Comfort Inn Greenville MS July 13

Day 35
Position
N34.51700
W90.57172

Was it ever a good decision to stay at the Fitz yesterday! It rained last night and we got to stay nice and dry. Then the morning buffet which was free had a little of everything you could ask for it was a lovely, lovely experience.

It was already hot by the time we started down to the canoe. We had a late start as I (stupidly) loss my hat during check in yesterday by leaving it by the counter. It was in such bad shape being 5 years old some picked up and most likely threw it away. So when the gift shop opened I went in and bought a Fedora hat made of straw. It is cooler than the old camping hat I had so I am thinking that is pretty good.

Di says I am now stlying

Then off down the river again. Barge traffic was either very heavy or not there at all we went 2 hours without seeing one then saw 5 at once then another 1.5 hour and 3 at once. Out of 4 channel crossing only once did we have to worry about a barge and once we had to wait for a barge to pass us by before starting out. During one short cut we became grounded and had to get out and pull canoe off the sand. This is tough doing this as you are ground here and 3 step and you are over you head so have to be careful moving around and as work the back if I push really hard sometime I can push Dianne into one of those hole and I am in trouble. Anyways even with all that we covered 36 miles todays again double what we did in 2004. The river is so different this year all our old campsites are under water.

Well I am hot and I have to patch Dianne sunglasses agains here 5th pair this trip and I have a leak in the water filter I need to work on.

Count
5 egrets
11 barges
7 cabins by the river (0ne we stayed in 7 years ago is off it foundations)
2 jumping fish (not good jumps though)
4 runabout boats
1 pleasure craft
1 house boat
4 run away green buoys
2 run away red buoys
1 red buoy way out of place for the channel (it is not counted as a run away as it was still in the river)

Love and Kisses
Allan

Day 36
July 9
Position
N34.27803
W90.77424

I thought it could not get any hotter down here in Old Miss and just to prove me wrong they gave me a whopper of a day. One of the Marine radio services is that it gives you the weather whenever you want to hear it. I find it useless first I know what is happening now and I am as good as they at telling that there is 20% chance of thunderstorms when it is hot and humid as hell and I can see the sky pretty well so I know when to take shelter. So today's weather advisory came as no surprise to me it is hot and humid and they tell us the heat index as 110F. Jess I was sweating already I really didn't need to know how bad it was. Anywise taking into account the temperature and the fact that we traveled 26 miles we called it a day at 1 and found some shard and got all wet and tried to stay cool as possible. Good Idea!! but it is now 2 hours after swimming in my clothes to wash up and cool off and they are still wet it that humid out here. That is enough complaining for today I think.

This morning we got out early as possible to beat the heat, but some fishing boat went by out tent this morning before sunrise shouting wake up, wake up you sleep heads. So others were out even faster than us

Down the river another fishing boat pulled up beside us Mike and Dave, they were on ESPN last year and on Riverlorian site. They visited us a few minutes and looked a whole cooler than I felt with a cover over their heads. They started in Cairo only two days ago so I guess they are moving more than 7 times faster than we are. They also had a cooler but did not offer to share anything, no offence we did not stop paddling, as I was in hunt for shade mode by that time, any sharing would required me to stop and that was not going to happen till I found some release from the heat.

Barges were traveling in packs again today and we spent a lot time crossing the channel just enjoying the current and staying in the middle. As the packs were not around when we need to cross and only showed later when we already out of the way.

Well that the day in a nutshell. Hope we get wet tonight it would cool things off some. But I doubt it as it heat advisory is for Sunday too.

Dianne took this picture of the Run away green just so show what a buoy looks like. I think it would be hard to keep this on either side of the boat.

Count
3 jumping carp
6 fishing boats
16 barges
1 egret
7 geese (one of the few flocks we have seen since leaving IN
1 horse fly (tried to kill it but missed it)
4 run away green buoys
3 run away red buoys
1 red buoys out of position
1 refrigerator door
1 refrigerator (not sure if related to door)
Love and kisses to all.
Allan

Day 37
Position
N34.03914
W90.90622

It stayed hot all last night even after the sunset. Dianne and I had a swim before going to bed and then another after sweating it out in tent for a couple of hours. In fact at 1:30 AM we got up took the tarp off the tent to increase the ventilation in the tent then went in swimming for few minutes to cool off and slept much better. The weather today is a repeat of yesterdays no rain or thunderstorms in the forecast though so have decided to sleep with out tarp and get as much cooling as possible tonight again as forecast is a repeat of last nights.

We left the campsite early as possible and started to paddle there was a breeze into out faces which cooled us and made the day bearable. But at 12:30 we had covered 25 miles and found a spot with lots of shade and called it a day. Right after lunch the weather station said the temperature was 100 and heat index 108 so it was good time to stop and collect our thoughts. I have gone swimming in all clothes then put them out to dry on a clothe line that hope will remove the stink.

At 6 this morning we saw about 3 bass boats whiz past our campsite and then a couple during the day. Later in the day while at the campsite another 20 came past all flying like the devil himself was behind them. So I guess there was fishing tournament in the area today. Kind of hot for one but hey they are on water and have AC at home and in their cars to here I bet.

Here is a picture of a cotton hauler washed down the river!

Well not a lot more to talk about so I am calling it a day.

Count
15 barges (only 2 down river)
26 bass boats
1 jumping fish
1 run away red buoy
1 water melon piece floating in the river
7 butterflies
3 channel crossing

Hot love and Kisses (you might not want to get too close as I am a little sweaty and stinky when you try to collect the hugs or kisses)
Allan

Day 37
Position
N33.77776
W91.11055

Hot one again today just like yesterday and the day before. We are coping with the heat OK but I do sweat a lot deer flies and gnats are beginning to really bug the heck out of me. I currently have two different types of repellent on and they are still here, maybe I should sit where the smoke is and wear a shirt but it is just too hot to put something on, beside it is all clean after swimming in it so I do not want to get wet with sweat. So I will suffer silently with the bugs like all Rodens do.
We are trying to beat the heat so we get up early so here is a Picture of the sunrise.

The river was really really busy we saw 18 barges moving in less than 4 hours of paddling and some of that time we were in back waters. This made channel crossing a hectic affair and some of the barges just do not like us. One guy said, “you are doing a good job staying our of the way but you would much safer on the buffalo river”. We did not answer back not knowing what to say.

At noon we had made 26 miles and cut one last corner looking for a campsite. IT did not work out well!
Two and half hours latter we finally found a campsite and the adventures we had. Twice we had to beat our way though willow forests, and once had to turn back around and start down the river. That time we saw a couple of water moccasin snakes and we didn't want to get out there to pull the canoe around some down trees and a what appeared to a beaver dam. At another place 4 carp jumped together and that was also really exciting as it made Dianne rock the canoe.


Had gumbo for the first time this trip and it a lot better than lintel stew or beef stew. Well the flies are winning the battle to drive me inside the tent.

Count
1 truck for cotton washed down the river
1 ATV washed up on the side of the river
1 refrigerator
4 egrets
3 blue herons
1 deer
2 barges tied to shore loaded with timber
1 tractor for clearing roads
3 small runn about boats
2 water snakes
2 turtles
9 Run away reds buoys
4 run away green

Love to all (except the bugs)
Allan

Day 38
Position
N33.49961
W 91.17557

Weather is again hot and forecast again said all the heat warning and advisory for the area. Including stay out of the sun, indoors with AC and avoid strenuous outdoor activity. I am not sure what to do about all that information we are travelling in the morning and trying to find cool shade in the afternoon. Right now the temperature announced on the radio is 101F with a heat index 112 The part of what is bothering me is that they keep stretching the heat warning day by day. The heat is getting to me I need some AC and tomorrow the plan is to hit Greenville MS and stay the afternoon and evening. Should make it there in the morning as we covered 31 miles today leaving only 12 to go, although the GPS says it is only 11 miles, I think we will need to paddle a little up the Greenville harbor to reach the place so I put the estimate 16 miles to paddle tomorrow.

This morning a fisherman came into our launch site to chat and that some time in visiting and explaining what we doing. We got off and made good time all morning very few barges so a lot of the time we stayed in the channel. In one of the short cuts we came out into the channel and never realized we back on the river till I saw a bunch of channel markers. We did make the next cut though and saw a fisherman there. Then we saw a fisherman and he said he thought he was getting cold. I suggested he turn off the air conditioning. The campsite we found was empty when we arrived but some trucks came down a road close by and they brought guns and are out practicing think I will wonder over and see what up .

That is about it for the day. It is cooler in the shade but is still very hot. Hope we do not miss Greenville tomorrow I need to rest and get my head back into this trip.
Here is a picture of me cooking in the shade of the trees where we try to hide from the sun.

Count
9 egrets
2 barges
3 butterflies
2 herons
3 fishing boats
2 timber barges
4 run away red buoys
4 Really nice guys

Love to all
Allan

Day 40
Position
Greenville Comfort Inn

Made it to AC this morning about 11:30 after doing the estimated 16 miles I guessed yesterday.

The walk over to the trucks yesterday turn very well. Turns out we are camped on one of the Premier Hunt Clubs in Mississippi. The cost seem really high $250,000 to buy in and then you get to build a camp and hunt a limited amount to maintain the stock. This club controls 5600 acres of land and has 40 member mostly from Louisiana. The owners were flooded out this year and most have already started to rebuild. From talking to the owner it sounds like most of the people use the cabins like a cottage and go up year round for fishing, hunting and just hanging out drinking good bourbon and watching the football team. At the river there were 4 people 3 young guys working for the owner tearing down the old place which was a write off due to floods and owner. What made the walk over worth while was the free beer they gave me and then they shared some of the excellent ribs they were cooking. Real food and beer you can not complain about that. They even gave us some hope about shortening the paddle a little which sort of work out but the shortening was not as much as I would have liked.

After the ribs were cooked they came over and gave us some and took off. So Dianne and I still got to go for the before bed skinny dip. So it was a good for everyone's sex life they left when they did! Thanks guys it is meeting nice guys like you all that make doing trips like this interesting and bearable.

The heat advisory is still on and man it is hot out there today. We did paddle the 16 miles and sweat like dogs out there. So when we got to town we started to look for hotels and the closest two were closed due to flooding. The Comfort Inn was open though so we moved the canoe close to the casino and hopped into the shuttle ride over. The Comfort Inn guest laundry is not working but the manger here said they would do our clothes for us. Again another minor miracle of travel nice people and good places to stay so a big thanks to the Comfort Inn too! (Maybe not as big as for free Ribs and cold beer though that is really special.)

On the river side of things the only interesting is the number of moving barges we saw during the 2 hours we on the river. There were 9 barges in less this short morning of time on the river. We crossed over early without problems. One of the barges saw us early and told the other barges where we were. Dianne then got on the radio and informed them of our plan to stay close to the left bank. When the down stream barge finally caught up to us he said we had made really good time.
Dianne was a big winner again today playing the slots with a dollar she won 37 cents and called it so we are now about even at the casino. Here in town you can see the damage the floods caused as all the eating places are closed.

Here is Dianne as a winner

Counts
2 flocks of Egrets
9 barges moving
3 tows in dry dock
1 small flock of ducks
6 small fishing boats running around Greenville harbor
5 guys fishing
3 dead fish
1 small working harbor tow
3 harbor tows tied to shore not working
1 small house boat on it side on a barge at the US coast guard base in Greenville Harbor


Love and Kisses to all AC is great
Allan