So
anyway, after a bit of getting out and running around the marina,
Kev returned with the maps... and was somewhat surprised and left
wondering as to where to put them, as they were at least twice the size
he'd expected. As I said to him, if he had a captains chart table on
his bridge, he'd be OK... but a 10 inch by 20 inch front deck area just
isn't big enough! So some cutting and trimming is gonna be in his, and
the maps future!
There
was much temptation to be had at the marina too, as there was a Wendys,
a Burger King and a DQ just along the road, but I was proud of myself
by just ignoring them and looking forward to my $1.50 tin of soup! Kev
was kinda pleased I didn't cave too, as he needs very little persuasion
as it is!
The day clouded over towards late afternoon and by
early afternoon we realised we were going to be out of islands again.
The next set were a good 10 more miles from the last of the ones near
us, so by 4pm, as there was a huge island just ahead of us, it seemed
like a good enough spot to call it a day. The wind was now blowing out
of the south too, bringing some welcome warm air, so setting up camp on
Veterans Island, was a bit more pleasant than previous nights.
Again,
the starting of the campfire was a lot harder than it should have been
given the resources, both mental and actual, that we had at hand. The
driest wood we could find was shaved into tiny slivers... we used a
lighter Kev has... we tried to light some paper... I sparked like mad
on my magnesium flint... and still nothing would catch and get going.
In the end, whilst Kev was still whittling, lighting, blowing and
cursing, I said sod it, and grabbed my stove from the kayak. With a
mini F14 after-burners blasting gas flames at the tinder and kindling,
it might not have been very "Man vs Wild" but it did the job! And
anyway, it's all about adapting, using the resources at hand etc etc...
After
a hot tin of soup, some pretzels and a good warming by the
well-deserved fire, I was pretty tired, so hit the sack by 8.30 leaving
Kev typing by the flames. And trying not to almost melt his PC again
like he did the night earlier!
The alarm went off at 0600, so I
gave Kev the yell. He responded that he was ready to go, and just as we
were unzipping our sleeping bags, the distinct sound of precipitation
hitting tent fly gave us both a cause to pause... and bloody typically,
it stared to rain pretty good. We knew it was likely, but had both
hoped to be all cocooned in our boats and out paddling before it hit.
Neither of us felt much like breaking camp in the rain, so decided to
give it 30mins to see how it got. After 45 I called Kev and got no
response. By 0700, I still couldn't raise him. By 0745 I had to visit
the bathroom tree and given that the rain was light and not so bad
after all, I packed up and got up.
We now know that once wrapped
up in his hood, Kev can't hear much... At almost 8 am, I had to yell at
him from right outside his tent before he woke up! So we had a bit of a
late start, finally off afloat by 0915.
Slight panic occurred as I
set off as my rudder was totally unresponsive... I thought maybe a
cable had snapped but after a quick check over and feel around I
realised that somehow, both my pedals had self-adjusted themselves to
the end of travel... Once I'd reset and locked them in place, we were
good to head off into the gray gloom.
And trey gloom was how most of
the day went. We really didn't expect to get all that far, and were
just hoping to make a few decent miles, maybe 10 or so, before we'd had
enough but in the end, we were pleasantly surprised to see we'd done
just about 20.
After leaving the nights campsite we battled
across some open water and got the first of the hard rain in our faces
before the wind rain and spray eased up to a constant steady heavy
drizzle/light rain which persisted all day. Not long after setting out,
probably after 4 or 5 miles, we paddled past a Holiday Inn Express,
right next door to a boat storage marina... again, temptation was
waggled in my face, but given that at the time I wasn't too wet or
cold, and economizing was strong in my mind, I padded on past. Kev
admitted he'd have caved very easily if I'd had given the motel the
green light, but was glad I didn't...
We didn't do very well
with lock-luck either, as we ended up having to wait over 45 minutes to
pass through due to a barge going downstream ahead of us, and then one
coming upstream past us.hanging onto the side of the lock, trying to
stay out of the wind whilst getting slapped around by the waves was
lousy.. that and the fact we were both wet through, blue and shivering
was really sucky. I managed to use my small anchor rope and wedge it
into a crack in the wall so I didn't have to use my frozen fingers to
hang onto the metal or concrete side, but Kev didn't have any rope so
his fingers were iceblocks.
Eventually, we got locked through, and
once paddling again, we warmed up a little... but as the afternoon
began, we were getting colder and wetter. I was just glad it wasn't as
cold as the day before or we'd have been popsicles. Our maps wern't
showing us much in the way of campsites, and after being told there was
no camping at a boatramp and picnic area, we pushed on further, by then
both resigned to the uneconomical fact that there were 4 big(ish)
cities around us, and no campsites, so a motel was probably gonna have
to be the way.
By about 3.30, and feeling like 20 miles in crap
weather was something quite worthy, we pulled in at a boatramp that
we'd been aiming for in Bettendorf.
Just as we got there, a school bus pulled in
to the parking lot, and the driver gave us a wave. We waved back, and
carried on getting warmer drier gear on and setting up the wheels. The
next thing we knew, the driver, a great guy named Bill, had come over
to see what we were up to. He had thought that the other truck in the
lot was our support vehicle...
(We'd chatted to that fella a bit too, but
he was just getting out of the house whilst his wife did the vacuuming!)
When
Bill saw the gear we had, and that we were expedition kayakers not
day-trippers, he came over to see what was happening. We gave him our
story and it turned out he is an active and keen paddler himself,
having done many wilderness expeditions in his own handmade (by Bill himself!) canoe...
some expeditions as far up as the Arctic circle! We were (quite
obviously) mightily impressed. He said he had to finish his bus run,
but would be keen to pick us up later and have us stay the night...WOW,
awesome..., just when we really needed one, a paddle-angel appears!
We
had a great night, staying with Bill and his wife Ann, and also getting
to meet Bills mate and adventure buddy, Ron, also a very keen paddler.
We spent the evening trading amazing stories ( the amazing being from them, but
ours are pretty good though...!) and having some local, and very good,
pizza. Laundry was also kindly offered, so all the wet gear was cleaned
and dried.
After
a solid nights sleep, we got all our gear together and got ready to hit
the road again. Bill had left very early to do his us run, and Ann had
also left for work, but by 0900, Bill returned and after a quick detour
to the grocery store for supplies, and Burger King foir a late
brekky/early lunch, he took us back down to the same boatramp to put
back in.
Ron came down to see us there too, and we were
awesomely surprised to see he'd brought us some of his own special
supplies too... No, not home brew... but even better! Home made
dehydrated goodies including beef, pickles and apple slices. We also
have a pumpkin bread that is gonna go down a treat at the next campfire
we spark up!
Ron is a bit of a culinary expert, we heard, and from the wonderful tastes we are experiencing, we agree!
Kevin
had been contacted a while ago by a guy named
Dana Starkell, who had
also kayaked the river like we did...But he did it 28-odd years ago with
his father,
Don Starkell and they continued to go a heck of a lot further, blowing out a Guinness World Record holding canoe trip of over 12,000 miles!!
Dana's mum still lives
in Winnipeg, and that was how he'd got in touch with Kev... and as he
lives in Bettendorf, he came down to see us too!
We felt quite
humbled and honoured to be in the company of such paddle experts, and
when we heard that Dana's father had clocked up over 75,000 miles
paddling, we were blown away... amazing! We love what we are doing, but
we also love other things too, so I don't think we'll have the
dedication to come anywhere near to that amount!
Getting a send
off from the guys was really cool, and so by 1100, we were off again,
paddling into a not-as-bad-as-we thought day.
L-R: Kev, Bill, Dana, Ron and Me... in my sexy thermal pants!
Waiting
at L&D #15, we found it nowhere near as bad as the other day
because the temperature was at least 3 times what it was for the last
40+ minute wait... somewhere around 12 degrees felt like a comparative
heatwave!
We had "NO IDENTIFIED PORTAGE" again, so had to wait for a
barge to go south before we got to go through. We realised why we
couldn't get out and overland at Arsenal Island... because it is a
military base, and even just sitting and waiting by the lock, we got a
few looks from some of the people, or probably military personnel
walking past...
Ron and Bill told us a good story about strange
looking craft too... a few years back, just after 9-11, 2 guys took a
home-made boat down the river, and when they were stopped in
Minneapolis, they left it to go ashore for a while. They left it
moored under a bridge. A friend of theirs is a graphic artist, and had
painted a logo on the side... a saying which to them and their friends
meant "never gonna make it"... or "something that will go wrong...
never work"... the saying was "Ka-Boom!"
So when
they got back to their boat, they found it swarming with a dozens of
agents from the NSA, FBI, CIA etc etc... all their chained up and
locked gear had been cut open and was being looked through.
After
a huge drama, they were allowed to go on their way, but not before
being told quite sternly to "Paint it over!"... but even after doing
so, at each lock they got to, they got greeted with a loud "Hey..!
Ka-Boom!!"...
We had a good laugh at that, and it certainly
makes our run-ins with the law pale in comparison... somethng which
I'm quite happy about!
Anyway, once we got the green light,
we locked through a big sized lock... one with a good 14 foot drop, and
one that had a lot going on elsewhere as it also had a double-decker
road and rail bridge above it which swings out of the way of the
locking boat too... a lot to do for the passage of a barge for sure.
Needless to say, we didn't warrant the swinging of any bridge, but it
was cool to see it all in action for the preceeding barge.
The
location of the bridge was just near the original location of the
first
ever rail bridge to cross the Mississippi. There is just a monument there
now, but Bill was telling us the story of the bridge. Until it came
along, there was no way to get a train and goods across the huge dividing river, so plans for a bridge were drawn up. The
railways that the bride was to connect had been in place in Illinois
and Iowa over 2 years prior to the brige arriving, and so 2 years
before the bridge was finished, one guy had the idea to get a
locomotive across the river on the ice so the Iowa side could start
making freight runs up and down the Iowa side of the river. When the
ice was thick enough (they were hoping) they used horses to drag the
loco over the ice. Men with axes stood close by ready to cut the ropes
should the ice break, so the horse wouldn't get dragged to their
deaths. They got the engine across successfully though, and it was put
into use on one side of the river until the bridge crossing was
completed. The steamboats that ran the river then got annoyed because
they had to navigate around the supporting columns, so a legal battle
began... and the lawyer for the railroads was a young Abraham Lincoln!
The verdict ended up being that both had the right to the river, so the
boats just had to steer better, but still shortly after, one crashed
into the bridge... deliberately or not, they not sure... Hmmmm....?!
Bill
also told us recently they celebrated a big anniversary of the original
bridge. Fog was made and pumped out across the river, then a laser
display re-created the bridge on the fog... very cool, and I'd
have loved to see that.
OK, well, history done with and back to the now...
We
had a late start to the day, so wern't expecting too high an amount of
miles, but by 1530, we'd almost done 17 miles so were pretty happy. It
was getting increasingly foggy and dark so as we'd reached a
Bill-recommended campsite, Buffalo Shores, we paddled on over to the
boatramp there. Sitting in his 4x4 at the ramp was the local ranger,
which was just as well. The campsite was actually closed for the
season, but we got the official OK to stop there for the night, and we
got to pitch right behind the office out of the wind, and next to as
power-outlet!
After pitching tents, (I had to pitch twice as I
managed to find the one mega-rocky patch of ground the first time!) we
pulled up a bench to have dinner and watch some comedy before knuckling
down to some serious update-typing.
Heading for bed at a late-for-us
2100, the campsite was eerily quiet with orange halos of light
spreading out from each sodium lamp in the heavy fog... but at least it
was a decent 6-odd degrees, and the wind had disappeared.
Strangely
enough, the rail-road right next to us had had no trains come along it
all afternoon whilst we were paddling, and none during the evening
whilst we sat relaxing in camp... rugged up in multiple layers, but
relaxing all the same.
We'd noticed that there were quite a few
maintenence vehicles running along the tracks during the day (4x4
trucks that have special train-wheels that fold down so they can run
alomg the tracks... the regular road tyres have just enough contact to
the track to propel the truck, whilst running on the metal wheels...
pretty clever!)
So we were hoping that therefore, there would be
no trains during the night. As if! Just as we were heading in for bed,
the first of about 5 huge rumbling, honking trains came blasting past!
Typical!!
Even with the noisy train traffic, I woke
up feeling pretty well rested and was up and out by 0615. The fog had
lifted and we were both thrilled to see large patched of clear blue
sky. We were paddling by 0800, and the predicted gloomy day never quite
materialised. It was never going to be a sans-shirt day, but we
actually did have some warm hours of paddling. Both of us even took off
our gloves and beanies!
We locked through another L&D, #16 this
time, to a small drop of 8 feet. The lockmaster was an on-to-it guy
though, as he carefully lowered us our ropes so that we could coil them
onto the decks of our boats and they stayed dry. Usually the ropes get
dropped into the icy water and we end up with finger-popsicles... but
not this time.
One particular item I noted today was the extent
and expense people will go to to shoot a goose or a duck! As I'd said
previously, hunting season is here, particularly for goose and
duck. Shotgun blasts ring out fairly often as we paddle, and in areas
of high activity, I like to wear my orange beanie. Of course, they
should be shooting up into the air at flying birds, but it doesn't hurt
to be careful.
Anyway, there are a few ways people seem to like
to hunt... on foot, walking through the marshes, sometimes sitting in a
blind (camouflaged shelter), sometimes out on their camo boat in their
camo clothes. Often, they will use some plastic decoy birds to lure the
real thing into thinking they should also fly in and sit with the other
(unknown to the real bird) fake bird... We have seen all of this taken
to the next level, especially today.
All the birds in these pictures are plastic decoys!
There
were a series of little bushy 'islands' that are actually boat
houses... the hunter drives his boat into and under the 'island' and
then sits and waits for the unsuspecting duck or goose to fly in...
when they do, he, or they, pop up and then BAM! Dinner!
Given that the average decoy costs about $30, today we paddled past about $6000 worth of plastic water fowl!
I
guess you just have to love the "sport"... I say "sport" because as I
said to Kev, it really doesn't seem to be very sporting, but oh well...
It beats furthering the battery-farm business I guess.
Today
was also my last day on memory lane, as now it'll all be new to me
again... we passed under Muscatine bridge, which again was part of the
2007 Northern Tier route I rode with Roadwarrior T.
We
stopped for lunch on the little beach you see above just after getting
through the lock. The sun was trying, but by the time we'd finished
eating, it had given up and we spent the rest of the afternoon in a
more gloomy grey light, battling into the 15-35 mph southerly as we now
started heading due south.
The best part of the day, other than
lunch in Muscatine, was our now regular sighting of the amazing bald
eagle... and this time there were 2 sat on a fairly low branch... I
haven't seen Kevs pix yet, but I hope he got a good one, as he was
closer than me, but I did manage to get a pretty good shot of one of
the beasts in flight...
Very cool!
So
now I am sat in my tent as the rain hammers down from above. Not the
nicest night we've had on the trip so far, but at least we have some
shelter from the wind that seems to be springing back up. We stopped
here on
Kilpeck Island after paddling almost 26 miles today. Luckily the
rain held off until we'd got set up, and it was kinda fun to sit in the
shelter of my tents vestibule and (carefully!) heat up some soup on the
little stove before retreating back into my little shelter to scoff it
down. I accompanied it with some of the goodies from Ron, with the dried
pickles as a side and the apple slices as dessert... awesome!
So
now I am gonna finish up this update, save it all, then brave the rain
for a few moments to do a final guy-line and tent-peg check, tighten
anything that needs it, then jump back in for a lovely wet-wipe-down
(brrr!) before tucking into my cosy sleeping bag and reading a few more
pages of my book...
Until next time!
Roadwarrior-in-the-rain-K
OUT.
Entry #27. November 16th 2008.
Then along came a duck...
Well,
it turned out to be just an OK nights sleep, mostly due to waking up a
lot with the noise of the rain, and also wondering if the tent was
going to stay up...
As I said, I'd had to get up to check the tent
pegs once already, but as I noticed my tent sagging somewhat, I had to
do another check and found that the earth was sodden and now mostly mud on
top... and my tent pegs were sliding through it.
It was time to get down 'n dirty and dig in some dead-men, probably something I should have done to begin with.
A
dead-man is a term for a brace put in the ground to help stop what was
happening to my tent pegs. So one after the other, I pulled out the
sliding peg, scraped out a hole where each peg was, jammed a good 1"
thick, 6" long bit of stick into it laying flat perpendicular to the tent pegs direction of pull, then buried the
stick (the "dead-man") back in. Once tramped down, I then slid the
tent peg back into the ground so it was just behind but against the dead-man, and where
it held much more solidly.
Once
that was all done, afterb a cold wipe up with my wet grubby towel, I
retreated back to the noisy comfort of my tent and tried to get some
more sleep.
The
rain persisted most of the night but by morning, was pretty much done
with, so although it was still pretty smelly and muddy, we got up OK and
hit the water by 0755.
Hiding away in the sloughs, the cold
northerly wind wasn't too bad, and we stopped for pictures almost right
away as the flat calm misty morning was pretty cool to see.
We
were quite pleasantly surprised to find we could paddle along without
beanies and gloves for the most of the day, although paddling over to
the lock was a bit of a dash...
We could see a barge already in the
lock, and there appeared to be another one downstream, possibly waiting
to come up. Kev radioed ahead and we were told that they'd lock us
through once the 1st barge was clear... From where we were, the lock
appeared to be a few hundred yards away, but as always the distance is
deceptive. We were just over a mile away so we had to lay down some
power and do the mad dash...!
As it turned out, we got there and
ended up waiting 15 minutes, so it was just a sweat generating session!
I was expecting the locking barge to be headed upstream (and hence we
go in as he exits, go down, and the next barge enters after we
leave...) but it turned out the 1st barge was going the same way as us
and they would re-fill the lock and send us through ahead of the
northbound barge. Quite a surprise that we were given that courtesy. It
was great that they recognised the fact that we'd be done and through a
lot quicker than the barge would be, and didn't want to keep us waiting
in the cold... very impressed!
Again though, it was funny that
we'd seen no other river traffic up until we reached the lock, when we
see 2 barges at the same time... but anyway, we locked through and
headed on out the other side, past the waiting barge.
Paddling
mostly south now, the north wind was at our backs and driving us along
pretty well.. although it was beginning to get more and more crisp,
especially on the cheeks and ears, so headwear and hoods went on after
a while. We stopped at the tiny 'town' of Keithsburg for lunch where we
sat in the shelter of the local boat-club to get out of the now
bitingly cold wind. Both Kev and I were beginning to run low on water
so seizing the chance, as there was a small campsite on the river, we
went to fill up at the bathrooms there. Only to find them locked! So
Kev did a recce into the 'town' where he found 1 tiny store/gas station
and 3 bars. Yes... 3 bars! I guess there isn't much else to do in town
other than drink! At least we got topped up with H2O, but not before
Kev blew the minds of a few already pickled barflys with his story of
what we were doing.
We stayed in the main channel for most of the
rest of the arvo and were enjoying the solid flow south it was giving
us. Sitting and drifting we were moving at 3.5 mph, but when paddling,
we were clocking a good 6mph or just over!
After 28.5 miles, we
stopped for the night at Delabar State Park which was also our first
night in Illinois, having been on the Iowa side of the river thus far.
The park was technically closed for the season, but as usual, we were
quiet and kept to ourselves whilst not hiding and looking dodgy. There
are a number of residents in the park too, and although quite a few
drove past, no-one said anything, so I guess we were obviously no
bother.
The night was a bit windy, but as we were a few hundred
yards back and up from the river, it wasn't too bad. Having picnic
tables and power was a great bonus, so again, more updates were typed
and more comedy watched during dinner... which was another great feast
of brats cooked over the fire we coaxed into life... damn damp wood! My
pocket-rocked stove came into use again as I blasted the damp kindling
into blazing glory! Unfortunately, even whilst being careful as usual,
somehow I also managed to burn 3 good holes in my lovely Marmot jacket,
so I was quite pissed about that. I've patched it with my kit, but it's
not the same... good for war-wounds and adventure stories though I
guess...
As we were finishing up with watching some comedy, we got a
few flakes of snow start to fall, but even still there was time for one
more bit of food: marshmallows were also 'cooked' on the open flame,
one of my most favourite things to do, before we turned in for the
night.
For some strange (dumb) reason, I thought I'd sleep without
my liner... I think I wanted to experience more freedom-of-movement...
but in the end it was more of a freedom-of-warmth. It wasn't toooooo
bad, but the wind was blowing enough to rustle the plastic bags in my
tent so I ended up waking at about 5am and wishing I'd used the liner.
Lesson learnt!
Everything was nice and dry when we woke, so that
was a good start. Laying there just about to get up, the banging started
again, signalling the start of another days hunting. A thought occurred
to me as I was changing into day-wear and braving the cold... Normally,
the dawn of a new ay is heralded by the crowing of a rooster, or the
twittering of small birds... but here it is greeted by the noisy blast
of a shotgun and the death of a duck! Wonderful!! Ok, time for breakfast...
Leaving
camp that morning, we both stopped to take some pix of the lovely
golden-brown leaves covering the whole area. I also took some pix of a
temporary new addition to the trip...
Kev
had found Fred the Mallard floating ass-up beside one of the islands
we'd paddled past the previous day, and so just had to rescue him. He
stayed with us for that day, but as we left camp the next day, he found
a new home with a passing duck-hunter we met at the boat ramp as we put
back in... and it's a plastic decoy for the slow-on-the-uptake amongst you!
The wind was
still blowing, and we didn't have as much shelter as the day before so
it meant more of a work-out and a wet start... especially on the 2 mile
wide section we had to cross to get to the next lock.
Entering
L&D #17 was a bit of a ride too because the prevailing wind was
driving the decent waves at us, but it was also bouncing off the huge
concrete lock wall so as we paddled in, it was like we were po-go-ing
along, bouncing almost up and down on these little pointy waves...
kinda fun I guess!
Once we got out of the lock we cut hard right to
get across to the Iowa side of the river again, and into some shelter
from the NW wind. The slough we were in ran for a good 6-7 miles so we
had plenty of shelter to get us to our planned half-day rest and
re-supply stop of Burlington.
We passed quite a number of cabins and
houses as we paddled, many of which had noticable water damage and
high-tide marks still staining their sides. In June, Iowa had some
record high flood levels so many of the lower houses were ruined. Those
that were repairable were being re-set on much higher pilings. We
stopped briefly to chat to a couple of local guys who told us that the
water was lapping at their front deck... and as you can see from the
pic below... the water must have been bloody high, as it's a high front
deck!
We
got into Burlington just before midday, a decent 16 miles done, and after speaking to a local
guy at the boatramp, were somewhat frustrated to find out all the
motels were about 3 miles away on the other side of town... up the huge
hill!
Sucking
it up, we made the walk, boats in tow to the very nice Arrowhead motel.
We did actually pass a closer motel, about 1 mile before we reached the
Arowhead, but when a motel advertises "Colour TV" and "In-room Phone!"
you know it's not gonna be much to write home about! Unless you have
time-warped back to 1975 of course...
The Arrowhead was great...
we had solid WiFi, the laundry was on-site, Taco Bell was 200 yars up
the road, and the guy at the desk was just knocking off as we checked
in so he gave us a ride to Walmart for groceries.
Having a short
rest stop like this was perfect... we got everything done we needed
too... we cleaned clothes, dried gear, washed in hot water, did updates
and emails, watched Mythbusters, ate Taco Bell, stocked up on food and
essentials and as it was -5 (yes, MINUS 5) outside and snowing, had a solid warm sleep.
This morning we hit the road, then the river again. It wasn't
until almost noon that we got going, and although it wasn't a full day
off, I felt like it had been.
The afternoon was pretty decent, and
much more enjoyable for the beaming sunshine. I had got a couple of
needed things at Walmart, and was enjoying paddling in them; thick
socks and a new fleece. Much cosier and comfortable.
The sun was
beginning to be eclipsed by clouds later in the afternoon as we began
to push into the now SE wind, but it made for a great sight to paddle
into.
We
have stopped for the night on Grape Island, the island on the right you
can see in the first picture above. It was almost 4.15 when we pulled
in, and given that it is dark by 5pm, it was just about right.
13
miles, the last 5 of which were into a stiff headwind wasn't bad for
4-odd hours paddling. We got set up quick, and given the huge amount of
decent, dry dead wood around, we felt we just HAD to have another
campfire. So we did!
Once
the tents were up and filled with sleep gear, we got busy snappin'
and crackin' the dead wood into decent manageable sized bits andlit 'er up.
Whilst
some new brats were cooked over the flames
(Chili and Cheese this time!) as well as some more marshmallows
roasted, I got to send a few SMS's as I had cell coverage... I even got
some replies which was nice! Then I got round to
digging out this little lap-top to bang out another update.
It
is pretty crisp and cold tonight, but at least it's dry. The fire is
warm and the wind is lessening so once I am done with the typing, it'll
be time to just sit and watch the flames for a while I reckon... not
too bad a way to spend the evening... I wish you were here!
Cheers for now,
Fireside RWK.
Gone.
The
low of minus 1 was taken pretty easily as I'd got all the right layers
on and my bag was freshly dried and aired from the night in the motel.
The wind was down to nothing and the trains were audible, but from
quite a distance away and were not that disturbing. The barges were
somewhat more noticable though as they were passing within 30m of the
island... the low rumble of the engines wasn't too bad, but the
insanely bright floodlamps made night become day for the 3 minutes or
so it took them to pass..!
Kev had found another friend as we'd
pulled into the island the night before, but he was too big to take
along... so Gary the Goose was left to roam the island by himself...
We
got a decent early start hitting the water by 0720, and leaving the
island was nice and calm to begin with, but as usual once we were out
further into the channel, it got a bit choppier and we had a little bit
of snow. But just a little... There was a huge amount of cloud above
us, but it was creeping away to reveal some nice-looking blue sky.
Eventually, we were blessed with some sun and clear skies just as we
hit a large lake section which was a good 3 miles wide and 8 miles
long.
Typically, about 2 miles into the lake, the clouds came back
over and the wind picked up... The ramaining 6 miles were spent
wrestling the kayak through 3 foot choppy waves, getting pretty cold
and wet.
Once we cleared the lake and got to calmer waters we
did a 10 minute cold quick-scoff of a tin of food before pushing on to
our biggest lock yet, L&D #19. Clearly visible for 6 miles, again
it seemed to take ages to reach it, but at least by then we were on
flatter water with the wind behind us pushing us along.
The lock
was unusual for having a gate that dropped vertically rather then
opening like a door, and also, it had a huge drop of 36 feet... over 10
meters. We didn't hang on to ropes either, but to some very nifty
floating bollards that the barges also anchor to (so they are very big
and strong!) but they drop and rise with the lock water level.
The bollard at the top, Me holding on on the ride down, & the bollard at the bottom.
As
we entered the lock, I could see we were almost level with the top of
the railway swing bridge ahead of us, but once we got out, we paddled
right under it... It was a long drop that was for sure!
We made
another small milestone later that afternoon too... Paddling past the
De Moines river we entered into Missouri... our 7th state. And
it was in Missouri that we stopped for the night too. We were looking
for spmewhere to stop because it was getting very close to 5 pm, the
sun was down behind the trees, and the temperature was plummeting. We
thought we'd found the perfect spot only to find a cabin/house there so
we had to push on a bit further... but by 5 pm, just opposite Dallas City IL, we were pulled up at the
south end of Willow Bar as my GPS called it, or Fox Island, as
Kevs maps called it... So
Fox-Willow Island was what we called it.
It
was covered in a great amount of good dry wood, so we quickly threw the
tents up (but I took a bit longer as I had to dig in 4 solid dead-men
to stop the pegs sliding in the sandy soil) and before the last of the
light disappeared, we gathered, snapped and busted up as much wood as
possible. By 5.30 pm it was dark... and -1.5C already! Both mine and
Kevs wet shorts, towels, shoes and sponges were frozen solid in no
time. My elastic cargo net was stiff and more like some hard fencing
wire!
As before, once the fire was roaring (and it got going very
quickly and easily with the decent dry wood) we positioned all the wet
stuff around it to dry and settled down next to the heat ourselves to
heat up some soup. The sky was totally clear with stars shining down...
a great night to be out in the fresh air, crisp as it was. The colour
of the coals and the flames were mesmerising and sitting watching them
flicker whilst drying out, warming and airing my feet was fantastic.
With
the early start we got, the hard paddle across the lake, and the
fact we'd pushed on a bit more than normal to find a spot to stop
(clocking up almost 35 miles) we were pretty tired so hit the sack by 9
pm.
The night got down pretty cold... when I reached out my hand
past my nose (my hood was done right up tight!) out of my sleeping bag
to look at my watch, it said minus 6 C... pretty chilly! Kev and I both
agreed that a slightly later start mightn't be a bad idea, and we were
both very pleased to feel and see the golden rays of the sun hitting
our tents by 0700. I got up and was even more pleased to see crystal
clear deep blue skies!
We laid out a few frozen items (there was ice from
breath-moisture on the outside of the sleeping bags and we had still frozen
spray-skirts) on the riverbank to dry in the early morning sun whilst
having brekky and taking down the tents before packing up and sliding
the boats down to the wonderfully calm water.
Although
still cold and crisp, it was a fantastic mornings paddle. The water was
like glass, but with a decent 3 mph running current so we made
excellent time paddling along at 6 mph. Zero wind meant that although
it was cold enough to freeze the paddle-spray on the shaded side of the
kayak, it was almost 10 degrees on the sunny side and I was able to
paddle in just a jacket and thermal T-shirt... I left my fleece in the
day-hatch.
We locked through L&D # 20 in no time as Kev had radioed ahead: we went straight in, and it was only a 5 foot drop.
It
was a bit choppy as we exited due to the dam turbulence, but once we
were 100 yards beyond it, the calmness came back. A small breeze had
sprung up however, so there was now a bit of a bite in the air so we
made sure we found some shelter for lunch where Kev did some phone call
checking on some orders.
He had ordered a new sleeping bag again as
his previous one has been leaking down almost as bad as mine was... so
we were due to collect it on the way through
Quincy, Illinois either
last thing today or first thing tomorrow... It should have been
delivered today (Tuesday) but they stuffed up the shipping order so now
it won't arrive until lunchtime Wednesday. So we ended up stopping here in Quincy
so we can collect it as soon as it arrives and hopefully get away and
have a good paddle still.
The town is a laid out a bit like
Burlington... on steep hills! So pulling the 120lb boats up steep
slopes for a mile was some serious calf-busting exercise.
The
sunset over the river and Missouri was pretty nice, so I went up a few
floors in the motel we have stopped at to enjoy the view and as usual,
take a snap or two.
So now it is time to save this and get it uploaded on to my site for your viewing pleasure!
Cheers for now!
RWK.
Entry #29. November 20th 2008.
Stuffed up Sleepin' Bag!
Well,
best laid plans don't always go as expected... and rather annoyingly so
in this case. We are still in Quincy, having had to stay a day here due
to yet another mistake with Kevs new bag.
As said before, they cocked up the delivery by not sending it when
they should have, so it arrived a day late. More bad news was that they
cocked up HOW it should have been sent, so instead of arriving around
0900, it was due to arrive sometime in the afternoon! Luckily,
something went right, and it did arrive before noon, around 1100.
But
when I saw Kev open the box and clap his hands to his head, I knew
something else was wrong... and it was. They'd sent the wrong bloody
bag!!!
After a lot of phoning, and showing remarkable restraint, Kev had it (we hope) sorted out. To the credit of Backcountry,
a pretty-damn-good on-line gear store, (I have got stuff from them
before and they are great, very communicative and generally good to
deal with) they showed excellent customer service in sorting out a
mistake. (The mistake appears to be some dumb-ass in the warehouse
grabbing the wrong bag and putting in the wrong delivery pile).
Kev
and I discussed our options, and it was agreed that it was probably
best to just stay here the day, get it sorted out and get the new bag
expressed here by tomorrow morning, then hit the river... hard. Plus it
was forecast to be wonderful weather for the next 4-5 days so we were
good there.
So, Backcountry agreed to refund the original express
postage cost, pay for the wrong bag to be sent back, pay to send the
new corrct bag, give a 10% discount off the cost of the bag, AND pay
for our (un-needed) motel costs! Another big reason we sucked up another zero-mile day... it was zero cost financially.
Now that's what I call making up for a mistake! Singapore, you could learn something about customer service here!
The
most annoying thing we are feeling is we have missed a good days paddle
that we need and it was a glorious day, and the warmest one we've had
in 3 weeks. To annoy us further, the weather this morning is not what was forecast... it is gloomy, overcast, and bloody cold with a stiff north wind... 3 C now feels like -3 C in the wind...
The
Days Inn we stopped at isn't really the best we've ever been to
either... The bath-tub wouldn't drain so we ended up having a shower
with old cold dirty water up to mid-shin, (no, not together!), the WiFi
was weak and intermittent, and the phone wouldn't work... well, number 4
worked, but that can't even get you the front desk! I did get to see
the new episode of Mythbusters though so that was great. We also had a
superb meal on our first night here at O'Griffs, an Irish microbrewery
and resteraunt, and yesterday we stuffed ourselves silly at a $6
all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet... so we made some good use of our time.
The kayaks were also easy to get straight in the room, although they
did monopolize the floor-space!
Well, we are now sitting, waiting, wishing that the bag turns up as ordered, on time,
so we can make a good effort at paddling 12-15 miles this afternoon.
The wind will be at our backs and the current appears to be running
well, so that should be possible... although we do have to get through
L&D # 21 right after we leave the town boatramp, so hopefully that
will be a quick and easy task.
So until the next update...
Cheers!
RWK!
Back in the icy wilds...
Well, we did eventually get away from Quincy and get almost 13 more miles down-river before calling it a day.
The
correct sleeping bag arrived at 1100, so after Kev sent off the other
one, and took his old bag and some other bits to the post office, we
rolled down to the boat ramp and put in to the choppy cold water.
Approaching
the lock that was less than 2 miles from where we put in, we could see
a barge making it's way in northbound, which is becoming a typical
annoying theme. When it is sunny and fine, we lock straight through,
(which is goodk, obviously...) but when it is cold wet and windy, we
have to wait for one or more barges! Kev got on the radio and we were
told it'd be a 45 minute wait... which as we know is more like an hour
to an hour & a half. He asked the lockmaster if there was any
identified portage around, and was told not really, but we could
probably get over the Missouri side if we wanted to.
Rather then
sit and wait in the wind and cold, we paddled over and were pleased to
see the dam wall was a navigable rocky slope on the downstream side, so
we were able to hop out onto the wall, walk the boats doen the slope
and put back in, all in under 15 minutes.
The
rest of the afternoon wasn't too bad as the wind dropped slightly, plus
the fact we were on the western side of the river gave us some decent
shelter. After 3-odd hours of paddling it was getting towards the time
to find shelter.
We pulled up at a suitable-looking island
(Whitney Is) and hopped out. The first order was to put more layers on
as the small wind that was present was bitingly cold and before we'd
even begun to pull the boats up the bank, ice was forming on all the
wet surfaces.
Once we'd hauled the boats in and set up the tents, we did the mad wood-gathering session again. It was only
1715 hrs, and already almost minus 2 C. Bloody hell!!
The
evening was extremely cold, but sheltering behind a big tree from the
wind, and having a roaring campfire made the (by then) minus 4 C
temperatures bearable.
Overnight, it dropped to the lowest
we';ve had yet... Minus 8. MINUS EIGHT!! I was well rugged up in
layers, and in my good bag, but I still woke at 0400 and found myself a
bit cold. And desperate for a pee... dammit!
Sucking it up, and
annoyed I didn't bring my pee-bottle (an old Powerade bottle... very
useful... if you're a guy... or a girl with good aim I guess... but I
digress...!) I unzipped (out of my sleeping bag!) and got out of my
tent to ease the pressure. Surprisingly, without the north wind, it was
not too bad. The air was totally still and the stars were twinkling
across the deep purple sky. It was looking to be the clear day we'd
hoped for...
After another 3 hours of semi-sleep, I gave Kev the
yell and we got up to see our hopes were answered. Crystal clear deep
blue skies, and the sun just breaking through the trees. It was still
well below zero as we packed up and put in, but thelack of any wind,
flat calm water, and the beaming sun made it all just fine for us.
I noticed down at the waters edge, the lapping water had formed icicles on the tree roots and overhanging branches.
We saw even more as we paddled along during the day.
Even
in the blazing sunshine, the temperature didn't get much above
freezing, but with no wind and flat water we stayed dry and quite
comfortable.
We stayed in the channel for most of the day as the
need to use the islands for shelter wasn't there. The channel has
certainly been running better the past few days and we were happy to
see we were paddling along at a decent 5.5 to 6.2 mph.
Just to prove
my point from earlier, we approached L&D #22, and after Kev had
radioed ahead, were told to paddle right in and we locked straight
through.
Lunch was a hurried affair, mostly due to the
slight northerly breeze that had started to blow just after we cleared
the lock. We stopped on a large sand-bar hoping to enjoy the beaming
sun, but the breeze just made it too damn cold. Jigging from foot to
foot, we quickly threw together some baloney sandwiches, although we
did manage to air out the sleeping bags in the sun though... they had a
little bit of moisture from our breath condensing on them from the
night before, so it is good to try and dry them out whenever
possible. The log sat in the water that was covered in ice, and the huge frozen puddle on the beach really
didn't help us feel any warmer either!
Once
paddling again, we warmed back up and continued in the channel for the
rest of the afternoon until we got near the town of Hannibal. Being
Friday, we didn't want to be too near a small town with small-town
drunken idiots being a distinct possibility, so we stopped just short,
stopping on South Fritz Island, 28 miles done.
After
setting up the tents, me taking longer as I had to dig in 4 dead-men,
we spent a good half-hour busting up more excellent and plentiful dead
dry wood ready for the fire which caught nice and easily. We both fired
up our stoves too for a good hot meal. We added to the meal with the
excellent dried roast beef from Ron which re-hydrated easily and tasted
just like it had come out of the oven!
So I am yet
again, sat next to the campfire typing, but it is getting increasingly
hard to do so, due to the fact the mercury is dropping like mad...
It'll probably be colder than last night, and my right hand, which is
further from the fire and hidden behind the computer screen is now
bloody frozen... so it is time to save this, pack up and get warm
before dashing to my tent and layering up for the night.
RW-KOLD.
OUT.
Entry #31. November 23rd 2008.The
overnight low as I saw it on my watch wasn't anywhere near as cold as
the -10 forcast, thank goodness. It was still -4, but as we'd rugged up
extra well for the anticipated -10, we slept pretty darn cosily. By the
time we got up 'n out, the nights cloud cover, although now blocking
the much desired and enjoyed sun, did go a long way to keeping the
temperature higher... we were actually in the positives when we were
packing up... 1.5 degrees was quite a bit warmer then we'd gotten used
to of late.
After a quick pack up, we carried the boats down to the water and had an easy entry, paddling away by 0820.
A
huge double barge was passing us as we put in, and we both had a
feeling we'd be seeing it again, probably right around the time we got
to the next lock...
The clouds became to be darker and gloomier
quite fast and with the wind that was present was making the going a
bit rough. The spray was freezing on the boats and us, so we knew it
was cold again. I wasn't doing too bad, especially when moving, but Kev
was having a bit of a cold miserable day. Especially given that his
spray skirt doesn't seem to do much of a good job keeping waves out of
his lap... and the windy chop we were battling through kept dumping
them on him with unfortunate regularity.
After seeing the next
lock in the distance, we ploughed ahead through the chop for 5-odd
miles until we reached it, and sure enough, the barge was in the lock
still. Kev got on the horn and we were told we'd be right through in 15
minutes or so... the barge was almost done and heading out. Not bad. So
sheltering in the lee of the lock wall, we scoffed down some power-bars
and took 5. Well, 15...
The gates were opened for us (although not fully) right on time, and we paddled on though the gap.
It
is proper protocol to open the gates fully, then after the horn sounds
you paddle in, but it is a lot of time and effort for 2 tiny kayaks,
and if they were cool with just opening up enough for us, then we were
for sure.
This was L&D #24. Yes, #24. The sharp ones amongst
you should now be saying "But what about #23?"... Well, due to
the never-ending odditys of the Army Corp of Engineers, they didn't
build it. By all accounts, it went something like; they had them all
planned out, but realised #25 could do the work well enough, so they
didn't need a lock and dam between #23 and #25. So no #24. This is of
course the same ACoE that printed the river maps we used on the Red
River... and those same maps were not only 10 years VERY out of date
(Catfish Haven springs immediately to mind!) but also they had multiple
identical river-mile markers. We saw four 'mile 185' markers... 182,
183, 184, 185, 185... 185 (eh?) 185, (WTF?) 189, 190... Hmmmmm. Someone
needs firing!
So, once out the other side, the chop and the wind
was still more than ideal and we were both hungry for lunch, but
neoither of us had much desire to stop and get out. The small town of
Clarksville, (where you can take the last train to, I believe) was just
after the lock, but it didn't look to have anything to offer in the way
of shelter or food. A hot servo pizza would have been awesome right
about then, but we were out of luck.
After pushing on for an
hour or so, we decided to just turn in to a slough where there was a
bit more shelter, nose on to a sandy bank, sit with our backs to the
wind and scoff down a tin of food... so that was lunch. Quick n cold,
but fuel to burn.
We'd
seen a number of deer hunters out and
about all day, their distinctive bright blaze-orange caps and jackets
glowing amongst the dull greens and browns of the wooded islands and
river
banks. Rifle shots would ring out periodically through the day,
sometimes just the single shot (hopefully a good clean hit) but more
often
than not, a single shot followed quickly by a short volley of others...
the "spray and pray" kind of hunter. So I made sure I had MY
blaze-orange beanie on as we paddled along, particularly as we started
to
get close to islands to look for a camp-spot, and most definitely as I
wandered up the bank onto the island to scope for a camp-spot.
What not to do when walking around an island with hunters nearby, and what you should do!We
had a set
quota for the day, a minimum of 25 miles so that we can make it to St
Louis in 4 days or so, as Kev would like to be there for
Thanksgiving... and after completing that by 1600 hrs, at 25.8 miles,
Cold-Kev had had enough and we stopped at Mozier Island, MO. The ground
was
less than ideal for my tent though, as it was all soft sand... so
I had to get busy dead-manning like mad. I ended up having to
double-dead-man each peg, putting 2 solid sticks into the sand and
tramping it down as hard as possible before sliding the tent peg
between the wood... one to stop the top of the peg being pulled
forward, the other to stop the bottom of the peg being levered
backward. And it worked just fine... but still a bit of a pain in the
rear.
That
same rear was sat warm n happy a short whle later though, as we made
another fantastic roaring fire. We dug out a decent amount of sand to
make our own little hearth and whilst leaning back against a big tree,
basked in the warming orange glow.
The night was somewhat
warmer, mostly due to the now southerly wind bringing up warmer air. It
was still below freezing in the early hoiurs though, and as the air is
more moist again, we woke to ice-covered tents and even some on the
tops of our sleeping bags, so we were hoping the sun would be shining
so we could have a lunchtime drying session. Poking my head out, I was
pleased to see a wonderful clear sky growing deeper and more blue by
the minute as the sun came beaming up through the trees.
Early
morning hunters had woken us a bit sooner then normal with the
alarm-call of rifle fire, so by 0715, we were up and had eaten brekky
(pop tarts and museli bars as usual) and were heading for the water. I
had got in just fine, but Kev was having a bit of a moment, having
dropped a nice dry glove in to the river, and whilst attempting to grab
it, knock his shoes in too. He had a few choice words to echo off the
trees, but once done venting, got paddling out to where I was waiting,
space given.
The morning was lovely for the shining sun and better
temperatures, but not so lovely for the 10 mph headwind that was
dropping our average quite considerably. We'd been getting quite
accustomed to clipping along with an average of 4.3 mph to 4.8 mph, but
today we were crawling at a hard-fought 3.2... It's not much fun to
think you've done 12-15 miles and see it is only 9.
Also, the sun,
whilst glorious, combined with the wind makes for strange temperature
differences across the body. I find it really annoying to be sweating
and uncomfortable across my body, but my fingers and toes are freezing.
I have ended up doing multiple changes to wardrobe... maybe even all
within 10 minutes! Gloves on, gloves off, hat on, hat off, pit-zips
open, pit-zips shut, neck-scarf on, neck-scarf off... any and/or all
combinations... whatever works to keep comfy!
We stopped for an
early lunch, mostly because there was a nice big sandy beach bathed in
sunlight, but sheltered from the worst of the wind. Again, the sleeping
bags were laid out to dry off and air and also we dried off the last of the ice and
water from the tents whilst we ate. Once packed up, we paddled on
another 6 miles to L&D #25 where we got the green light straight
away and were though in 15 minutes.
We were both low on water, and
this stretch of river seems to have nothing in the way of shops or gas
stations... or towns at all for that matter.
Passing a few river
cabins/houses, we spotted a guy tying up his boat so swung over to ask
what there was around. Nothing was the answer, so we asked if he could
fill up a bottle or two for us. He was kind enough to do so, and so
with a bit more H2O, 'podding' to music for speed, we pushed on for the
last bit of the day, racing the setting sun to try and make the 25 mile
quota, and find a decent spot for the night.
Our island appears
to be un-named, so due to the huge amount of washed up dead wood from
the floods earlier this year, we've called it Floatwood Island.
Floatwood appears to burn pretty well too, as we have another little
fire going, mostly so Kev can dry out his gloves and shoes. The night
is amazingly warm compared to what we have been used to. Nothing is
frozen, and it is still at least 6 degrees. We are both enjoying not
having to defrost everything before going to bed!
However,I'm
not sure bed is going to be that great, as I appear to have something
smelly near the vicinity of mjy tent... something that smells like it
had been though the digestive system of some kind of animal... yes, it
seems like I may have pitched on
poo. Damn..!
So, on that
note, I think it's time to get this saved, then finish my book... and we
are both pleased to hear the low tonight is still a few digits ABOVE
zero, so bad smells aside, it should be a decent warm kip!
RWK
Toasty.
Entry #32. November 24th 2008.
Clouds, clean water, calm paddling and Cops!
Meeting the long arm of the law in Grafton, Illinois!
Well,
what a day! It was a day of many events and changes, not least of which
was meeting up with the Poh-leece in Grafton... but I will get to that
shortly.We
woke up to the annoying noise of some kind of wildfowl, making a
regular and repeated call from about 5 am onwards... both of us were
tempted to wring it's neck and call it Thanksgiving dinner even though
it was 3 days early, and probably not a turkey!
Luckily it was nice and warm still so getting up
wasn't the unpleasant chore it has been and after a fast pack-up we
were carefully sliding the kayaks back down the steep bank we'd heaved
them up the night before. By 0730 we were afloat and heading off
downriver.
However, spirits for a good days paddle were sinking as the sky was heavily clouded, dark and gloomy, and the
wind was blowing a heck of a lot more than the day before... We had an
idea we'd be in for some rough water depending on how we tackled the
river. The day was certainly looking to be a bit of a rough miserable one, so we
layered up and prepared for a long wet rough day.
Using
our
island for shelter as much as possible, we made some fairly good miles
even though the 20-25 mph wind was driving up some good swells in the
main channel We stayed close to the land and the islands as much as
possible, managing to avoid most of the chop until we had
to cross over from the Illinois side to the Missouri side as we knew
there was a few marinas over there where we were hoping to get some
more water and some food. As usual, the crossing meant being hit by
waves from the side so by the time we got across, we had both been
given a good dousing although I was faring better with my
tighter-fitting and more water-shedding spray-skirt.
Stopping at 'Johns Boat Harbour' , whilst Kev sponged out his wet cockpit, I
popped out of my boat and ran up to the garage there to see if there
was anyone around, or if it was even open during the winter. As it
happened, the guys were just opening for work and were only too happy
to let us use the spigot outside to fill up. There was nothing in the
shop, but they gave us a box of granola bars for snacking on, which was
bloody awesome! The day was suddenly looking a lot better... snacks and
water by 0900... not bad!
Leaving the harbour, we still were
hidden from the wind by some outlying islands and the sun was even
beginning to battle its way through the clouds.
We were both still
in need of a bit more food for lunch and dinner having run low since
the last stocking up session so we stopped again at a small resteraunt
on the side of the river next to a car barge dock... but it was closed
for the season, and probably wouldn't have had stuff to sell like we
needed anyway. The good news was that the sun was now out in full force
and even though we were headed slightly north (we'd much rather be
heading south... it's where we need to be going) it did mean that
Illinois was doing a great job of sheltering us from the north-west
wind. The water was almost calm and we even had to stop to put on some
sun-block!
Going on advice from a chap I spoke to earlier at the
car-barge dock, we stayed against the Illinois side of the river for
another 10 miles or so, heading for the town of Grafton.
The scenery
was pretty awesome with huge caves in some rock faces and pine-covered
cliffs rising above us on the left... quite a change from the now
almost bare trees we'd been getting used to seeing.
We
passed some very laden barges as we headed towards Grafton. They were
piled high with rocks that are used to reinforce the current-facing
sides of the islands. We also saw the workers dumping the rocks at one
island... a lot of long hard work by the looks of things!
I
took some pix of the loaded up barges, and as you can see, compared to
the unloaded barge on the right, they are very low in the water! It's
amazing that they even still float with all those tons of rocks on
them... but they do!
So
after 18 miles of paddling, miles which looked to be hard fought, but
turned into pretty nice ones, we pulled into Grafton to do a small
re-supply.
After setting up on the wheels at the boatramp, we rolled
0.2 miles onto Main St and to the Amoco Gas Station where we got the
usual odd and inquisitive looks and questions.
We'd had the black
police patrol car pass us as we wheeled along, and as we were aout to
go into the gas station store, the officer pulled in to see us.
We
had a bit of a chat about what we were doing, where we were from etc
etc... and he was a really cool guy, and a keen paddler himself. I had
joked earlier about us always attracting the law, and that I'd have
loved to get a pic of me being 'busted' and being cuffed leant over the
boats. As we'd discussed between ourselves before, Kev and I didn't
ever think we'd get the pic, as understandably, law enforcement
officers might not be comfortable, or even allowed to pose for such a
thing... Well, as the officer was about to head off, he said, "So, do
you want that pic then?"! What a great sport! He even got the cuffs out
for authenticity and looking like he meant it, as Kev aimed the camera,
I was busted!
Once more... BUSTED!
We
laughed our asses off for quite some time afterwards whilst we sat on
the curb outside the servo and feasted on $3 gas-station pizzas, sodas and
burritos.
After a stella lunch and a cheapy re-supply of
food: Ramen noodles, (plus I scored a buy-1-get-1-free soda) we
put back in and with the wind right at our backs, hit some record
speeds riding the waves for 8 miles to Eagles Nest Island.
The waves were rolling in just
the right way for us to ride them out of town, and as just said, I
managed to clock up 8.6 mph off the face of a big roller... sweet! Of
course, it'd look as boring as heck if we tried to video it, and after
the ride, you feel like you should be hundreds of yards ahead, but Kev
was just 10-15 yards behind me still... but it still feels cool!
We decided that the coverage of the island looked pretty decent and thick, keeping us sheltered from the wind, so at 26.2
miles, we pulled in there and have stopped for the night. The sunset was again well worth 10 minutes of picture taking...
So
we are yet again, sat by the fire. The wind has died and it is still in
the positives so nothing is freezing which is always good. We are
less than 30 miles from the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis, so have to
plan how and where to get through the city and the Chain of Rocks so we
have somewhere to stop for the night tomorrow... there are no island
campgrounds in the 'hood..! Kev has been in touch with his friend Mindy
who is coming into St Louis tomorrow, and she has a friend Tony who may
be able to hook us up... fingers crossed!
Either way, whatever happens, we'll figure it out... we always do!
RW-K
Released on good behaviour!
Around
0200 on Eagles Nest Island, the roaring wind in the trees, (and the
building pressure inside) caused me to wake up and have to answer the
call of nature. It was about 2C, so actually not too bad once ensconced
back inside my warm downy bag where even with the noisy wind, I managed
to drift back off to sleep, hoping the wind was going to die down by
daylight.
As
it turned out, it did blow itself out, so the forecast wind of 15 mph
for the day was barely a 5 mph breeze. Even though the temperature had
dropped to just over zero, the lck of wind and the rising sun meant
packing up wasn't too cold an affair. Pop tarts and museli bars were
scoffed whilst taking down the tents and filling the boats back up.
We were very pleased to see clear completely skies again, so the push to St Louis was looking to be a nice one.
The
sun had just broken the horizon as we put the boats back into the
water, giving a pretty cool orange-pink light to the trees.
The 12-odd mile paddle round to L&D #26, or as it is usually known, the
"Mel Price" Dam, (named for Congressman
Melvin Price) was pretty good other than a bit of an achey lower back, most probably due to the rolling in the waves the other day.
This
lock and dam was a big industrial looking thing with a good 15 foot
drop, but we had no problems again, paddling straight in, down and out
in under 15 minutes.
We passed another non-event of a milestone
as we paddled passed the confluence of the Missouri River. We were told
it was a raging mud-filled torrent, where you need to avoid the strong
entering current, easily visible by the dark brown colour... Not so
much. It was so much the same, we would have paddled right by had
we not known it was there from our maps.
Stopping for an eary lunch before paddling through the long straight Chain of Rocks Canal to the
Chain of Rocks Lock, or L&D #27 (to avoid the rough area known as the Chain of Rocks) we didn't have much choice of dining spots.
We
pulled into a small river outlet and although Kev managed to get out
fairly cleanly even if not easily, by carefully climbing up a log, I
chose less-wisely as to where to try and get out. I carefully put my
foot out onto the mud, and sank slightly as my weight went on to it...
but was OK. Until I went to take the next step as I got out fully... my
foot suddenly plunged deeper overflowing into my boot so I ended up
with a boot full of mud and water... which was amazingly cold!
Sitting
in the sun, toes throbbing as I dried them, we had the last of our
cheese and baloney sandwiches... Kev paced a good circle in the sand
trying to keep his feet warm too... and his were dry!
I put on
clean dry socks, dried out my boot, and once we'd packed up, managed to
carefully and sucessfully re-enter my boat and get floating without any
mishaps. The inside of my boat was filthy though, so I was looking
forward to giving it a good wipe out at the end of the day.
The
canal was about 8 miles long and we were told quite definitely by the
previous lockmaster that we most certainly should take it... taking the
main river around and over the Chain of Rocks would be a VERY bad
idea... whitewater at most bridges due to rocks, 4 foot drops over
rocks too... none of which we should attempt, especially not in touring
kayaks.
The paddle was easy... plenty of current, the wind was
non-existent and there was no barge traffic to bother us at all, and so
in about 2 hours, we'd reached the lock just in time to go straight in
just as a barge was leaving upstream.
We heard the radio chatter
from a down-stream barge captain to the lockmaster and he was pissing
and moaning about having to wait for us... It took us maybe 2 minutes
to paddle into the lock after the first barge had left, so it wasn't
like a half-hour wait. The lockmaster was a good guy though, and told
the captain pretty much that it was tough and he'd have to wait for the
lock to be turned around anyway, so suck it up... Not quite those
words, but very much the sentiment... heheheheh, we got a chuckle out
of that, and even gave a huge cheeky wave as we passed the barge on the
way out...
Rounding the bend about 1 mile out of the
lock we were beginning to re-enter the main river and we also got our
first sighting of the magnificent
Gateway Arch. (Well, my first sighting ever, as Kev had been to St Louis before, but...).
We
were going to be meeting Tony right at the side of the river next to
the arch, so as we headed towards it we paddled across the river away
from the canal, and into the more direct flow of the water coming round
from the Chain of Rocks... and WOW... did we begin to pick up some
speed!
It might not have been like flicking a switch, but it was
like turning up the gas on a cooker... and it wasn't long before we
were smokin'! We'd been paddling along at a nice 4.5-odd mph, but as we
neared the visually-impressive flowing channel, and Kev exclaimed "Man,
look at that flow!"... and within 10-15 seconds I watched the speed on
the GPS go 5... 5.7... 6.1... 6.8... 7.2... 7.8 mph! We were really
hauling!
It was almost a shame to stop, but it was getting late and
we were meeting Tony so after taking a bunch of pictures, we pulled in
to the red brick bank area as a big red truck pulled up, and Tony got
out to meet us.
He helped us load up his truck, and with the
boats strapped to the roof-rack, gave us a ride 2 miles to his awesome
pad: A large garage lock-up area where all his tools are, with a great
cosy little living area in one corner. We were mightily impressed with
the set-up, it was perfect. He is in the construction game and called
himself a 'General Contractor', but given that he had such a complete
array of tools and equipment, he seems more like a
Master Contractor!
After dropping us of he went to collect Mindy from the airport, and once back, we all went out to
Iron Barley,
one of Mindys favourite dining spots, and had a great night out, great
food, great conversation... and the dessert was amazing. A frozen pear
cheesecake with cream... but the cream has chili peppers infused
through it... just a hint, but it gives it a great taste with just the
right amount of zing!
Mindy was staying at another friends
place, so once Tony had dropped her off he came back and we spent the
rest of the evening, staying up rather late, having a great time
sharing stories and pictures of our travels and generally yarning the
night away! Tony is a Karate blackbelt and Tae Kwon Do expert too, so
it was awesome to see his certificates and pictures... some serious
dedication happening there... We were suitably impressed!!
In
the morning, Tony again gave us a ride down to where he'd picked us up.
It was quite a bummer having to get going as we'd all have loved to
hang out a few days more and spend Thanksgiving with him, but as he
realised too, we had to keep making miles as time is growing ever
shorter. However, we know we will hang out sometime again... maybe in
SE Asia, NZ, Australia... who knows... but it'll happen!
The man... the martial-arts-master... our new mate... Tony!
We
re-packed the boats and slid them in, paddles wet by 0900... But not
before I spent a good 20 minutes up at the arch taking pictures and
video, and checking it out up close. It is pretty amazing, and although
it doesn't look it, it is as wide as it is high... 630 feet x 630 feet.
I met Ranger Gary Cooper (yes, his real name, but as I'm sure he
gets it as lot, I said nothing) who is a guard there (and amazing human
encyclopedia!), and he gave me some of the facts and was kind enough to
even deliver some of them to video too.
Once I was done with the audio-video-photo bit, I headed back and we got going... but not after both of us taking
more pictures from the water... well, you just gotta eh?
Leaving
St Louis was as fast as we'd hoped it would be, easily clipping along
at anythung from 5.5 to 7 mph. The barges were a lot more active in the
area though, so we had to keep a sharp eye and ear out, making sure we
avoided them. Due to all the tug wash, the waves bouncing off the
barges and the narrowness of the river, we had some rockin' n rollin'
waves to bounce us around a bit, and we took on some waves over our
laps before about 45 minutes later, we managed to clear the busy area
and get far enough south to have flat calm clear water again.
The
sun was amazing and we made sure we sunblocked up before too long, but
even so, both got a little toasted. Lunch was spent on a nice big sandy
beach, finishing off the last of our lunch-stuff, so we knew we had to
make sure we could get to a re-supply place that night, or at least by
lunchtime tomorrow. After checking the GPS and the maps, we decided we
should be able to reach Crystal City by the end of the day.
Paddling through some smaller industrial areas we saw where sick barges go to get fixed up...
Lifted
up out of the water on a huge wedge-shaped floating platform, we could
see a welder under te bow repairing the hull... and it gives a good
idea as to just how darn big they are!
By
mid afternoon, my watch on the deck was showing an amazing 19.2 C in
the sun, Kevin being already 'sans-shirt' for the past hour or so. The
paddling was fairly lazy but still, even with a late start and a good
1-hour lunch stop, we were at the Crystal City boatramp by 4pm, having
already just cleared 30 miles. We hope the river stays the same so with
an earlier start and being generally more economical on time, we should
be knocking out 40-milers.
Pic courtesy of Mr K.Knieling!The
sunset colours on the river were soft and pretty as we arrived at the
ramp, and once up and out, we got chatting to some local guys there...
one fella, Dave offered to drive us in, but obviously we couldn't leave
the boats behind. The other guy, John, a municipal water engineer shot
off in his truck and came back 5 minutes later with a great big trailer!
Dave
said he reckoned he'd be able to find some mates who could run us back
to the ramp on Friday, and would give us a call... then we got a ride,
boats n all to the "Twin Cities Motel" where we were dropped off and
thanking our kind engineer John, he took off to get the trailer back to
his depot.
That was roughly when things started to go
pear-shaped... The manageress at the motel was no way, not at all, it
cannot happen, we can't do that, no way gonna let us have the kayaks in
the room... and that was all the help she was... no solutions, no
perhapses, no maybes, no alternatives... just NO.
So we thought
fine, sod it, lets roll to the next place. Then it got worse... in all
the excitement and hurry to put the boats on the trailer, I must have
forgotten to re-bungy down one of my wheels, as it was no longer on the
back of my boat where it normally resides. Dammit!!
Royally
pissed the heck off, I had a quick look at K-Mart over the road, but as
expected, there was nothing to work as a solution, however temporary it
might have been. Kev strapped his wheels on, and as darkness fell and
Thanksgiving traffic got crazy, dodging the cars and trucks, strobe
pulsing away, he rolled on another 2 miles to another motel. He tried
another one that was closer, but aside from being a bit too spendy,
they "were unable to accommodate" us. The good old Comfort Inn
was
however... very accommodating and helpful, allowing us to put our boats
in the downstairs unused back room behind the breakfast area... locked
and secure to boot.
Once he'd checked in and dumped gear in the
room, he Forrested back to where I was sat, still at the first lousy
motel, now covered up in 4 layers of clothes. He'd brought me one of
his wheels and once strapped up, we rolled on back to the CI, again
with my strobe flashing on the back of the boat and my red flasher on
the back of my head, warning the drivers to steer clear!
This
morning, we were both up early as were unable to sleep that much... I
had my missing wheel on my mind, and Kev has Thanksgiving phone calls to
make. After a huge complimentary brekky of bacon, sausages, biscuits
and gravy, OJ and fruit n yogurt (well, why not? It's all part of the
motel cost, so...) I rugged up and went out into the frosty air to walk
the 4+ miles back to the boat ramp and see if I could find my wheel.
I
tried thumbing a ride, but it appears my thumb must be broken as I got
no ride... well, almost no ride. As I was almost to the ramp, about a
half-mile short, Dave happened to drive by... quite a surprise, so he
gave me a ride to the ramp and also out to a farm supply shop so I knew
where it was should I need it tomorrow.
Unfortunately, it looks like
I might need it, as even though walking very slowly and carefully the
whole 2 miles back to the first motel, I didn't find my wheel.
After
that, I carried on half-way back and met Kev at Walmart where we did
the full-on re-supply... enough to easily last us the predicted 5 days
of wilderness paddling south to Cairo IL, and the end of the upper
Mississippi. After that, it'll be 953 miles of lower Mississippi to go.
We'd
been saying "Cairo" like we expected it to said, so the first syllable
rhymes with "Why"... like "Khy-Ro", but around here, everyone says it to
rhyme with "Hay"... "Kay-Ro"... We are adapting...
The
afternoon was spent doing updates, checking out towns and info along
the river and then heading down to Ryans resteraunt for the amazing,
belt-busting $12 all-you-can-eat Thanksgiving buffet.
We
are both suitably stuffed, like the proverbial turkey and after
waddling and burping our way back, are sat finishing updates and
getting stuff ready for the off tomorrow.
Hopefully Dave will be
able to hook us up with a ride for us and the boats, or at least a ride
to the farm supplies (if I can't find anything over the road at the
hardware store that is)... If not, it may be a laborious process of
wheeling 4 miles with Kev and his boat, leave him there and return with
a wheel, then roll on over myself... 12 miles to start the day... yay.
Let's hope not!
So now it is time to save n upload... then pack the rest of the gear ready for the morning...
So until the next time...
Catcha!
K.
Stuffed.
I
struck out, 0 for 3, looking for a wheel... I tried Lowes and Home
Depot before returning empty-handed to the motel for brekky. Dave had
arrived and had his quad-bike trailer hitched to his 4x4, so we were
looking golden to get back to the boat-ramp at the very least.
Because
we couldn't get the boats out of the back room until breakfast was
over, Dave gave me a ride to the farm supplies store, but still I had
no luck there. We returned to the motel and I shot upstairs to start
getting gear together.
Not wanting to keep Dave waiting too long,
Kev and I did the mad last-bits pack-up and got all the gear down to
reception, ASAP. Before I packed up my computer, Kev got on-line to the
site he'd found and ordered 2 new wheels, and we are hoping they will
be arriving in New Madrid just before we do later next week.
Another
town that is pronounced locally in a different way then we expected...
We'd been saying "Madrid"
as " Mah-Dridd" like the city in Spain...
here they say it more as "Madd-Ridd"... Strange!
With
Daves assistance, we loaded up all the gear into his trailer. Then we
managed the delicate task of man-handling the boats out of the back
room and on to the trailer where they sat just fine, strapped down
firmly.
There
were a few people checking out and as they'd heard
a bit about us, overheard conversations, and also checked out some of
our websites on the PC in reception, we had quite a few questions to
answer as to who, what when where and why... We met the motel manager,
Deane, who had a large amount of his relos staying for Thanksgiving,
so we had a good long yarn with them, and were invited by 'mom' Gaye,
for next years Thanksgiving, should we be in the area!
It was fun to chat with
everyone as always, but it did mean that it took almost 2 hours to get
away to the river!
Dave was an absolute champ, running us about,
hauling our gear, and even shoving us off into the water from the
ramp... we really would have been in a bind without him, so a huge
thanks to our new buddy and paddle-angel Dave Hanley!
We
were paddles-wet by 1205 and didn't waste time getting some miles in...
the current was still running at a wonderfully helpful rate, and we
were very, very pleased that after 4 hours and 40 minutes of paddling,
just stopping for a drifting food break at about 3 pm, we had clocked
up almost 30 miles! Yeah, the current really made a huge difference,
with us averaging 6 mph. I noticed whilst we were sat drifting that
we'd covered almost half a mile in the short time it took us to eat a
cereal bar!
About half an hour before it started to get dark and we
began looking for a place to stop, a large tug was heading towards us
pushing the (thus far) largest amount of barges we'd seen so far... 24!
I
paddles ahead as Kev took the pic of me with the behemoth behind me...
and as I did so, the skipper got on the load-hailer and started
chanting "Stroke! Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!"... then went into a few
lines of the old rock song "
The Stroke" by Billy Squire, before asking "How far
you guys going... Cairo?" ( the town down the river in Illinois, not
the city in Egypt) to which I indicated by waving 'onwards, much farther'... He gave
us a loud "Well, good luck guys, be safe!" and passed us by. Very cool
though... we got a good laugh and a kick out of that.
Given that we'd done almost 30 miles in an afternoon, we were pretty fired up to get a bigger mile day in tomorrow.
As
were planning to make it a big day, it also meant that the night
before we should make a fast easy camp. It didn't get much faster and
easier as we pulled up onto a firm flat beach that had built up in front
of a wing-dam at Milo Island, and threw down right there. Well, Kev
did.
The THUNDERDOME is a free-standing dome tent, so it was fine
on the (admittedly quite firm) sand. My tent wouldn't have likely
stayed up though, and in the interest of a speedy getaway the next
morning, we went quick and simple and I got to share the glory of a
night in the THUNDERDOME.
I gathered driftwood whilst Kev set
up, and then we both sat down to an awesome beach fire, toasting brats
on the flames, and in a stroke of genius (he said modestly) whilst
shopping, I had though to to get some sauerkraut, so with that heated up
on the stove, we gorged ourselves on big fat sausage and 'kraut
sammies. Awesome!
The night was surprisingly warm and totally still,
only broken by the odd passing barge and the lapping waves it caused.
And sometimes the 1,000,000 candle-power spot lamps they use!
Other
than a passing hunters boat (and their huge spot lamp playing over the
tent) at about 0500, we were undisturbed all night and both had a solid
nights sleep laying head-to-toe in the THUNDERDOME.
(It's gotta be
written in capitals... you just can't put Thunderdome... it's not
right. At least I'm not putting
THUNDERDOME...)
Anyway, we were up, packed and had eaten breakfast by 0630, and as the
light was becoming more substantial and paddle-able, we put in easily
with a slide down the sand and were paddling off into the still ripping
current by 0645.
The cloud cover that had kept the night at a
decent 5 degrees was thinning out and even though the sun was beaming
through, we could feel the heat leaving faster than the sun could
re-warm us. Gloves and beanies stayed on a bit longer until the clouds
had almost totally cleared and we had a higher, warmer sun beaming down
on us.
The clouds, sun and calm water we saw at about 0900 was
pretty nice though, so we both stopped (well, stopped paddling but
happily drifted onwards) to take a few pix.
We
had to endure about 2 miles of rough water afterwards as we started to
paddle along a south-east facing section of the river and the wind was
blowing right at us... bouncy choppy waves, combined with the wake of a
fair amount of barge traffic in the area were frustratingly reducing
the speed which had become somewhat addictive. I had changed my GPS map
screen so it also showed the current speed and I was hooked... I just
couldn't get enough of the fast stuff! It was kinda good though,
because just like on the bike rides I've done, if you are keeping an
eye on your speed, you do keep a better pace.
We
were clipping along
at 6.2 to 6.8 mph most of the time, but in the rough stuff, that had
dropped to 5.4 to 6 mph and I wasn't happy... But casting my mind
back a few months to paddling on the Red River, I could only have
dreamed of making 5 mph! Using that as some consolation, we knocked on
through the rough stuff to be rewarded with some narrower sections of
river where the current was ripping through even harder and almost
delirious with joy, we spent a good mile at nothing less than 7.2 mph.
Yes, we have little else to think about as we paddle, and we do know
that you can run faster, but it's still pretty exciting to us!
As
part of our economising-on-time drive, we had a fast lunch at a nice
beach sitting in the sun and dining on sammies for just 30 minutes
instead of the (somewhat too long) 1 hour + we have enjoyed in the
past. Not to say we won't again, but knowing time is growing shorter,
we are trying to make better miles. The sun was out in full blast and
I'd found a nice log that worked perfectly as a bench, so we sat eating
and watching the barges pass until we were also back on the water.
