Posted July 17 from Grand Station Casino Vicksburg

Day 41
Position
No Gps in Tent we hope to record in morning
Ok so Dianne said I had to find in the morning and put the Position in today so here they are
N33.02083
W91.16087
Everybody Happy
Last night dinner was at the Shotgun BBQ and it was great so here is the picture of the place

We are on the west side of the river directly across from where we camped in 04. This means we covered the same distance plus 4 miles in Greenville Harbor or just over 34 miles. Vicksburg is the next town and Dianne is trying to get us there in 3 camping nights arriving the morning of the 4th day.

The Comfort Inn on Walnut is the place to stay in Greenville the breakfast was great and the people were not only very friendly but helpful too. The shuttle that took us to the Casino where we left the canoe looked a little confused when we got on the the pack and asked to go to the casino. But when we got out and started working on the loading the canoe she was interested and stopped to ask us a ton of questions.

The day was not quite as hot as the last couple so we paddled after a lunch break. It did get hot in the afternoon as the sun came out more strongly. I have a heat rash all over my back and arms now. Dianne claims Benadryl will help as that is what they use on babies when they have that problem.
The only other exciting news is the campsite we had targeted has a Posted NO Trespassing sign. We just ignored it.
There is thunder all around us and we are hoping it rains to cool things down in the morning but this evening it cleared up and a full moon showed up during our swim to stay cool. Well I am going put some cream on the heat rash, (not a sunburn as I am wearing a shirt all day.)

Count
4 small fishing boats
8 tows
one and half -bridges (one bridge was only half there as they are taking it down)
10 egrets
7 jumping fish
1 wrecked tow washed up on shore
1 casino boat washed up on shore
1 small tow working in the harbor
2 barges being loaded

Typing in the dark sucks. Man can we ever hear the buzz of bugs outside here rather than crickets that have been more normal lately.
Love to all
Allan

Day 42
Stopped early enough to get GPS out so here is the Position
N32.7385
W 91.09663

Here is a picture of the bridge leaving Greenville.

The weather was bearable today, it is hot but so hot as stop us and bearable enough that we got a pretty good start The campsite was hot in the morning and the start of the paddling was a little intense but it clouded over and we good time. When we stopped for lunch, and a cooling swim it clouded over and rushed to get started again. Then the thunder and slight wind and cooling temperature and both Di and I thought good here comes the cooling storm. No, it did rain a very little and now every thing is cleared up and hot again but the humidity is higher kind of sucks. It did all that just to make us rush to shore and grap a campsite and do a lot of really hard fast paddling and did not really rain at all. Just made my shirt and pants hard to dry after the lunch swim. Did even less last night just put out some lighting and a clap thunder and stopped. But I should not complain too much as the temperature fell enough for good sleeping.

The barge traffic was light again today except whenever we crossed the channel then we always saw 3 barges racing around each other and making it hard for us to figure out where they were going.

Today we crossed the channel 4 times and covered 30 miles putting just one mile shy of the distance we did in 04. I can not believe it was 7 years ago that we did that trip but it is my does time fly when you are having fun.

We are looking foreward to Vickburg but will be arriving on Saturday so I am hoping all the hotels are not full. I think we will stay at the Casino by the landing ramp but can not find the number for it on the GPS so will play it by ear.

On the compression stocking front things are getting worse the pair I am wearing have the right heel patched with duct tape a new hole has appeared in the right toe. It left heel had a small hole in it which I patched with mole skin that has now ripped off an the whole heel is sticking out. I guess I will try duct tape tonight to patch it. I worry about stocking as do have the many spare pairs.

While that is the day I will take a short nap before dinner.

Count
2 egrets
1 run away green
2 run away reds
1 heron
6 jumping minnows (not big enough to call fish)
9 barges
2 small run about boats
1 tow placing buoys
1 deer

Love and kisses to all.
Allan

Day 43
Position
N32.38976
W91.00504

Left comfortable tent and sleeping conditions when we woke up this morning. But has still been more than week of camping outside where I never cover up in the tent. So although comfortable it is still quite warm out here.

We started off with a channel crossing and just before starting across a barge show up upstream from us and therefore I had take the corner a little wide then I had to take the next corner wide too as there were 3 barges to cope with there. Even with all that traffic we still did well covering 34 miles having only 10 miles left to Vicksburg tomorrow, so that should be a very short day.

Lunch and swim close to some new wing dam construction new to a field that is laying fallow this year most likely because of flooding. We also passed a small village of cabins build next to the river that are obviously more than just a cabin for the people. Of the 8 cabin two were still showing a lot of damage due to flooding and will have to be rebuild or just torn down.
Here is a picture floating at lunch

When we started to look for a campsite it started to rain and not the light stuff of the last few day but a real gully washer which soaked my clothes for the second time of the day. The temperature drops so the humidity is 100% and nothing has dried like it did during the day. So right now I am guessing I will put on wet clothes in the morning,OH WELL!

The shore at the campsite is interesting as the sand is just fluid enough to let you sink in making getting in and out of the water difficult.

The other bad news of the day in when I opened the curry the meat had spoiled. This is means the meal was meatless as we had it packed separate from the other ingredients. What makes it odd is that is was store bought jerky not my products, all of my ingredients still were OK.

Well the bugs are driving me into the tent now.

Count
10 barges and tows on the river
2 harbor tows moving barges around
11 fishing boats racing around us
1 raccoon
3 guys actually fishing
1 dredge working
too many mosquitoes to count buy I am done for the day

Love and Kisses
Allan

Day 44

Position
Grand Station Casino and Hotel in Vicksburg MS on the Yazoo River

I missed stating that the west bank of the river is now Louisiana and no longer Arkansas so we are now into the last state that have to pass though. This trip we will cover 8 states total so making it this far always feels good.

The weather is still hot but a little less so today and last night for the first time I pull the covers over onto myself. So maybe the worse of the really stinking hot weather is over and we down to just the really hot weather one can only hope! Sleeping last night the dredge could be heard all night , it did not bother me that much as I kept dreaming about traveling on a plane and wake up hoping for some meal service or drinks. It was a pleasant dream right up to waking up and finding out there was no drink service to be had.

Hiding among the gear this morning I found two crayfish (or Crawdads) they would try to look mean with their pincers but were easy to relocate so no one was hurt.

It was short paddle into Vicksburg taking only a couple of hours putting into a room just after 11AM. Being early meant that we did our laundry in the room sink and they are drying (I am not optimistic about having dry clothes for tomorrow, I think damp but clean will be dress code starting out, as compared to damp and sandy for starting out today!) Just for the record we try to keep the river clothes down to one set as they are basicity dirty all the time while paddling and camping any ways so there is little reason to have two or three dirty sets of clothes.

Once in Vicksburg Dianne review all the river murals and learned the history of the town and river running though it. Then after cleaning up we had brunch in the casino buffet and walked downtown. The main street here is Washington St. and it was dead not many of the stores open and hardly any people just walking around. We did find 2 stores open and bought a second towny shirt and a pair of crocks for me, replacement batteries for flashlights and air pump, and new glasses again her 5 pair this trip.

Here is a picture of me in my river clothes before cleaning up and Dianne in here towny clothes touring Coco-Cola muesum.

Then we toured the first Coca Cola bottling plant and museum not a lot stuff there except old coke bottle and lots of example of advertising used by the company over the years. They also had a complete soda fountain from the 1900s but it was cool and to see it all. We will have dinner soon and maybe watch the USA women soccer team attempt to take the worlds cup a second time.

Count
1 foot with signs of poison Ivy
3 tow boats moving
2 at banked being loaded or unloaded
1 egret
1 casino boat
1 great lunch
2 crayfish

Love to all and go USA
Allan