Finish: 2:40 PM - Shell Mound Campground (5 miles north of Cedar Key FL)
Time: 7:40
Daily dist: 33 miles
Total dist: x miles
Companions: None
Weather: Calm for first two hours then 15 mph NW tail wind…ye ha!
Notes: Made incredible time with nice tail wind for a change. It was plenty rough by the time I reached the camp ground.

After I finished getting cleaned up and dried out I walked over to a camp site that was populated by huge pickup trucks and men wearing camouflage. I guessed deer hunters and was close…hogs and squirrels…my kind of people. I had asked the group where to go to register when I came in so they had seen me straight off the water in all my paddling clothes which is quite a sight to the unaccustomed eye. They had a few questions as to what exactly I was up to and when I told them about my trip they offered up a beer and food if I was interested. At this point in the trip I absolutely never pass up on the offer of food so as soon as the guys returned from this evening’s hunt I walked over to visit and see what was cooking…hey, they offered. The hunt had been successful and they brought back a couple squirrels and an Armadillo. One of the group had eaten one before and said it was great so the others were curious enough to give it a try. It was an ordeal watching them try to skin the armored beast but once they were finished it yielded quite a bit of meat. They seasoned the carcass, triple wrapped it in tin foil, and put it on the grill to roast.
I tried to hang on long enough to get a taste of the Armadillo but it was already late. When an electric space heater in one of their huge tents tripped a breaker and put the lights out I called it a sign that it was time to go. So I bid the gentlemen farewell and floated back to my tent clean, warm, dry, and with a very swollen belly. It felt good.