Day 65 - Salt Water...

At the gulf. Salt water at last. We share a celebratory whisky with withering old man river and Poseidon for he will be with us in our future adventure. For now, I will take my long sleep, not waking at 5am, drink cold drinks, and cool off by the hum of air conditioner.


http://maps.google.com/maps?q=30.046200,-89.774009+(MyPosition)
longitude: -89.774009
latitude: 30.046200



At salt water.



Standing in a patch of grass in salt water.

- Posted from my iPhone

Day 64: New Orleans

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Day 64: New Orleans
Almost done with the trip! Tonight we gonna camp at a gorgeous camp site called "The Residence Inn" in the French Quarter of New Orleans!
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=29.998290,-90.430652+(MyPosition)
longitude: -90.430652
latitude: 29.998290
accuracy: 5 m
altitude: 2 m

Day 63 - Poche family park at mm 148

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Day 63 - Poche family park at mm 148
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=30.017243,-90.721899+(MyPosition)
longitude: -90.721899
latitude: 30.017243
accuracy: 10 m
altitude: 12 m

Day 62 - Baton Rouge and camp mm 210

I often hear people saying that it's dangerous and scary to paddle through big cities like Baton Rouge and New Orleans. But when we arrive, it's not that scary. Though there are a lot of commercial crafts, as long as we keep out of their way we are fine. 

I am currently here:
day 62 - baton rogue and camp mm 210
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=30.309466,-91.210680+(MyPosition)
longitude: -91.210680
latitude: 30.309466
accuracy: 5 m
altitude: 2 m

Day 61 - north of Baton Rouge, mm 250

Paddle, paddle, paddle...almost there!!! I can smell the salt water (just my imagination), can't wait to taste the salt water now, only a couple more days to go. Jeffrey and I didn't see any alligator today, but another guy in our group said he saw one in the water. We saw alligator tracks on the sand at our camp site just like at the other previous campsites we've been to the last couple days. We haven't had any incident where those gators come bother us though. Just like any other animals, if we leave them alone, they'll leave us alone. It drizzled a little today while we were on the river, enough to get us wet. It helps cool down the temperature just a bit. We paddle a total of 50 miles today.

I am currently here:
Day 61 - north if Baton Rouge, mm 250
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=30.583419,-91.311927+(MyPosition)
longitude: -91.311927
latitude: 30.583419
accuracy: 5 m
altitude: 4 m

Day 60 - completely in Louisiana, mm 300

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Day 60 - completely in Louisiana, mm 300
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=30.940007,-91.651183+(MyPosition)
longitude: -91.651183
latitude: 30.940007
accuracy: 5 m
altitude: 12 m

Look at that 8 foot gator walking on the sandy beach

 Jeffrey cooking dinner. Secret Recipe: boil water, pour in 1 pack of instant mashed potato powder, pop open 1 can of spam, and voila...yummy dinner!

Day 59 - Natchez and mm 348.

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Day 59 - Natchez and mm 348.
We met a pair of kayakers from Chicago.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=31.447564,-91.510769+(MyPosition)
longitude: -91.510769
latitude: 31.447564

Day 58 - mm 398

Nothing special today, just another long hard paddling day.

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Day 58 - mm 398

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=31.969415,-91.178044+(MyPosition)
longitude: -91.178044
latitude: 31.969415

Day 57 - Vicksburg, mm 438

We are camping here on this nice sandbar right outside of Vicksburg. About 500 feet from our tents, there's a little pond. As I was walking toward the pond to do number 2 business, I saw what looks like two big eyes on the pond. I didn't think much of it and after I'm done with my business, I went back to the tent and had a chat with the other guys in our group. We heard what sounds like two alligators talking to each other. I and the other two guys took a walk toward to pond to confirm what I saw, and those guys agreed with me that what I saw were alligators eyes. I think I'm gonna send some guys to Walmart later tonight to buy some alligator spray. :-)

I am currently here:
Day 57 - Vicksburg, mm 438


http://maps.google.com/maps?q=32.339039,-90.925542+(MyPosition)
longitude: -90.925542
latitude: 32.339039
accuracy: 5 m
altitude: 12 m

Day 56 - Game of Tortoise and Hare, mm 477

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Day 56 - game of tortoise and Hare, mm 477
 I started a game of Tortoise and Hare as we paddled down the river. Usually, we would have to jump in the water to cool ourselves off every hour or so and made a stop here and there at some shady spot on the river bank to rest due to horrendous heat of the afternoon. Today, I told Jeffrey to ease down his paddle stroke. We just take our sweet time and paddle lightly so we don't sweat and not get tired. While the other guys on the other canoes were still paddling hard and left us behind, we continued paddle lightly try not to break a sweat. At the end of the day, we (the tortoises) still made it to camp at the same time as the other guys (the hares) did, making the same distance but not over exhausted. We had an interesting & annoying experience with a sand storm today at our campsite. The sand storm swept away our tents and put a nice thick coat of sand on all our stuffs. Sand is everywhere, in everything!

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=32.707986,-91.059619+(MyPosition)
longitude: -91.059619
latitude: 32.707986
accuracy: 5 m
altitude: 6 m

Day 55 - Greenville and mm 527

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Day 55 - Greenville and mm 527
Greenville sucks! don't go there! Nothing green about it!

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=33.259812,-91.119184+(MyPosition)
longitude: -91.119184
latitude: 33.259812
accuracy: 5 m
altitude: 12 m

Day 54 - mm 567

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Day 54 - mm 567

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=33.658126,-91.193699+(MyPosition)
longitude: -91.193699
latitude: 33.658126
accuracy: 5

Day 53 - Dennis Landing, mm 610

Another of those long paddling day. We paddle from 7:30 until noon, stop for lunch break and a long nap, then paddle until 7:30pm to our camp spot.  The river current is moving very slow, about 5 mph. At this section of the river, there are mainly barge traffics, no recreational boaters, no fishing boats, etc. All we see all day are barges after barges and they create nasty turbulent in the water. There are times we had to pull over to the side to wait for these damn barges to pass to avoid turbulent water that might flip our canoes over. Other than those ugly annoying barges, we are blessed with non-extreme heat and not-so-crazy wind today. The mosquito at the camp site are annoying but other than that, everything is well.
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Day 53 - mm 610
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=34.024658,-90.908775+(MyPosition)
longitude: -90.908775
latitude: 34.024658

Sent from my iPhone

Day 52, lula ms, mm 664

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Day 52, Lula MS mm 664

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=34.494151,-90.584634+(MyPosition)
longitude: -90.584634
latitude: 34.494151
accuracy: 5 m
altitude: 4 m

Sent from my iPhone

Day 51 - Mississippi , mm 715

We made it to the state of Mississippi on the Mississippi river. Saw a couple rolling down in a raft. Made camp at a perfect sandbar.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=34.983607,-90.295301+(MyPosition)
longitude: -90.295301
latitude: 34.983607



- Posted from my iPhone

Day 49 & 50 - off day in Memphis

Long rest for everyone. Enjoy the luxury of AC and instant cold drinks. As it turn out, the paddle crew really enjoy frisby golf and Memphis has some of the US top notch frisbie golf around.
- Posted from my iPhone

Day 48 -Shelby Forest Boat Ramp

We've arrived to Shelby Forest Boat Ramp at around 8:30pm after 13 hours of paddling. Got a ride home to get a nice shower and cool soft bed for the night. We'll take two days off from paddling to spend time in Memphis with family. Coming a long with us are 4 other boats, Jen, Kyle, Cody, Brian from the PaddleCrew and Matt, Ben, Snow, JD from the Matt's Crew. We got to the house at around 11:30pm, stopped by Taco Bell to get dinner, then headed home for a nice and much-needed shower

Day 47 - Arkansas, mm 818

We are approaching Memphis slowly but surely. If not for a little summer squall hindered our way, we would've made it to Memphis sooner. Looks like we'll be arriving to Memphis at Mud Island North boat ramp around 2pm Friday afternoon. The Memphis Bluff City Canoe Club is organizing a paddle crew to come out and paddle with us from Shelby Forest into Memphis. It's gonna be fun!

I am currently here:
Day 47 - Arkansas, mm 818

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=35.896087,-89.646570+(MyPosition)

Day 46 -Tennessee baby!!!

A beautiful day on the river overall minus the heat. We did 51 miles of paddling today. We stopped by a town name New Madrid. It is, by far, the most wonderful town with the friendliest people in the world.  We met three people at the boat ramp offering to give us ride into town to shop for food. We took the offer from one gentleman and before we left, he told the cop to watch the boat for us so nobody would mess with our stuff. When we got to the store we picked up more food supply and water and wanted to buy more but thought it might be too heavy to carry it back to the boat. The store owner overheard our concern and offered to give us a ride back to our boat. We were so grateful of all the kindness we've received and had a little heartfelt sentimental moment. I thought to myself how interesting it is that people often don’t know the effect they have on other people with just a suggestion, a smile, a word, a nod of approval or even something as innocent as a gesture, especially to those who's been away from home for quite some time. Anyhow, that was the highlight of our day. Before we departed New Madrid, we met a local newspaper reporter at the boat ramp. He took some pictures of us to publish on the front page of The Weekly Record, New Madrid's local newspaper. We paddled into Tennessee today, can't wait to get to Memphis this Thursday, latest Friday.

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Day 46 - mm 862, Tennessee baby
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=36.310243,-89.609414+(MyPosition)
longitude: -89.609414
latitude: 36.310243
accuracy: 5 m
altitude: 12 m

Day 45 -Chute of Island No.8

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Day 45 -Chute of Island No.8 KY, mm 913
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=36.585884,-89350283+(MyPosition)
longitude: -89.350283
latitude: 36.585884
accuracy: 10 m
altitude: 16 m

Day 44 - Cairo, mm 0 or 953

We got on the river at 8:30am, paddled until noon and stopped over at a sand bar along the river for lunch and to cool off from heat index of 105F. We rested for about two hours and then paddled on to Cairo. We arrived at Cairo around 6pm. We pulled over to take some pictures and paddled on to find a camp site. The wind started picking up making it very difficult for us to maneuver. We decided to call it a day and pulled our canoes up to the sand bar. Within 30 minutes, the rain came down hard and white us out. We, in our rain gear, stood under the trees waiting for the rain to ease off so we can set up our tent. It finally eased off at last just enough for us to set up a tarp and unpack our stuffs. Today we are at mile marker Zero, the end of the Upper Mississippi River. Tomorrow, we'll be on the Lower Mississippi River and begin at mile marker 953. Yes, we have 953 miles more to go.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=36.973325,-89.116547+(MyPosition)
longitude: -89.116547
latitude: 36.973325
accuracy: 5 m
altitude: 12 m

Day 43 - Cape Girardeau

- Posted from my iPhone

Day 42. mm 65

Lately, we have some of the best camping around. With 75-degree night and little bug, we're able to cowboy camp. But the price to pay for that is 100-110 degree day makes paddling in the glaring sun tough. I just now realize that we've been having 9 days of 95+ degrees temperature and the last few day has been over 100 degrees.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.433033,-89.432667+(MyPosition)
longitude: -89.432667
latitude: 37.433033

Day 41 - meeting with family and first long afternoon nap

After a drunken night, yes there was a drunken naked guy running around, we met up with my brother at an abandoned marina a few hour down. He was on his way to St Louis, so he stopped by to bring some of my stuff and pizza and icy drinks. We swallowed the pizza and headed to the sand bar across the river to take a long afternoon nap

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.980156,-90.013189+(MyPosition)
longitude: -90.013189
latitude: 37.980156






- Posted from my iPhone

Day 40 - Penitentiary Point, IL. Mm 137

July 4 2012...
God must have love me today. We got help from one of our traveling companion's friend to load up on food and resupply for our own party. Then we floated some more in the evening heat to the next good looking sand bar. Here I thought that yesterday sand bar was the most perfect sand bar, short of removing a the highway bridge next to it, God answers my call. We made a big fat fire and everyone but Jeffrey and I got drunk.















http://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.094497,-90.214205+(MyPosition)
longitude: -90.214205
latitude: 38.094497

Day 39 - St Louis, mm 170

After traversing the last lock, we spent 5 hrs sight seeing St Louis. When we headed out of town that afternoon, the head wind and barge traffic was insane. Barge has no speed limit here. Anyway, we found a really cool camp site, almost perfect. Flat sand, no mosquito, and a 5 mph breeze.



http://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.489220,-90.271040+(MyPosition)
longitude: -90.271040
latitude: 38.489220

Day 38 - Alton, IL

Today Lam woke me up at 5 because he couldn't handle the noise from the ferry next to us. We got on the river at 6 and paddled about 26 miles and stopped at a town named Alton. We ate McDonalds, napped and did nothing for 5 hours. We then passed the dam and stopped at a park and met up w/ paddle crew.






- Posted from my iPhone

Day 37 - Golden Eagle, IL

Jeff here. Writing the blog for today. Today we got on the river at 8. I had the genius idea of connecting the two oars we've been hauling for a month and making a double bladed paddle. Obviously, my idea worked and we moved faster than ever, even though the paddle was extremely heavy. We paddled to some random marina to use the bathroom and get ice. The people there were really nice and gave us free ice-cream and shirts. We spent about an hour bullshitting with people and left to the next lock and dam. After 11 hours of paddling, we made it past the dam and went to a nice bar and grill named Kinder's, where we met a nice lady who gave us free shirts. We ended up camping at the bar because it was dark and we were too lazy to go find a campsite. Overall, it was a good day. Weather was extremely hot but we got alot of free stuff and did 40+ miles so it's cool.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.871565,-90.567100+(MyPosition)
longitude: -90.567100
latitude: 38.871565

Day 36 - Clarksville

We left a little late this morning and had to sit for 2 hours for a barge to go thru, but I guess it's still better than a portage. We ended up in Clarksville at 6:30pm. Camping on a beach on the other side of the river, we presented with hours of fireworks by the locals in town. I guess these people do love their fireworks.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.372059,-90.895018+(MyPosition)
longitude: -90.895018
latitude: 39.372059










- Posted from my iPhone

Day 35 - Hannibal

We got up early today for a change and made it to Hannibal, home of Mark Twain. Just as we were pulling up to the dock, we saw a big power boat that was going down the river. It was an escort boat for a guy paddling the river. At first I was arrogant and didn't think much of the guy and thought he was a cheater because he had an escort boat. But I soon found out that the guy didn't have any legs and was doing it for charity so I guess its okay for him to have an escort. Anyway, he and his family turned out to be some pretty good folks. They even fed us hotdogs and soft drinks. I guess the lesson of the day is not to assume because you don't know shit.
After a good conversation and a great meal, we goofed off around town then paddled a little more to a camp-able spot. In terms of the weather, tonight is the best. No skeeters and the breeze is keeping us nice and cool.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.682543,-91.295209+(MyPosition)
longitude: -91.295209
latitude: 39.682543

- Posted from my iPhone

Day 34 - mm 341, somewhere in Illinois

Nothing special today, didn't get on the river until 2pm. Had a great fried fish breakfast at the Cow. Another really hot day. When we were about near Lock 20, we passed by a school of Asian Jumping Carps, about 100 of them, varies from 10 to 20 lbs suckers. They got freaked out and jumped everywhere. They hit the boat straight on a few times. It feels like we were hit by a baseball bat. I managed to punch one and my fist was covered in slime. The boat next to us, the back guy got hit on the side, while the front guy got hit right on the lips. That same damn fish fell onto his boat and flopped around making a white bloody mess. If we weren't trying to race to the lock to avoid being locked in, he would have kept that damn 15 lb-er. Our friend got all slimy trying to get the thing out of his canoe.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.112877,-91.482459+(MyPosition)
longitude: -91.482459
latitude: 40.112877

- Posted from my iPhone

Day 33 - The Purple Cow in Alexandrea MO

Wow, today was the most fun day so far. We slept in like idiots that we didn't get on the river until 11am. We thought we could muscle thru the pool on top of dam 19, but the wind humbled us after 2.5 miles. We ended up calling our "river angel" Gerry for some help. He came with truck and trailer swooped us up and delivered us pass the dam. We then had a lovely lunch with him. As we proceeded 5 miles down, the Purple Cow popped up on the bank at Alexandrea. We decided to might as well make it a lazy day and pulled in to have a cold drink. At first, it looks like any typical bar in a small town with it's staple of 60s-80s years old patrons. As we chatted with the owner about some of our travel stories, they offered us to stay at a friend's cabin on one of the islands. But no sooner did we discussed about the logistic of getting there, another river angel, Boone, offered us his basement. It got all the amenities and air conditioning. We picked the basement because the washer and dryer will do wonders for us. Also the basement is but 100 yards away from the bar. While checking out the place, Boone was leaving to check on his trot fishing line. With a quick invitation, I was cruising on the river at 40 mph watching how it is done.
After a unique insight on the local fishing, we ended up hitting the local bar, the Purple Cow again. By this times, all the young folks were out and it became very lively and we both had a ball with the town Mayor. Food was super cheap and so was the beer on a their Wednesday's beer special. Once well fed and drunk, we met Boone's son, Colten, who had gone down river before. He hooked us up with a Quincy book and a 3am boat float down the river to enjoy the stars. Jeffrey was too tired and checked in to dream land and missed an awesome float. I think I will have a slow day tomorrow.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.355220,-91.455816+(MyPosition)
longitude: -91.455816
latitude: 40.355220
Our angel Berry






The Purple Cow (the best bar in MO)






Boone (on the left) who open his home to us






- Posted from my iPhone

Day 32 - Nauvoo, mm 376

After a long day of paddle straight head on into the wind, we were exhausted and stopped at a small marina/restaurant at Fort Madison. We had a good meal and went back to the beat of paddling into the wind. We got our ass handed to us again so we pulled over to a boat landing in Nauvoo hoping we can steal a camp spot. A quick chat with a local named Berry leads us to the lawn of Chuck and Karin. Their house is  overlooking a point over the river. She was so kind and generous to give us her car to go into town to resupply and check out the local history with involvement of a Mormon settlement here.  Just an observation, as we are moving south, our challenges now have changed from mosquito and rain to wind, mainly head wind. Also, the random act of kindness from strangers are the best part of this trip.

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http://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.553322,-91.399865+(MyPosition)
longitude: -91.399865
latitude: 40.553322















- Posted from my iPhone

Day 31 Burlington, IA

Another beautiful day in paradise, I meant another hard paddling day in paradise. Got on the river by 8am and paddled until 7:30pm. Made 45 miles and passed 2 locks. Stopped by Burlington. We had to stealth camp for the night.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.813503,-91.091281+(MyPosition)
longitude: -91.091281
latitude: 40.813503










Photo taken by: Ben Royet

Day 30 Blanchard Island

It started raining at 3am and then turned into a nasty loud thunder storm till 10am. We didn't get on the river until noon, paddled to 6pm making 22 miles. We were pretty tired from the day heat that we just decided to pull into a public rec area to camp. The day were hot and we started a ritual of swimming in the river every 2 hrs. Jeffrey threw his usual attitude because the guys we were going with went topless and being vain when he couldn't. He wants to work on his tan too. He didn't like it when I reminded him one of our rules: shirt has to stay on from 10am to 5pm to avoid skin cancer.
I discovered stinging Nelly as I was collecting wood for campfire. This forced me to stand in the river for 20 minutes to relieve my pain. Looks like another beautiful night for hammocking.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=41.348943,-91.056458+(MyPosition)
longitude: -91.056458
latitude: 41.348943

Day 29 - Davenport

Passed thru Davenport and some small city that I don't remember the name. Nothing in particularly special during the day, just passed thru two locks. However, when we made camp, we got a treat. Thousands of fireflies light up the tree line at out campsite. I wish I could have recorded it, but those lights are too dim for my camera. I was telling Jeffrey that this is what the trip is all about. Never have I seen this awesome, but I guess you have to come out here to see.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=41.450932,-90.790870+(MyPosition)
longitude: -90.790870
latitude: 41.450932










- Posted from my iPhone

Day 28 - Camache Island, IA

We woke up late today, took our sweet time and got on the river by 11am. Nothing special today, except that it is just another gorgeous day and the wind is not kicking our ass.
Let me digress a little here. Ever since St Paul, we no longer have to portage and get to use a lock to transverse a dam. But there is a price to pay for that. Now the river has gotten bigger, the pooling for water in front of each dam is now a giant open lake with no current. This leads me to hate every damn dam that we have to past.
For some of you animal lover, I haven't talked much about bald eagle, but we pretty much can't go more than 10 minutes without seeing one flying just over our head.
Anyway, we end up on a nice island camp site outside the city of Camanche, called Camache Island.


http://maps.google.com/maps?q=41.760844,-90.293164+(MyPosition)
longitude: -90.293164
latitude: 41.760844

- Posted from my iPhone

Day 27 - Bellevue and Sabula, IA

Woke up to a perfect day today. The wind is no longer pushing us backward. As we made about 20 miles to the town of Bellevue, the guys we are hanging out with needed to pick up a few things from the USPS. We ended up staying for 3.5 hours shopping and eating Subway. When we were finally done, we put in another 15 miles to the most awesome campsite so far. It has a beach landing, it faces the sunset, it got only a few (10-20) Mosquitoes. That night, Matt made the most wonderful campfire. I ended up pulling out a package of cheddar and jalapeno sausage that I picked up from town, grilled it on the open fire, and feed the crowd. Jeffrey had a blast.


http://maps.google.com/maps?q=42.134782,-90.200565+(MyPosition)
longitude: -90.200565
latitude: 42.134782
accuracy: 5 m
altitude: 6 m