Mississippi 11

Is that your kayak? Yeah, I think so.IMG_0679

The river’s this wayIMG_0685

Told yaIMG_0689

Better go I suppose. Seeya.IMG_0693

Looks harmless2015-03-21 07.45.20

But those things that look like big thorns are really big thorns2015-03-21 07.46.37

Bloody logs2015-03-21 07.49.57

A view into the cockpit2015-03-21 07.52.45

Avoca ferry. The ferry master, Brandon, reckons the river is up 18ft. Like most of the river folk he wanted me to stop and accept his hopsitality.2015-03-21 08.03.01

It sure is an efficient way to move big lots of stuff2015-03-21 09.46.23

Saturday so the locals are trying their luck. Dunno whether fish or crabs2015-03-21 09.52.56

Very tricky. To the right it is too strong to paddle against. To the left you get dragged into the weir and the Atchafalaya River system (dead of course). The middle ground through very turbulent eddies worked fine to get across. Not a good thing for the Average bloke to try.2015-03-21 11.47.02

Huh? Would have been good to know about this a mile ago. Not that it would have made any difference. Obviously only cater for downstream paddlers.2015-03-21 12.20.50

The finish. They make power as the mighty Mississippi drops into the Atchafalaya system on its way to the Gulf. A distributary it is called. Look closely and you can see the pick up crew2015-03-21 12.37.32

Here he comesIMG_0704

Shame the right leg stopped workingIMG_0709

Only 27.5km for the day

That’s Adam, the river guide from Natchez. A great bloke and a mine of information. Bit nuts about paddling though. Paddles anything he can find. A log would do.IMG_0715

Klaas:   You have no doubt heard about the trials and tribulations of the master yesterday. No one in his/hers right mind would attempt 78 km in one day paddling up-stream. Stevie, the “Wonder Boy” of course is like the Lord,  is omnipotent and thinks he can float over the currents. In the mean time, his ever faithful crew was instructed to retrieve him at around 6 pm. It was an 58 mile drive and we were finally in position and found no Master. 7pm  and night closes in. It is dark and the place is isolated in the middle of “No Where”. We had to leave the car up the track and were armed with torches and my flare gun. The place is boggy and massive spore of wild boar is everywhere.An owl sings his song and we wait. An other hour goes by and he rings that he is in total mist and can’t find us so instructs us to go home and try at first light next morning. I notice on starting the car that the petrol gauge. is on red and we would not make it home. I Google up the nearest outlet and  go some twenty miles the wrong way home to fill up and head for home. Two hours later I am totally stuffed, driving through fog we are home. We fall into bed and are back up at 4.30, make some sandwiches grab a bottle of orange juice and on the road again. We are there in position by daylight and the mist is impenetrable. We shout and cooed and finally he answers and  we were united. The crazy bastard did the distance but was defeated by total white-out to rendezvous.

From the swirling gloom,beyond the light, goading, taunting, looms Stevie boy, and Satan is his shadow. Klaas

 Lynne:     A good day today. We dropped Steve off at 8am today for a 17mile kayak to a power station . The pickup was at around 2.00pm.  We had a visit from a very knowledgable local, Adam.  He gave Steve lots of valuable information about the Mississippi as he has been travelling along it via kayak, canoe, and anything else he could paddle. Such a nice man and hopefully we will see more of him. His info. has been invaluable. He has given us great maps of the local Mississippi  area which i will be mounting on my wall at home.   I must make mention of Miss Green from Best Buys, She went beyond the call of duty to assist me with my new phone.  Thank you Miss. Been raining all day but not cold. I did not swim, nor do I want to,  in the Mississippi but I did swim and hot spa in the Park pool beside the Mississippi,  was a lovely sight.  We had roast pork for dinner, but no crackly on it. Very tender, we could not find any pumpkin in the supermarket.  Steve has photos of the current he battles every day, don’t know how he does it.  !! .We will be here in Vitalia/Natchez for another few days, twin towns, one in Louisiania and one in Mississippi as you cross the bridge, as in albury/wodonga. Cheers for now,  off to bed