in case so we did phone check-ins a couple times during the day. I caught John on the phone at 2:00 and for a moment with how fast I was going had hopes that I might be able to catch him but he was still another 20 miles ahead of me. Some other day for sure. What I did learn was that just 12 miles ahead of me he had seen some nice sand bars so I had a destination for the night.
I pounded out those last 12 miles in just an hour and a half and set up camp on a beautiful sand bar on the southern edge of a big bend in the river pretty close to river mile 600 - 65 miles from where I started seven and a half hours before. I can’t wait to see what an early start and full day of paddling will bring.

4 Comments
 
 

There are two Day 23 blog posts
check out the Day 23 (boat maintenance) post below

If you were watching the SPOT signals I sent today you would have been wondering what on earth I was doing bouncing all around on the St. Francis river just north of Helena AR. The answer is… fishing!
Picture
When I was riding around with Buddy yesterday I learned that his brother “Junior” does a bit of commercial fishing out on the river. It seemed that since I decided to stay an extra day to catch up on re-supply and boat tune up chores I figured it would be fun to see if I could tag along with Junior. Pat and Buddy checked in with Junior and got the thumbs up to go along for today’s morning run lifting nets. At 7:00 AM Buddy came by and picked me up to go meet up with his brother. Buddy warned me that the wind will cut right through you when you’re motoring around on a boat on a cold morning like today. So I was dressed in as many clothes as I could fit under my paddling pants and rain coat. Buddy also told me a couple stories about his brother flipping and sinking boats out on the river so, life jacket in hand, I was ready to go when Junior and his fishing partner Jack picked me up at a local diner.
As we drove a long twisty road toward the boat ramp I learned that instead of going on the Mississippi we were going to be working on the St. Francis river which, because of recent rains, was flowing fast which may make things interesting. The type of fish they expected to catch were catfish, buffalo, fat head carp, and various other rough fish. The catfish and buffalo were the main target the carp nothing more than a nusance. We arrived at the boat ramp and launched the boat only to discover that the motor was so cold that the grease in the lower unit was too stiff to let the motor turn over and start. After a few minutes of soaking in the marginally warmer river water and by spinning the prop by hand the motor finally started and we were on our way.
I asked what I could do to help and was politely told to “stay out of the way”. That was ok with me because it meant I could take a bunch of pictures and experiment with shooting video on my camera. I did have a go at gaffing a few fish later in the day but really Junior and Jack have been doing this together so long, and have such a refined system, that an extra person really wouldn’t be much more help.
Picture
Hey look I'm fishing
The way it works is Junior maneuvers the boat (by navigating with his GPS) over a net anchored to the river bottom. Jack would then toss a weighted grappling hook over the side of the boat and drag it on the bottom trying to hook the anchor rope of the net. Once the anchor rope was hooked the throw line was wrapped around an electric winch and the net was hauled up (via the grappling hook and anchor rope). Once the net reached the surface Jack would stop the winch and tie off the rope which would essentially anchor the boat via the net anchor. With the boat held in position Junior could come to the front of the boat and help heave the net into the boat to dump any fish that had been caught. They would then clear any leaves and sticks that had become lodged in the weave of the net then throw it back over the side. The fish were then sorted with catfish and buffalo kept in a holding box and carp thrown back into the river. When all goes well it’s a very smooth operation.
Picture
Grapling hook at end of winch arm holding anchor line
Picture
The winch used to haul up the nets
The guys did work a bit harder today because the fast flowing river pulled the grappling hook so fast down stream that it couldn’t reach the bottom. A few times two passes had to be made to get to the right position to get the hook to the bottom to find the anchor line of a trap. On a few occasions the grappling hook would miss the rope and find the weave of the net itself. If the net was damaged in such situations Junior would quickly repair the hole with a giant plastic tent stake sized ’needle’ like device. To make things easier next time, they were also picking up the nets that were in the faster flowing middle of the river and moving them to the reasonably slower water near the banks.
Picture
A net lifted to the surface pulled to its full length by the flow of the current
The nets themselves are really giant fish traps consisting of a 3-5 foot diameter tube of netting about 12 feet long held open by fiberglass rings spaced every three feet down its length. They look a little like giant vacuum cleaner tubes. One end of the net (the upstream end) tapers to a closed point to which the anchor rope is secured. The other end of the trap is nothing more than an open circle. Inside the outer tube of netting are two tipped cones of webbing pointing toward the top end of the trap. The way it works is the traps are anchored on about 50 feet of strong rope and the flow of the river is used to pull the anchor rope straight and to pull the rings apart thus expanding the net to its full length. The nets remain out throughout the season and are checked every other day or so and are moved as needed. Fish swimming upstream in the muddy dark waters of the river simply swim unknowingly into the trap. Once they squeeze pass the open narrow ends of the cones of webbing they are generally unable to find their way out of the relatively small opening. No bait is used you simply rely on he pea sized brains of the rough fish you’re pursuing to provide a willing victim. The traps are surprisingly effective and the guys caught over 200 pounds of sellable fish today and threw back at least as many unwanted carp. They both told of times in spring when the nets get so full you can hardly get them out of the water. They’ve been known to fill the boat to capacity by pulling only three nets.
Picture
The days catch a mix of Buffalo and Catfish
I was quite impressed by how tough these southern boys are. They wore nothing more than thin cotton work gloves on their hands which were quickly soaking wet in the 40 degree water. Physical activity helped keep them warm for sure, but as I gratefully donned the extra jacket they had given me, they went about their work with little concern for the sub freezing air temps blowing over their cold water soaked hands.
Picture
Jack
Picture
Junior
After three hours of finding, hauling, emptying, repairing, and relocating traps the work was done and we returned to the boat landing and headed into town to track down a buyer for the fish. It was supposed to be a gentleman that makes house calls selling fish to a list of private customers. He was very sick today and couldn’t make the drive into town so Junior contacted a local fish market that was interested in their catch. With 45 pounds of catfish at $.75 per pound and 145 pounds of Buffalo at $.35 per pound the days take was split three ways. One third to each man and the last third to cover the expenses of the boat, motor, and equipment. I was warned in jest by many people that I was lucky to not have ended up in some sort of trouble with those two and at the fish market they suggested I was lucky they didn’t try to charge me for the pleasure cruise on their boat.
Picture
Weighing in at the fish market
Picture
The fish market
It was a very interesting outing and I have a whole new respect for any non-farm raised catfish I ever eat again.

7 Comments
 
 
After the fishing outing Pat (my Helena mom) stuffed me full of lunch, then took me into town to meet a couple local shop owners and then over to round up the re-supply package that my mother had sent down. After running errands Pat dropped me off at the building where I’m staying to get started on doing some touch up repairs on my boat.
When I hit the wing dam last week I’d gouged out two sections of gel coat on the front sides of my hull. In addition I detected slight signs of impact damage on the inside of one of the affected areas. I wanted to lay a layer of fiberglass on the inside as a preventative reinforcement of the impacted area then clear coat the gouges with resin to seal out water until I can get to a location where a proper gel coat repair can be done. It’s all really just preventative maintenance but I can’t fool around and risk water intrusion considering how much time this boat is going to be in the water over the next several months.
Picture
The ikkuma tented off to warm it up.
In order to do the repair I needed to get the boat up to at least 60 degrees so the resin would set up. To do this I placed the boat on top of an old table then put two borrowed electric space heaters beneath the boat and a work lamp inside the front hatch where I‘d be laying the glass patch. Next I laid my ground tarps over the boat essentially creating a tent over the heaters to hold the heat in. It worked like a charm and in a couple hours the repaired areas were almost completely set. I’ll let it cook for a while then unplug it before I go to bed.
Picture
Protecto Wrap covering gouged gel coat.
One thing I should mention is the temporary/emergency band aid fix I’d used before I could get back to civilization. What I used is a product called “Protecto Wrap” which is used to seal around windows in new construction. This very pliable and incredibly sticky product comes in 4” wide 25’ long rolls and can be found at most building centers up north for less than $12.00 per roll. You can cut it easily with a knife or scissors and to apply it you just peal the protective plastic off of one side and press it over the area you want to cover, exactly like a band aid. I had put these patches on up in Memphis and after two full days of paddling they were still fixed solidly to the hull of my boat. In fact I had to work hard to scrape the stuff off with a knife. I was just trying to keep water from contacting the intact but exposed Kevlar of my hull. I’m certain this product would work well to patch an actual puncture. Find some if you can I recommend it highly.

Add Comment
 
 
Daily stats
Start: 6:30 AM - Tunica, MS
Finish: 11:30 AM - Helena, AR
Time: 5:00
Daily dist: 36
Total dist: 597 miles
Weather: NW breeze clear and cool
Somehow I thought the state of Mississippi would be a bit warmer. But apparently winter is winter wherever you go. I woke up a bit cold at about 3:30 this morning and managed to tough it out for an hour more rest. After that I ran through my morning routine of oatmeal and breaking camp and was on the water by 6:30 AM. The wind was already pushing ripples on the water before sunrise so I was happy to have an early start to avoid the big blows I’ve seen the last two days on the water. Luck was with me and I actually had a tail wind for a change and made great time on the way into Helena.
Picture
A quiet morning on the river
Helena Arkansas has been a spot on my map for a few months now, ever since a couple of friends, KC and Jole, from San Diego said they could set me up in their building if I wanted a place to stay when I came through. I had figured on blazing right on through from Saint Louis to here (stopping for water and food of course) but as you know I’ve had several adventures that had me stopped for a few days, long before I made it here. Because I’m still rested from all of the hospitality I’ve received up north, I had made plans to make my layover here as short as possible and just move on. That was until I was shown by my local hosts all there is to explore in this little town.
Shortly after a call from me, Pat and Buddy Wheeler came down to the boat ramp with their pickup truck to relocate me to the building where I’ll be staying the next two nights. A full nine feet of my kayak hanging out the back end of their truck was a sight to see as we drove the two blocks to the warehouse that houses my friends camper trailer. KC and Jole were a little vague about what exactly their ’building’ is until just a day or so ago. All I knew was that they were renovating some sort of building in town. I didn’t know what kind.
Picture
Picture
Look closely in the window you can see 9 feet of my boat hanging out
It turns out the building is a 30,000 square foot, three story warehouse located a stones throw from the levy in the historic district of town. KC and Jole purchased this essentially unwanted building and have been restoring it into a useable condition with apartments on the third floor, community room on the second, and eventually a restaurant on the first floor. The brick walls and absolutely massive structural timbers are something you just don’t see in buildings of this kind any more. Parked inside this huge building is a camper trailer which is where I’m staying. This large space is the perfect place for me to spread out and do some gear maintenance before continuing on. I did discover today that I did do a slight amount of structural damage to the boat when I hit the dike the other day so tomorrow I’m going to take the time to work on that.
My “hosts“, Pat and Buddy farm over 6000 (yes that’s Six Thousand) acres of crops on their farm just outside of town. I rode with Buddy all over their spread in his pickup truck learning all about farming operations in this region. On their land they grow a variety of crops ranging from soy beans to rice, cotton, and some wheat.

I was interested to learn about how rice is a huge crop in the area. It’s grown with the same flooded paddies that you envision in Asia only at a commercial scale. Buddy explained that rice plants can be grown on dry land but do require a lot of water to remain healthy. Flooding the fields serves two purposes. First it keeps the thirsty plants watered and second it acts as a sort of herb-aside by preventing other grass (weeds) from growing amongst the rice… genius really. To make the flooding easier the fields have been contoured to what is called “zero grade” meaning they have been scraped and molded to be perfectly flat and level. With no low or high spots it only takes a couple inches of water to keep the bottom of the plants covered. Of course the contour of the land does require some terracing but the individual graded paddies can be up to hundreds of acres. The way Buddies fields are set up he’s able to pump water into the highest field and through a system of dikes and gates control the flow of water down into the fields at lower elevations. The overall look of the land takes on a large patchwork of eerily flat fields delineated by ditches, dikes, and mounded access roads. Buddy rotates between crops to allow the land to rebound after feeding one type of plant for a couple years. He says that rice is great because its root structure and residual stalk left behind and burned after harvest do a great job of rebuilding the soil. Soy planted in a field after a couple years of rice often yields a good harvest.
Picture
Harvested rice field flooded to bring in ducks to hunt.
Farming at this scale is no small task and Buddy (and more his son he’ll tell you now days) employs several people and huge machinery to make it all happen. We stopped by his headquarters where he had a half dozen huge field working machines parked, each one valued at over a quarter million dollars new. Smartly Buddy has established a homestead for one of his crew right next door to keep an eye on the equipment. On another corner of the property a pair of grain towers have been built to house the better share of a seasons crop and again a home is being moved in to house a pair of watchful eyes to be sure the structures remain unmolested.
Riding with Buddy, who has lived most of the 76 years of his life right here in Helena, was an interesting experience. While we toured this massive ultra modern farming operation with zero grade fields worked by half million dollar auto-controlled sprayer machines. Buddy reminisced about the days when the huge fields were broken up into 40 acre homesteads worked by hand and horse by sharecroppers living in shotgun shacks scattered everywhere across the country side. We visited the swimming hole, in a small backwater of the river, where he (and hundreds of others) have been baptized, as well as a couple now empty corners of fields where a home he once lived in once stood. He brims with pride with the success of the farm he now runs yet saves a twinkling of nostalgia for what once was.
Picture
Riding with Buddy
Buddies wife Pat, I was warned by Jole, is a fireball. She instantly took to mothering me making sure I was comfortable and fed and even, to my embarrassment, doing my laundry while Buddy and I were out touring the farm. She is originally from the Mobile Alabama area and came to this area with Buddy after meeting him there. She, like Buddy, is a storehouse of information about the history of the area. She once worked for a touring company that serviced people that came off of the river boats that used to cruise up and down the river. Unlike the other river towns that would try to impress the tourists with southern fluff and antebellum homes, the Helena tour was an unpretentious taste of river town farming community life. The bus tour of the town included a “taste of the south” meal and a visit to the Baptist church to hear a real choir lift the roof. As Pat put it “You think you’ve heard a gospel choir when you see one on TV, but it’s nothing like the real thing!” Apparently the people loved it and often the Helena stop was the favorite of their river cruise. Sadly the days of multi day riverboat cruises are past the river boat companies having gone bankrupt well over a decade ago.
The loss of this sort of river traffic seems to be the last nail in the coffin for the vitality and commerce in many of the small river towns. Much like New Madrid, Helena is a hollow shell of what it once was. Driving the streets around town is eerie. Store front after store front lie empty and the streets (once full of cars and people every Saturday night in Buddy’s distant memory) are now stone quiet and devoid of almost any sign of life. It’s almost as though thirty years ago someone just turned off the town and it has sat waiting for people to return ever since. If ever some industry said “gosh I need a complete town that I could fill up with all of my work force and have everything that it needs already there” this would be the town. It’s all here…just empty and waiting.
Efforts have been made, in fact you can see that huge sums of money have been invested, in keeping this town from completely imploding, with murals on the levy wall, a blues fest ampa-theater, paved levy walkways and observation decks, even a state of the art slack water port on the river just outside of town. The building I’m in and the efforts of KC and Jole another example. All of it an investment in the future with hopes that industry and people will return. Buddy said that businesses have looked but with the school system and city government in understandably poor shape, would-be industry is afraid to move in. They fear that their managers and administrators would balk at the thought of moving their families here, which they probably would. Hence it’s a “chicken or egg” situation. The town can’t improve without industry and industry won’t come unless the town improves.

If you happen to know of a Boeing size manufacturer that needs a town to move into, please let them know about Helena.

4 Comments
 
 
Daily stats
Start: 9:00 AM - Memphis, TN
Finish: 4:00 PM -Tunica MS
Time:7:00
Daily dist: 38
Total dist: 561 miles
Weather: Strong SW wind (made water rough)
Picture
Elmore and Martha at home - my hosts for Christmas
I was up late getting caught up on the blog but I really can’t use that as an excuse for wanting to stay in bed. I really couldn’t pry myself out because I didn’t want the warm Christmas glow to end. But, alas, the river was calling and today Elmore and I had plans to put in 35 miles together from Memphis to Tunica. With plans for Martha to drive to the take out to pick Elmore up, I had the welcome chance to paddle an empty boat while my gear rode down in the truck.
Picture
Me with Memphis pyramid in background. (photo by Martha Kelly)
We got on the water by 9:00 AM and Martha’s family came down to the marina to see us off. After the obligatory signing of my boat, and photographs, we slipped away from the dock and began our long slog into the wind. Thankfully it was to be a relatively short day because we both knew we’d be working into a head wind almost all day. One thing that’s understood on this river is that, if the wind is blowing, it will be blowing up stream. Just like two days before, the force of the wind worked against the flow of the river, opposing forces that lump the surface of the water into 2 to 3 foot short interval waves. For much of the day we pulled ourselves down stream trying in vain to hind from the wind along whatever shore looked most likely to provide shelter. It worked for a couple sections but much of the time we worked hard against the wind barely making headway any faster than the current would have pushed us on a calm day.
Picture
Elmore and me heading out (photo by Martha Kelly)
When a bend in the river did provide a quiet moment I had a chance to talk to Elmore such a welcome change from talking to myself. He also managed to get a few snap shots of me. Unfortunately those moments were fleeting and we both spent most of the day bouncing through the waves on the river like bronc riders at a rodeo which was fun in it’s own way.
Paddling with Elmore, for whom these are his local waters, gave me a chance to see h`ow he navigates the river. My strategies haven’t been too far off but, just the same, several times I’d have to play catch up while Elmore surged ahead of me by catching a current or avoiding an eddy that I just hadn’t seen. Matched against his river knowledge, racing stroke, and longer boat, I had my work cut out for me to keep up.
After six hours of paddling we landed at the Tunica boat ramp where Martha was waiting. I quickly loaded my boat, bit them farewell and headed back across the river to set up camp on a beautiful sand bar. I’m set up within sight of two casinos on the Mississippi State side, but across a half mile of fast flowing river I may as well be in a different country.

Picture
Me from Tunica boat ramp bridge. (photo by Martha Kelly)
9 Comments
 
 
I hope the fact that i've been a day behing on my blogging reflects the fact that I've been kept quite busy with the activities of a very real Christmas with a wonderful family.
Picture
Elmore and Martha have taken me in and treated me like one of their own over the last two days.  Today I got a walking tour of their neighborhood as Martha and I exercised their giant Grate Dane named Merlin. 
Then it was on to her parents house for breakfast with her family as well as Elmore's mother.  It was great company, fantastic conversation, and an amazing spread of food which included my first taste of grits which I really like.
From there we walked (everything is nice a close around here) back to Elmore and Martha's to prepare for Christmas Day dinner for a bunch of their friends.  I took advantage of a quiet moment to call a bunch of my family to wish them a Merry Christmas.  In all of that calling I learned that my good friend Paul had just asked his girlfriend to marry him which was great news, congratulations Paul and Stephanie.  I wasn't much help in the kitchen but I did draw from my camp food larder some fudge and Christmas candy my mother had sent.  The 150 river miles it had seen stoed in my boat didn't matter and it added nicely to the spread.   
Picture
Well traveled fudge
I may have mentioned that Elmore and Martha are both artists.  She does paintings and prints in a studio in the house and he carpentry in their back yard shop. 
Picture
Martha's paintings shown in their front room gallery
Picture
One of Elmore's beautiful (and comfortable) chairs
Always up to checking out a workshop I requested a tour of Elmore's work space.  It turned out to be a carpenter/kayaker's dream place with a perfect mix of tools on the floor and kayaks in the rafters.
Picture
Elmore in his shop
Picture
'wildwater' racing canoe hung above the band saw
Picture
As we talked I learned of Elmore's involvement in paddlesports starting young he's done it all from competition slalom in white water to surfskis on the Mississippi.  While touring his shop I discovered this link to my home town where Elmore spent many a day weaving around gates.
It was a fantastic day that finished with a full belly in front of a warm fire talking to a great group of new friends.  I'll never be able to thank Elmore and Martha enough for taking me in over this special holiday.   
4 Comments
 
 
Daily stats
Start: 7:00 AM - 35 miles north of Memphis, TN
Finish: 1:30 PM -Memphis, TN
Time:6:30
Daily dist: 35
Total dist: 523 miles
Weather: Hard rain and strong wind
I woke to the sound of a hard rain driving against the roof of my tent. I only had 35 miles to paddle today so I wasn’t in a huge hurry to break camp and get on the water so I took my time wrapping up the bits of gear in the tent. After my morning routine ran itself out I the rain had not let up so I had no choice but to pull down in the rain and get on the water. I slithered into my mostly wet thermal layers and donned my paddling clothes to protect me from the rain as I loaded my boat. The last step was to strike the tent and stuff it’s soaked bundle in the front hold of the kayak as well. Then I was off.
My camp site selection below a large clay bluff served its purpose in protecting me from the 15 to 20 mile per hour winds that had developed over night. The draw back was the constant bombardment of mud balls I could hear falling off the cliff face into the bushes a hundred yards behind me. As I eased into the river and rounded the first bend I was greeted with a blast of wind which was to be a precursor of what I was to experience for the rest of the day.
Picture
Still smiling early in the day
I’ve been sea kayaking for about ten years now almost all of that time on the ocean. In that time I’ve paddled quite a few great places in a wide variety of conditions. None of that compared to the pounding I took on the river in that kind of wind. For the initiated please picture San Francisco’s Yellow Bluff tide race on a big day with the 2-3 foot short period bouncing waves… that went on for miles. Next add driving rain, 20 mph winds with gusts half as much more, a hard driving current, 40 degree water, a boat loaded with camping gear, barge traffic, wing dams, and an already tired body from a night camping in the rain. It wasn’t constant, thank heaven, only where a curve in the river put the wind blowing straight up stream or where a wing dam would push me out of the lee and into the chaos out in the main channel.
I’d been warned about what can happen when the wind blows straight up stream. I thought I’d seen something yesterday but it paled in comparison to what I dealt with today. As my kayak crested a wave it would hover for a second before driving into the next sending the bow under a cascade of ice cold water that would wash over my deck. Thankfully the boat rides high enough that it would shed most of the water off to the sides as it raced toward me but often enough a curl of water would smash into my chest and splash my face. All the while the force of the driving wind and rain threatened to tear the paddle from my hand and slowed my progress, even with the current, to only what I could pull with all my might. From time to time I’d spot a flat spot in the wicked water ahead and my first thought was always “thank god a break” but those flat spots were created by water flowing over (and being pushed up by) wing dams. The momentary reprieve the upwelling provided from the roller coaster ride gave me just enough time to gain as much speed as I could to try to pierce through the chaos of swirling eddies, now mixed with wind waves, that lie just down stream. Even when I wasn’t heading straight on into the wind and waves the beam wind was so strong I found myself literally leaning into the wind to keep from getting blown over the other way. I was grateful for every ounce of training I’ve had and so very happy with how my boat and gear performed in those conditions. I never felt threatened just frustrated with my slow torturous progress down stream. It was all jus something to be dealt with. It did take its toll and if it wasn’t for the thought of friends waiting to pick me up down stream I know I would have sought refuge on shore and set up camp in the rain to wait it out.
Picture
A bit worn out afer a long day
Picture
My arrival in Memphis (photo by Elmore Holmes)
Words can hardly describe how grateful I was to see Elmore waiting in the rain on the dock to take me home and dry me out. Probably the best Christmas present I could have received. I’d just met Elmore last Saturday when JJ drove me to Memphis looking for replacement gear. I had borrowed a life jacket which of course I didn’t need. He and his wife Martha offered the invite to stay with them if I came through over Christmas and that’s exactly how it worked out.
Picture
After hanging up my gear in their basement and taking a wonderfully hot shower I got dressed in my “street clothes” and went to Christmas Eve services with Martha. I don’t know if it was from the trials of late or the stress of the day but I must say that the Idlewild Church in Memphis and the service last night were the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. All day long to settle my nerves I sang Silent Night out loud to myself, (me alone in a little yellow kayak in the wind torn waters of an upset river.) Call me over emotional if you will, (and I’m not even all that religious) but when the choir and congregation filled the church with the sounds of that song last night I had tears in my eyes.

A Christmas Eve i will never forget.
Picture
Idlewild Church
1 Comment
 
 
Daily stats
Start: 6:30 AM - South of Caruthersville, MO
Finish: 3:40 PM - 35 miles north of Memphis, TN
Time: 9:10:00
Daily dist: 65
Total dist: 488 miles
Weather: Rainy breezy and warm (50s)
I woke to the sound of rain drops splatting against the roof of my tent. As much as I wanted to curl deeper into my sleeping bag I knew it was time to get moving. My goal for the day was to get within striking distance of Memphis where I will be hooking up with Elmore Holmes and his wife Martha for Christmas.
There are storms and big winds predicted for tomorrow so I knew that in order to make it happen I’d have to get as close as possible today to shorten the potential slog tomorrow. People have warned me time and time again about the wind being a huge factor on this river. Today I learned first hand that they weren’t kidding. Because of it’s width there aren’t many places to hide from the wind on this river. If you get caught in a bend where the wind is blowing against the current it doesn’t take long before you encounter 1-2 foot waves stacked up by the opposing forces.
I spent most of the day running from bank to bank trying to stay out of the wind. My normal strategy of cutting corners and drawing the straightest line as possible took a back seat to trying to get out of the constant blow. I had another reason to not cut corners as well. Early this morning I took a side channel made passable by flood waters as a short cut on the inside of a bend. One dike was shown on the map which didn’t concern me as I’ve gone over dozens in the last several days. Even as I neared the dike and could hear the sound of rushing water I was not concerned. Often on the main channel water flowing over a dike makes plenty of noise but is very deep. This one was louder than normal so I even recorded it on my camera.
 It wasn’t until I was right on top of it did I realize that this dike was a bit shallower than others and the sound I could hear was a bony (rocky) class two rapid. All I could do was clinch my cheeks and grimace as my loaded boat went over the lip. I thought I’d get lucky until the boat hit up front with a scraping thud. I immediately pulled out to survey the damages and discovered to significant gouges in the boat’s gel coat on both sides about five feet from the bow. I squeezed and poked and it seems as though I got lucky and only did cosmetic damage. Still this one is down to the fiber so it will have to be sealed until a more permanent gel coat repair can be done. I just need a dry day to do it. With that experience in mind I tested the waters on another chute further on then heard the same rushing water sound so I turned on my heals and paddled back up stream to get back in the main river. I think from now on my use of side channels is going to be limited as well as running over dikes. The river has dropped over two feet since Cairo and things are starting to get boney (shallow).
Picture
On rainy days the tent becomes a drying rack for my clothes
Picture
It only 'looks' like I'm cooking in my tent. That would be wrong
Of course as I started the day in a little bit of rain I finished it in a downpour. Seems how there’d be no chance of drying things outside in the remaining sunshine of the day I paddled a little longer to get a few more miles behind me. Right now I have all my (always wet) clothes hung from lines on the ceiling of the tent. As the water drains to the end of a sleeve or leg I use my camp towel to squeeze it out before it drips on the floor. One should only imagine the (not experience) the smells associated with being nested under the wet clothes one has been sweating in for the last two days. I have a rule written in my list of personal camp rules that states “Rule #4 - Your clothes stink…there is no need to smell them.” In a set up like this I have no choice. Still, any amount of water I can squeeze out of my layers tonight will make that much easier to put back on in the morning. I’m seriously contemplating wearing my camp layers under my paddling clothes tomorrow but, if I don’t make Memphis I wouldn’t want to endure a night without something warm and dry to put on at the end of a long day on the water.
Picture
Me in the tent with clothes hung to dry. Watch out that pant leg is about to drip
14 Comments