Day 28 (paddling mad)

Start: 11:30 AM- Vicksburg MS
Finish: 4:30 PM - 30 miles above Natchez MS
Time: 5:00
Daily dist: 45 miles
Total dist: ? miles
Companions: None
Weather: Clear with brisk north wind - cold
Notes: Got a late start after charging up in Vicksburg

See what happens when I paddle pissed off. Nine miles per hour sustained for five hours straight.
 
I managed to keep up with a downstream running tow full of coal for the entire day. The heavily loaded tows go down stream very cautiously. So on two occasions (yesterday and today) I ended up keeping up with a tow for hours. Toward the end of the evening today some of the crew of the tow I’d been chasing were standing along the railing of the wheel house watching me. I can’t imagine they see kayaks keeping up very often.

I didn’t necessarily want to be on the water until 4:30 but the high water is making finding good camp sights a bit challenging. I passed by an island flanked by large sand bars at about 2:30 but I wanted to get at least another hour in before calling it a day. As luck would have it no really decent spots came within that hour so I checked the map for a likely spot and went for it. There wasn’t much sand left above water on this island but it’s just enough and really not a bad spot at all. A bit exposed to the wind but not bad.

When I woke up this morning at the shelter home I found the shower and climbed eagerly under the hot water spray. It felt so good to wash away the sweat and grime of yesterday until I went to rinse my hair and ended up washing more hidden pepper spray back into my eyes. - Note to hospital staff: When treating someone for a mace or pepper spray incident don’t send them home until you have their entire head detoxed. - What an unwelcome reminder of the previous nights excitement that was. Enough to get me riled up all over again. I was ready to call a cab and get back to the water bright and early but Vicksburg (population of 20,000 or so odd people) doesn’t have a cab service. Randal the shelter director said I could get a ride after breakfast so I’d only have to wait a bit longer and I’d be getting fed in the mean time so it wasn’t such a bad deal after all. A place to sleep, a warm meal, and a ride back to the river. The shelter really did take good care of me and for that I’m grateful.

I had hoped that time on the water would let me get over my experiences in Vicksburg. However, with nothing but time to sit and ponder what on earth would cause people to behave like those two boys did, I have to admit I got a little angry. Steeling I can understand, at least at a level where I believe if I was desperate enough I could see myself steeling food for survival. Vandalism I’ve never understood. Essentially it’s taking something from someone, not to be used but only to be mean. In whatever form graffiti or breaking things (for fun?) I just don’t get it. Hitting and hurting people is something I have done, in fights as a kid and such. Now days though the thought of causing someone else pain is one of my worst fears. There are so many other ways to deal with tense situations that don’t involve physical violence. What those two boys did by hurting me (and the other girl that they also sprayed) was essentially vandalism of another human. That, I really, really don’t understand. Why…why on earth would you do something like that? I’ll never understand, it’s just senseless…. animals don’t even do that.

By the time I landed I was too tired to think about things any more so I just ate dinner and went to bed. Tomorrow will be a new day.