Memphis yacht club

When I rolled into Memphis, I was so happy to make it there in one piece.  It was wonderful to find a Marina up and operating.  The staff was very helpful in getting me up and in working order.  This was no small task considering I had a broken paddle and torn off support for the pontoon.  Chuck, the manager, drove me a half hour to get my boat fixed at a welder in the country.  He also took me to get some great BBQ.  Another man gave me all the epoxy and hardener I needed to fix my paddle.  Within the span of a couple of days, my boat was as good as new.  People weren't lying about southern hospitality.  

A wake in the current

I was rowing along on my way to Memphis when I saw a kayaker off in the distance.  I immediately thought Harry Swanson, the 65 year old man that had just taken a week off, had already caught up with me.  I was amazed, but as they came closer I realized this wasn't Harry.  The first kayaker that paddled up to me had long dready hair and was all smiles. He, like me, was happy to see someone else on the river. Eventually, I met the rest of his crew. There were four of them all together: Bowman, David, Rob and Max, the camera man. I was amazed to hear how fast they were moving.  These guys were doing 60 miles a day with almost two hours of breaks. That settled it for me.  If I was ever going to do the Mississippi again, I would have to take a kayak. They were raising money for homeless people in Mississippi; all three of them were from Mississippi and went to school there.  They were all about 22 or 23 years old.  Max was studying to become a priest, and they were all very religious. When I heard that, I was kind of surprised considering their dready appearance.  Though it sunk in to me at morning bible time that ended with a little prayer circle.  I hope it helps me get to Memphis safely. If you want to check out their site and their trip down the Mississippi, it is awakeinthecurrent.com.

Day one post snapped paddle

The very next day I am chugging along thinking how lovely my splint is working as my oar.  It was a cool overcast day which was a great change from the norm.  I was in a very good mood and only 60 miles from Memphis.  I think the gods felt that things were getting a little too easy for me so they sent me the tug boat from hell.  This thing was pushing 35 fully loaded barges up stream.  Half-loaded barges will normally throw a four to five foot wake traveling up stream.  With a fully loaded tug, they can throw a five to six foot wake.  I was running without a radio as my batteries were dead; I didn't see him coming around the corner and chose the wrong line for my boat.  You generally stay to one side of the channel or the other. The red or green buoys.  Both have the advantages and disadvantages in different circumstances. What I am trying to say is that on sharp turns with a tug coming up stream, you do not want to take the outside line but after you get to a certain point there is no changing your mind.  You are committed because crossing over would just be suicide.  So as I was coming into the turn, the barge was exiting the turn but since they are pushing so much weight and they have to slow down for the turn they end up just sitting there for three to four minutes without even barely moving.  This tug just pushed that five foot wake back at me as it was trying to get around this corner.  Also, unlucky for me, there were barges all lined up on the shore so there was nowhere for the wake to be absorbed. It just kept bouncing back and feeding into the system, creating a quarter mile of 6-8 ft chop coming in all directions.  This was by far the worst situation I have been in especially with an oar that was hanging together with duck tape.  At this point I am paddling as hard as the oar can take and also trying to line up with the biggest waves so i can take them head on.  It helped a bit, but I ended up taking on a lot of water.  Once I made it a little more than halfway through this gauntlet, I heard a horrible sound...Snap!  It was a metal scraping sound.  My back left support for the pontoon had broken off.  Now truthfully, I thought I was going to die.  I thought if the firm support to this pontoon breaks off, I am going for a swim.  I am a very good swimmer but never tested my strength against 7 foot waves, current, eddies and undertow.  All of which came together to make that "disturbance."  Thank god the other support did not break off and the pontoon stayed mostly in place through the rest of it.  The really weird thing was when I got out of it; there weren't any waves.  A dike was holding it all in one little section of river.  My little corner of hell I guess.  Again, time to duct tape the other post that I had left from cannibalizing the canopy the other day.  This came in handy for this mend job.  At this point, I knew nothing could keep me from Memphis.  So onward, I rowed.

The solution

As I woke, I was gripped with the reality of my situation.  My oar was broken, and I did not have a spare.  I had made spare oars earlier in the journey, but due to the weight, I got rid of them on the Ohio.  They only solution I could think of that could work with the materials on hand was a splint, must have been all that EMT training coming out.  So I started looking for some good strong pieces of wood but there were none to be found.  I was left with only one option; I had to cannibalize the boat.  I didn't want to have to do it, but I needed the wood.  Taking off the canopy system provided the necessary pieces, but now I would be totally exposed to the sun during the day.  I was obviously concerned considering it was getting into the hundreds even without the heat index factored.  The repairs went well though, and soon the oar was up and running.  It definitely wasn't a hundred percent but I was pretty sure it would work.  Well, I was as sure as one can be when an essential piece of equipment is held together with duct tape and rope.  I just prayed it would make it the next hundred miles to Memphis.   

Leaving that day was not as easy as getting in the boat and rowing away.  I had to make it over to the channel that was a mile upstream and a mile across the water.  To do this crossing, I would have to pull the boat at least two miles upstream to account for downward drift.  It meant pulling, pushing and paddling from the front of the canoe with my canoe paddle.  Being covered in cob webs and sweating in temperatures that are well over a hundred degrees, it took me four hours to move the two and a half miles upstream. Though it was worth it because when I did make the crossing everything went off without a hitch. Thank god for duct tape...never leave home without it!

Up the creek without a paddle

Yesterday was wonderful; I got up and rowed farther than I have ever before, fifty-five miles. Today was a different story.  I woke up today to my canoe being bounced off the shore at three in the morning. I had parked it in a bad spot.  Not a completely uncommon occurrence but unusual as of late. On the Ohio, I learned early on that the key to sleeping well is to find a place where you feel safe and a place where there is going to be no barge wake.  I thought I had accomplished that task for the night but I was picking a spot for Ohio River barges not Mississippi River barges.  On the Ohio, only a tug boat and fifteen barges will fit into the lock chamber, reducing the size of the wake. On the Mississippi river, there are no locks so there is no limit to the amount of boats that can be pulled together, making the wake a sizable amount larger. The largest group of barges that I have seen yet was 5x7, all pushed by one single tug. So long story short, the barges throw up a lot of wake and can not maneuver worth a damn. Basically what I try to do is stay away from the barges as much as I can.

Well, back to the story. I finally decided that the rocks I hear hitting the bottom of pontoon might do some damage, so I decide to get out, pull the canoe up on the bank and go for a walk till it was light. I was in a small town; luckily for me, it was one of those river towns with a casino. I passed a few hours playing blackjack and drinking cokes.  I had breakfast and walked out of there twenty dollars richer.  Not a bad way to kill some time.  It is always interesting to see the people who are still gambling at five in the morning. You can almost smell the disappointment and desperation in the air. You know they are considering signing over their car for just one more go at another deck because next time they're going to win.  It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.   It was six when I shoved off and left that town behind.  I was heading on with four full gallons of water and a hope to beat yesterday's record of fifty five miles.  As the day moved on, it got hot fast and the hope for another record breaking day was gone.   I just hoped there weren't any record breaking heat temps.  I had finished two gallons of water by the middle of the day, hoping it would cool off soon.  I started to wonder off and daydream.  I daydream a lot, mostly about ice, when I realized that I was drifting towards a dike.  Unlike on the Ohio river,  the Mississippi has dikes that keeps the majority of the water moving in one channel.  This keeps the channel deep and navigable.  Well, I was on the other side of the river from the channel when I realized I had to get over to the other side.  The distance wasn't a problem. Steady Eddie could easily bridge the gap in time. So I began to paddle hard when I heard a horrible sound. Snap!! I looked down and my oar was bent. The worse thing that could possibly happen, did.  I was drifting toward a dike with only one paddle working.  I jumped on the back and busted out the canoe paddle which kind of works.  However, my canoe is just so big and that paddle doesn't do too much.   I went over the first dike that thank god was submerged. Slowly making it to shore, I saw the second dike with rocks sticking out and a horrible gargling sound.  Now, I had to paddle hard; it was life and death time.  I did and barely made it!  I was stranded on what had to be the most beautiful beach.   I had no cell phone reception; I was a mile down stream from the channel and I had a broken oar.  I should of been horribly mad but I wasn't.  It was just some thing else I had to deal with. I set up camp and enjoyed the sunset. Tomorrow would bring the answers I needed.

Portage

This happened on the Ohio and for some reason blogger did not publish the post.  I took a wrong turn and found myself looking at a two foot drop off with plenty of rocks to hit on my way down.  The dike went the whole way across the river so there was no choice but to portage the boat.  Lucky for me, there were two kids fishing at the dike.  They helped me portage across the obstacle.  As you can see, everything had to come off the boat.  Let's hope that it doesn't happen again on the Mississippi.  I have been going over many dikes but none that have even been in reaching depth of my canoe paddle.  If it happens on the Mississippi, it will be a big mess and there won't be anyone to help me here. 

Confluence

Waking up this morning, I was scared.  I didn't know what to expect.  I have been thinking about this moment endlessly for the last couple of weeks.  I camped about eight miles from the Confluence last night so I would be close for an early morning push for the Mississippi.  Before reaching the Confluence, I had to try and get water as there would be no telling how long it would be till I found some again.   I decided to stop in Cairo, IL,  or more so the park by Cairo.  There was no good access to the town and the park was overgrown and abandoned.  The park was at the tip of where the Ohio and Mississippi come together, and on the grounds of the park is Fort Defiance (an old civil war fort that was also abandoned).   All I could think after trying multiple water spickets and finding nothing was that I will be glad to leave Southern, IL.  By far, this is the least welcoming place I have been on my trip.  

       I was told by a person on the trip that before the white man no Indian tribes lived in the area of the confluence.  The area was considered sacred, used only for prayer and burying of the dead.  Even today, it is said that if you throw a coin overboard at the point where the two rivers meet you will be granted a wish.  I don't really believe in such things but when I arrived at the confluence, you could feel the energy moving through the place.  The two great veins of our country coming together and forming one great river.  When it joins, the Ohio is a dark blue green color and moving very slow.  The Mississippi is a rushing, muddy torrent that doesn't mix completely for about a mile.  You can clearly see the two rivers one blue and one brown running side by side.  Even though the Ohio is much slower, it is twice the volume of Mississippi river when the rivers join. 

Last night on the Ohio

It is real now. Tomorrow, I will be rowing past Cairo and onto the Mississippi.  I have planned and re-planned things over in my head but for some reason preparation doesn't seem to be enough.  I have first hand accounts from people about the river ahead.  They vary wildly from just faster than the Ohio to a dangerous torrent with sea monsters.  Well, I don't believe the last one, but still a little scared.  Probably more accurate to say that I am uncertain what tomorrow will bring.  Will I be able to find food and water?  Will the places on the maps be there or will they be erased by the flood?  At this point, I have many more questions than answers.  I just hope everything goes well.  If you are religious, say a little prayer for me tonight. Thank you for your support and comments up until this point. My cell reception after this point may be a little spotty but I still love to get the comments and emails. All of you out there that were waiting till I got half way to donate now is your chance. I am half way done with my trip and almost half way on the donations. I have traveled a thousand miles by canoe for Parkinson's disease. Please donate and help me get the rest of the way. Michael. 

Superman

Visited Metropolis today and went to the Superman Museum. Funny little town. Main attraction being Superman. Also the town has done what a lot of small towns on the river strapped for cash have done; it has built a casino. To its credit, the town has still kept that smallville feel even after Harrahs had moved in.   Next stop, Grain Chain Lodge and the last night on the Ohio.

Mayflies

Woke up the other day to find that my boat had been turned into a perch for hundreds if not thousands of mayflies.  They live in the water most of their lives only to emerge and become weird looking bugs that swarm and cover anything bright or reflective.  They live as flies for 24 hours and then die.  Between them and all the other bugs that inhabit my boat, it is a wonder I have not gone insane.  Though I guess that would be for someone else to judge; I do talk to myself a lot.