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.
