Day 77: W 11/28- NPR & Vicksburg

  This time we were ready to go.  A day of relaxation in the tent had generated more trash and mesh than we had realized and breaking camp was a chore.  We also had to collect the chairs and our rain gear, which we had stashed under the rain fly, from along the windswept beach.  The weather was chilly and breezy, but a far cry better than the day before.

  We made up for our lazy day by making 35 on Wednesday and camping at mile 433 just south of Vicksburg, MS.  We listened to NPR all afternoon, which was a nice treat.  Reception is rather spotty on the river and usually we’re stuck with static.  There were several casinos in Vicksburg that we joked about stopping at, but once again paddled passed for a night of rice and pasta.  The sandbar we stopped on was very shallow and we were lucky the water didn’t rise at all during the night.

Day 76: T 11/27- Zero Mile Day

  At this point in the trip we thought we were beyond the possibility of zero-mile days.  Even in the nasty weather of the north, we had always managed to break camp and at least push the canoe out, even if it was only for a mile or two.  This morning, however, the wind was still blowing hard and we were exhausted.  At first we decided to wait it out, try and sleep and take off around noon.  We snacked in the tent, dozed and by noon had no more ambition to move that we had at dawn.  We finally resigned ourselves to a day off and spent the afternoon reading and cuddling with the dog.

   We did manage to eventually leave the tent to make dinner and call home, but it was chilly enough that we retreated to the tent pretty quick after dinner.  The thunderstorms they had called for had pretty much blown themselves out the night before, but the wind and cold alone was unpleasant.  With nothing to do and no flashlights, we were asleep early after a much needed day off.

Day 75: M 11/26- Stormy Night

  We hadn’t heard any rain during the night, so of course it started sprinkling as we woke up.  It was off and on and we managed to break camp and made food during the dry spells.  During the day the rain continued off and on, but we were well bundled up and the weather stayed pretty warm.  The weather called for thunderstorms and high winds on Monday night, so we tried to look for a sheltered camp.  

  Unfortunately, our timing was off and we had to go around one last bend to find a suitable camp.  By the time we were able to pull off, it was getting dark and we had to take what we could get.  That left us an open sandbar next to a lagoon with a huge dead fish.  We made camp and food with no trouble, but woke up around 10 when the side of the tent tried to attack Aaron.  We spent the next hour or so splayed out holding down the tent with our hands and feet.  We were able to batten down the corners with water bottles and eventually the wind died enough for us to sleep.

  And then it changed directions and it was my turn to get tent suffocated.  This time it didn’t die down and the entire night was a lesson in tent staking.  Aaron eventually made a dash through the rain to the canoe and brought all the paddles we had.  He put the handles through the tent loops and dug the blades in as far as the would go.  This kept the tent on the ground, for the most part, but the wind still wouldn’t let us have a good night sleep.  By morning we were more tired than when we had gone to bed, but at least the tent was still a tent and we were still dry.

Day 74: Sn 11/25- Louisiana!

  After the short day and our Greenville stop, we wanted to make good miles on Sunday.  We ended up going 31 miles, which seemed to fly by.  Paddling for hours on end can become very tedious, so a day like that was a nice relief.  We camped on the MS bank, along an abandoned field that was becoming overgrown.  The weather showed impending rain, but the evening stayed dry.  The day was mostly uneventful, but we did finally make it to the last state of the trip, Louisiana!!

Day 73: S 11/24- Southern Hospitality

     We were just a few miles from Greenville, MS that morning and we decided to stop to resupply while we could.  We stopped at Warfield Park, a large camping and picnic area with water and a charge.  Google said the closest place to shop was a few miles away at a Kroger, so Aaron took off walking while I stayed with the dog to charge the phones, blog and refill water.  After what seemed like ages, Aaron came riding along in the back of a pickup with two nice ladies, Martha and Judy. 

Apparently the Kroger was a Google maps myth and he had ended up walking about five miles to find a grocery.  On the way back, heavily laden with bags, these two ladies had seen him and offered a ride back to Warfield.  They had been picking up pecans in their front yard and sent us along with a bag of those as well.  They were incredibly sweet and we won’t forget their help!  We exchanged contact information and promised to get in touch when we made it down to NOLA.  They also gave us a pack of cola and even some cash so we could get ourselves a real dinner at some point.  After chatting a while and hugging farewell, which is a miracle in itself considering how good we smelled, we packed up the canoe in high spirits.  Those pecans were our favorite snack for the next couple of weeks and we were sad to see the bottom of the bag.

The trip into town had taken so long that we didn’t get going until late in the afternoon.  We stopped at 532 after only going 11 ½ miles, but meeting Martha and Judy, getting water and power and fresh supplies made it a very nice day.

Day 72: F 11/23- Tricky Camping

  We left from 572 ½ the next day.  It was still pretty warm, but the wind had steadily picked up over the previous couple of days so paddling was a bit harder.  We were padding more houses on the MS side, but AR still seemed pretty bare.  Finding camp that night was a little tricky; first we tried a sandbar on the AR side which turned out to be mostly gravel and too shallow to beach safely.  We could see a nice looking sandbar on the other bank, but the river is too wide to see detail across the water.

  When we got over there, they first spot was too steep to make camp and the next one had a deer blind with hunters in it.  We went a few hundred yards down and pulled up onto a steep sand bank broken by deep ravines from rain runoff.  That night we heard then saw a pickup drive by on a two track very close to our camp.  We figured they were the hunters leaving, but were not sure if they had seen us.  No one bothered us, but we had a bit of a restless night.

Day 71: R 11/22- Happy Thanksgiving!

  Happy Thanksgiving!  Our holiday was pleasant enough, though no kind fisherman offered to take us home for a nice home cooked meal.  We did come across several fishing boats and their trailers at a ramshackle fishing camp.  One boat stopped to chat and see where we were heading.  They were two nice guys and their boat was chock full of spoon bills.  They said they had seen other paddlers attempting the trip in the past, but no one yet this year.  The day was warm and only slightly breezy, making for a pleasant day.

  We stopped for the night on a shallow sandbar on the AR side and prepared our Thanksgiving ‘feast’.  We had instant mashed potatoes with instant chicken gravy, instant stuffing and mini tuna casseroles.  Aaron drained two cans of tuna, added some milk and seasonings, covered each with a slice of American cheese and set them to bake in a coal-lined hole.  They were very tasty and the most complex meal we had had.  We finished it off with a fried peanut butter, chocolate and marshmallow sandwich each, delicious!

Day 70: W 11/21- Longest Day Yet

  Aaron and I grew up in the middle of nowhere, or so we thought.  For a major shipping route, there is an unbelievable amount of nothing on this stretch of river.  We would sometimes pass a hunting cabin or blind, but there was not a town to be seen.  The occasional large round hay feeder or stock tank sitting on top of the embankments would indicate a pasture, but we were riding so low, we didn’t even see much of that.

  The day was a great one, we did our longest stretch at 39 ½ miles, just short of the elusive 40.  We had thought about stopping on a sandbar a few miles up, but we had just enough daylight to make the next bend.  After that, we ran into barge traffic and the spot we stopped was right in the way and had no suitable spot for a tent or firewood, so we had to keep going.  We stopped in a small cove right at the start of an embankment; the sand had built up a nice little platform just big enough for our camp, but high enough we didn’t have to worry about the water rising on us.  The wood, unfortunately, was mostly up the embankment and Aaron had to scramble along the rocks at dusk to collect enough for our evening and morning fires.  

Day 69: T 11/20- Helena, AR

  At this point we were almost out of water once again and planned to stop in Helena to refill.  The small town has a couple of ramps, but they were tucked behind some industrial buildings and clogged with the inevitable barge traffic.  We made an improvised landing on the outside of the harbor and walked up, but there was no spigot to be found.  We didn’t want to walk all the way around the harbor into the town proper, so we settled for boiling more water and took off again.  For you history folks, apparently Helena was dubbed “Hell-on-Earth” by the Union army when they camped there.  There’s some interesting information on the town that may be worth looking up.

  After our stop we headed almost due south for several miles, fighting a stiff cross wind.  It wasn’t the worst wind we had fought, but exhausting nonetheless.  We ended up doing 28 for the day an camping on the AR side once again. 

  Since we haven’t talked a great deal about the natural surroundings, I’ll throw a note in here.  As we traveled down river, changes to the ecosystem were gradual and easy to miss over the long haul.  The nice northern woods were gone at this point and we traveled through strange trees and other flora.  The sandbars along the river were mostly bare and had bur bushes, some fluffy grass and sometimes scrubby bushes- you can tell I’m an ecologist, right :p  At the high water line, the trees were small and grew close together, indicating young growth for several yards into the woods.  Regular flooding of these areas inhibits long-term growth.  So, the forest always seemed dense, overgrown with weeds and not at all like the open woods we are used to back home.

  Wildlife consisted mostly of herons, deer, coyotes and small, burrowing critters.  And spiders!  There were an unbelievable number of eight-legged monsters all over the place.  They dug holes in the sand, built webs under our rain fly in a matter of hours and would float on the breeze across the river on thin lines.  These were the worst; the lines would coat our hair, arms, paddles and dog and once their lines were on you, you knew they had made it into the canoe.  We almost bludgeoned ourselves with our paddles trying frantically to kill the little buggers as they made a dash up our legs (by we I mean mostly I, Aaron wasn’t nearly as girly about it).  There were also big hairy looking guys with long legs who would float on the water until we came close.  At this point, they would pop up onto their toes (or the arachnid equivalent) and sprint to the canoe; we think they were looking for a ride or a meal, but we’re not sure.

Day 68: M 11/19- Coyotes

  As we broke camp the next morning, Lilly took off for the brush over the ¼ mile of sand bar, barking at two large coyotes who had come looking for water.  They paused for just a moment before darting back into the scrub.  After that, the day was pretty uneventful and we made camp at 665, another 33 mile day.  We stayed on Prairie Point Towhead just north of Helena, AR.

Day 67: Sn 11/18- Sunshine

  Sunday was a nice, full day with more sunshine.  The last several days we had been able to have our solar charger out all day and by the evening it was finally fully charged.  As we left the last of Memphis behind, we passed several industrial complexes and had quite a bit of barge traffic to deal with, but the paddling was smooth.  We were excited to pass the 700 mark as well as enter into Mississippi, the namesake of our journey!

  We stopped on the right bank at 698 on a tall sand dune across from a casino.  After a brief daydream of paddling across for a visit to their buffet, we settled for camping right at the rivers edge and watching the sun go down over the water, very pretty.  We plugged the phone into the charger and after the entire evening, it had actually fully charged the phone, so yay!  As long as there was ample sunshine, we might actually be able to use the phone regularly again.

Day 66: S 11/17- Land of the Delta Blues

  We left 743 early so we would have as much time in Memphis as possible.  We were only seven miles from the landing we were aiming for and made it there with no problems and little barge traffic.  As we passed under the I-40 bridge, we made for the left bank, only to find that our ‘boat ramp’ had obviously been out of commission for a while.  We managed to pull the boat up on to the concrete remnants of the ramp and headed up.  We found ourselves in a closed down park/convention center surrounded by barbed wire and under repairs.  We met a very nice lady at the gate who said it was fine to leave the boat where it was and that she’d be around to let us back in.  Unfortunately, the area had no power, so we couldn’t charge the phones and all three of us headed to a Save-a-Lot the gal directed us too. 

  It was a roughly two mile walk and the area went from high-end, riverside condos to rough ‘hood pretty quick.  I waited outside with Lilly while Aaron went in to resupply.  After what seemed like ages he finally emerged with a huge supply of groceries.  Since towns had become so scarce, we wanted to get as much as possible in Memphis.  We hauled our load back to the boat, stopping for a coveted Subway sandwich on the way and had lunch in the sunshine by the boat.  It took forever to pack everything away, but we’d be set for quite some time. 

  Afterwards we headed out, but only made another five miles and stopped at 731 for the night.  It was just 12 miles for the day, but we had a good resupply and were ready for a break after our town adventure.

Day 65: F 11/16- Helpful Duane and the Stinky Dog

      We left our camp, at mile 763, looking for spot to stop.  The river was large here, but the wind was gentle and we had pretty easy going.  There was one turn around 757 that was tight to the right and resulted in rough water where the river was choked up.  We stopped briefly to let a couple of barges by, then shot through as quick as we could.  After we got through the chop, another barge camp by headed north.  The turn was tight enough that we would have been trapped on either side of the river if our timing hadn’t been on and we got caught next to a barge.

     After that we made our way a couple of miles to the Shelby Forest boat ramp, figuring there would be some water supply and possibly a ride to town for food.  Turned out the ramp was almost five miles from the main visitors center and almost seven to the nearest ‘town’- it was as much a town as Kewadin is.  Luckily, as we wandered down the road back to the canoe, water jugs and dog in hand, a guy spotted us in his pickup and offered to drive us to his house to fill up water.  It was beautiful drive up through the Tennessee hills and the guy was friendly.  After we got our water, he drove us into the little town to a convenience store where we could at least get a few basics, cereal, peanut butter, eggs, etc.

       Our new friend, Duane, drove us back down to the ramp and we chatted a while.  He couldn’t seem to understand why people attempted trips like this.  Apparently we were not the first paddlers he had helped out.  He gave us some advice for our upcoming journey through Memphis and we were off.  While we were away, a huge barge had come up and moored right by the landing, to take on a crew member. The barge had stopped just yards from the canoe and while we loaded up we had a good perspective to see just how huge they really are compared to an 18’ canoe.  After he pulled away we hopped back in. 

Our goal was to get as close to Memphis as possible before making camp.  We had gotten enough food to get by a day or two, but would still have to stop in Memphis for a long-term resupply.  We stopped at 743, after just 20 miles on a pretty lagoon tucked between two dikes.  The view of the sunset was beautiful and we could just make out the Memphis skyline in the distance.  It took some time to gather enough wood, but all around the camp was one of the best.  We talked into the night and were excited for our foray into town.  And then the dog came barreling out of the brush, stinking.

She didn’t smell like skunk, not quite.  But that’s not to say she smelled good.  As soon as we caught a whiff, we called her over, hoping to keep her away from whatever smelled so terrible.  Too late.  She came over slobbering uncontrollably, white foam pouring from her mouth.  Aaron took off her now pungent lifejacket and wiped her mouth out as best he could, pouring water down her throat.  We wiped down her face, but she broke away and rolled frantically in the sand whenever she could.  Eventually she calmed down a bit and we were able to get her to drink water and figure out that she was ok, if rancid.  That night the stench in the tent was almost unbearable, but we couldn’t leave her outside for the cold and whatever critter smelled so bad.  We figure she stuck her nose down some burrow and its inhabitants didn’t want a 70 lb dog for company.  

Day 64: R 11/15- Low on Supplies

  At this point, we were getting pretty low on supplies.  We had been boiling water for a couple of nights, which was fine, but time consuming.  The weather was holding fine, the wind was light and it was relatively warm, a nice respite from 45 with a damp wind.  We tried several landings in the evening, but it was either too gravelly to land the boat or the beach was too exposed for a camp.  We finally pulled up on a sandbar and pulled the canoe up a steep little hill for the night.  The fishermen from the week before had warned us about the river rising in the night.  They said it could rise up to four feet and had just weeks before.  Since then we had been careful to pull the boat up as far as possible and to tie her off when possible.

  We had to haul our gear through dense brush to get to an open area farther up the beach.  It made us nervous going so far inland, possibly into private property, but it gave us a good windbreak.  We had to boil more water, so we had several trips back and forth through the brush before we were done.  That night we went over all our supplies and realized we were even lower than we thought.  We had 2 eggs, a few pieces of bread, a little peanut butter, dogfood and coffee.  We’d be fine for a day or two and could improvise, but we really needed to find a town.

Day 63: W 11/14- Arkansas!

  We had another good day and made a smooth 33 miles to camp at 796 ½.  Early in the day we passed out of MO and into Arkansas, another state down!  We made camp on a gravelly beach with little cover and less wood to burn, but the evening was warm and still so we made due.  We stayed up chatting for quite awhile, enjoying the night, but it made the next morning a bit of a challenge.  We found several cool stones and Lilly played on the beach with her Jolly Ball.

Day 62: T 11/13- Caruthersville Bust

  The next day we knew we needed to stop soon for water.  We were doing alright on food and such, but were down to our last jug of drinking water.  We stopped in Caruthersville, MO at a ramp with a small park.  There were plenty of outlets, but no water to be found.  We decided against walking to the nearest grocery since it was so far away and we wanted to knock down some miles.  We also didn’t want to spend time charging the phones if that’s all we were getting in the town.  So, with nothing to show for the stop, we headed back out.  We figured we would find another place for water shortly and in the meantime could boil water for drinking.  This ended up being a mistake; we would soon find out that towns south of St. Louis are few and far between.

  Even with our wasted stop, we made it to mile 829 ½ as the sun went down, making it a 34 mile day.  We paddled in between a couple of dikes, ‘canoe parking spots’ as we had come to think of them, to make camp.  There had obviously been people camping their recently and we used their firepit for our own.  Walking away from the river, we came on ATV trails that ran up to a well used two-track.  We assumed we were on state land, and even if we weren’t, it was awfully cold and getting late for someone to show up.  We set the tent up in the midst of heavy grass and burr bushes with some difficulty and went to bed early.

Spoiler alert!

Hey everybody, so sorry for the long delay in posting. We wanted to stick with our daily log, but have had a really hard time keeping up lately. We're actually south of Baton Rouge at the moment and want you all to be able to follow our final days on the river. So, we'll post all the days thus far, just to keep things in order on the blog, but only those with titles will have content. That way we can go back and fill them all in once we're done and have time and access to power. In the meantime, we'll write a few of the key days and then start daily posts again around Baton Rouge. Thanks so much for your patience and support, we're almost there!