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<< A beautiful sunrise over the wide confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.
< "Big !" hardly describes it.
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<< Waking up is hard to do....
< Last night's drive down to the Confluence wasn't as bad as I had thought, and the park at Ft. Defiance was pretty nice. It wasn't filled with broken bottles and cans as is sometimes the case. In fact, it had this interesting three level pavillion/observation deck, which we chose to sleep on, under, or around.
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<< We have a good breakfast in a diner run by someone who must have been from New Jersey via the Witness Protection Program. We finish driving to
New Madrid, Missouri, re-supply, re-assemble the supply boat, and dip back into the Mississippi.
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<< We have another nice day on the Mississippi honing our canoeing, navigating, current finding, and wind avoidance skills.
As usual, except for a few hours in the morning there was a strong wind from the south. So it picked up and dogged us a lot of the day.
At one point in the afternoon, we were all hanging out on the supply boat, with our canoes tied on. We were travelling westward, getting ready to turn south in a big oxbow in the river. We slide past the land sheltering us from the wind just as the channel squeezed down very narrowly into the arc of the oxbow. We suddenly found ourselves in rapid channel current running against the bank, turning into a strong wind, with huge whitecaps filling the canoes with water.
Time to regroup. We land on the revetement of the Oxbow as we bail the canoes out and consider next moves. A barge tow downstream patiently waits for us to clamber back onto the water and get moving again. His wake surely would have crunched us on the steep bank if he hadn't paused. What a great pilot in this narrow channel; he turns to starboard as we start to pass each other giving us plenty of room, then swings back to port to direct his prop wash away from us.
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<< Wayne ... takes the helm. "Over to that Bank !"
< Note: The river version of driving while on a cell phone, aka beer can.
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<< After we leave the bank, we're all "chilling" on the supply boat. The wind dropped down, as did our pulse rate. :-)
< Riding on after the "Oxbow".
< Note the wide, low sandy bottom we chose as a camp.
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<< Our campsite looked a little low when we settled in. So we weren't totally surprised when the water started creeping up.
< It ate the first fire.
< Then it ate the second fire.
< Then about 10:30 pm we abandoned our camp and crossed to the opposite bank.
20 river miles today, 120 river miles total.
65 land miles today = 65 river miles portaged today; 150 land miles total = 145 river miles portaged total.
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<< A quiet morning after a late evening crossing of the Mississippi. We didn't hit any low spots or wing dams as we crossed.
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<< Always have to have coffee.
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<< A very pleasant day on the river.
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< Chris at our Osceloa, a rest and re-stock location
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<< We camped on a nice island "butt", and had a wonderful campfire as the evening ebbs into night.
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<< It doesn't get better than this !
30 river miles today, 150 river miles total.
Plus 150 land miles total = 145 river miles portaged total.
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<< Austin packing up.
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<< Ralph and I were paddling between the river bank and a barge tow. The barge tow scared a couple of fish, one of which jumped into my lap and then flopped onto the floor of the canoe.
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< During the trip, we saw a couple of buoys, cut loose from the river bed, floating down the river. At some point they end up like this.
20 river miles today. 170 total river miles.
Plus 150 land miles total = 145 river miles portaged total.
Last Update: Jan 30, 2010