Had the river to myself most of morning. A couple small downstreamer barges, and two very large upstreamers. One of the upstreamers caught me by surprise. It suddenly appeared from around a small bend, and I barely had time to get out of the way. Passed within a hundred yards of me – which is Continue reading

Taking a day of rest today. Not paddling. Just catching up on blogging and cleaning/repairing equipment. This has proved to be a very nice campsite. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night because of all barges going by (They’re noisy!) But it’s been a quiet, peaceful day and don’t feel tired or spent Continue reading

Had a very good night’s sleep last night. Woke bright and early just before sunrise refreshed and ready to paddle on. After the past two frustrating days of finding a good place to camp for the night, I decided today’s only goal will be to find a campsite with both shade and a sandy beach Continue reading

A restless night last night. Had to get up during the night several times to check on the canoe. Once I found it laying almost over on it’s side when large wake waves from a barge had pushed it up onto the shoreline. So I woke before sunrise, packed up my tent and gear, found Continue reading

Yesterday, I left the state of Tennessee behind and entered Mississippi. I am now officially paddling through the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta, birthplace of the blues. Said to begin in the lobby of Memphis’ Peabody Hotel and end at Catfish Row in Vicksburg, the eye-shaped “Upper” Delta is the largest self-contained floodplain flatland along the entire Lower Continue reading

Friday evening. Sun is going down. Too exhausted to write up the daily posts for yesterday and today. Will try to get them posted tomorrow morning before I start my canoeing. Right now, I’m camping on a sandbar about 8″ above the level of the river. Will literally have a rope connected to the canoe Continue reading

After breakfast, I checked out of the River Inn of Harbortown and walked the mile back to the Marina. My walk was along the popular River Front greenway and there were several joggers and dog-walkers out enjoying the relatively cool air of the morning. Arrived at the Marina to find my canoe and gear were Continue reading

Awoke to a nice breeze from the south. Not strong enough to make paddling difficult, but hopefully pleasant enough to keep the THI on the cloudless river at bay for a few hours. As is becoming habit, I woke before dawn. Made coffee by light of a full moon and enjoyed a few moments just Continue reading

Today’s blog entry is going to read a lot like yesterday’s — only shorter. Woke before sunrise, made coffee and watched the sun come up over the river. Broke camp, loaded the canoe, and was on the river by 8:30 AM. I wanted to take advantage of the cool morning air before it got too Continue reading

Temperatures near 95. THI over 110. It’s downright hot paddling in the middle of the shadeless big river. And even though the river is low – and dropping – it’s still got a pretty good current. So I paddled over 25 miles today. But it wasn’t easy. The places to stop and stretch my legs Continue reading