We set off with the van in tow all in good time. The RV Park near the river was perfect. Lots of room. “Uh oh” said Con, “No internet.” We upped sticks and headed off across the river. No T-Mobile internet reception there either. Back over the bridge and tried a few parks. Lots of calls later we are up in Baton Rouge and lucky to get this place. Salubrious? Nah. Most people use the amenities in the RV because you hook up to sewer and water as well as power. Seems like there is one block with a wahing machine, dryer, dunny and shower. Just had an email from Con who was in a tricky situation in the only toilet/shower. Took him the paper and all is fine. Phew! Thank God for technology.

I have wanted to send you a photo of the 350 meeting on Thursday night but they haven’t sent it to me. Lesson there, make sure I give my camera to someone so we have the image. I really did enjoy the meeting. It was pretty much like an Aussie meeting, same sort of people, same sort of issues. As I said to them, there must be millions of similar meetings going on around the world. Committed people will make Climate action happen. In every group there are a couple of standout doers and they were evident there. On that note we have had a good response from environmental people in Baton Rouge.

The Mississippi has two worries. The first is paddling around barges. It knocks my hands around and slows me down a lot. The second is finding access points in and out of the river. Yesterday was 20 miles between the two possible points.

The thing about the river that impresses me is the size of the bends. Some bends are long enough that you can still see almost to the limit of vision. They are bloody huge and take hours to get around just one sometimes. Looking at it on the map doesn’t convey the correct impression.

Tomorrow I will go as far as I can. It has been a bit depressing looking at progress up the river so farr and my rough guess today was Chicago mid-July at the current rate. Surely I can do better than that though. The banks can’t be lined with barges all the way.

For some reason we have lost power to some of the van including the new fridge. Checked all fuses and everything is OK there so will leave it with Klaas and Con to find a sparky tomorrow.

Today was 23 degrees and very pleasant. Tomorrow is showers with rain developing. Top of 20 deg.