Day 80: S 12/1- December in Natchez, MS

     December!  And no snow, in fact, it was warm enough in the morning for me to walk into the water and wash my hair.  It felt wonderful, but the water was still cold enough that I don’t think the soap washed out very well.  I was to find out that afternoon that this area is also the home of alligators; had I known that at the time, I probably would have refrained.

We fought a decent south wind coming down to Natchez, MS.  Even though we could see the town and the boat ramp, it took us a good long while to cross the river and beach.  Natchez is a small city perched high on the MS bank and the ramp we stopped at is at the bottom of the steep bank in their historical/tourist district. 

As we beached and hopped out a guy at the top of the ramp snapped a few pictures and when we walked up introduced himself as Keith, a local kayaker who hosts an annual 42 mile race on the river with his wife Melissa.  They were very nice, helpful couple and drove us to a grocery to resupply.  On the way back they took us around the historic district to see the antebellum architecture of Natchez.  It’s a very pretty town with neat old buildings.  Melissa and her brother own and operate a bar right by the ramp, so we stopped in to have a beer and look around.  Then we refilled water and they sent us off with a couple of ball caps and stickers for their race.  Keith said he’d be submitting our pics to a local paddling magazine he has worked with in the past, so that was pretty neat.

After lunch we started out again, but my tummy almost immediately started acting up.  We had to make an emergency stop on the bank, after which I felt much better, but still a bit shaky.  I was worried I had picked up Giardia from all the boiled river water we had been drinking, but it wasn’t a problem after that afternoon. 

Keith and Melissa had warned us that we were definitely in ‘gator territory and a 12’ had been spotted north of Natchez a couple of years back.  With that in mind, we carefully chose our campsite and made sure to keep Lilly close by.