We've been packing on the miles this past week! The current is so much faster now that we're able paddle anywhere between 50-80 miles per day. At this rate we'll be able to finish a week or so earlier than expected.
On Day 46 (July 15), we skipped breakfast and just decided to consume several cereal bars. We paddled hard to maintain at least 8-9 MPH the entire day. When we reached 30 miles we disappointingly pulled out our MRE's. These are starting to get harder to eat. Mine was sloppy joe filling. I cut off a corner and squeezed it into my mouth, it was awful. Gabe had beef brisket for the 50th time and we both talked about how awful they had become. The more we talked about it the worst they tasted. After maybe a half cup of my sloppy joe filling I dumped the rest in the water and grabbed three more cereal bars. Gabe dumped his too and we resorted to snacks for lunch. With a plan to do 72 miles, it's unfortunate that our appetites were no longer interested in our main meals. After completing 40 miles we pulled over to stretch out for 5 minutes. We looked across the river and spotted Tower Rock. In flood level stages it appears to blend in with the other islands. We were warned to avoid the water down stream from Tower Rock due to large whirlpools. We got back on the water and made our way to our destination for the night. After nine hours and 72 miles on the water, we landed in Cape Girardeau. We pulled up to the boat launch and found it to be a crowded area full of fisherman and teens riding around on bikes. We immediately knew it wasn't a good area to leave our gear. We called around to American legions, VFW posts and Marine Corps recruiters, none could offer any help. We met a man named Frank and his wife Michelle, who were having a beer with a few local men by the river. Frank drew an interest in what we were doing and he and the other three men advised us not to leave our gear at the park we were at. They made it sound as if our gear would certainly get stolen. Frank said he would see what he could do. Then one of the three men named Troy took his phone out and started calling around too. They were all so helpful. Frank drove off and came back with a man named Darrell who had a truck. Darrell had a son in the Marines and gladly drove us and all of our gear into town to a cheap motel. A motel seemed to be the only option here because the entire city was blocked by a floodgate past this boat launch. We would have stayed on an island but Cape Girardeau was our last opportunity to restock on food and water for the next several days. Frank and Michelle followed us to the motel to make sure none of our gear fell out. We thanked them for their help and ate a well deserved dinner in town.
On Day 47 (July 16), we woke up and walked a few miles to the nearest Laundromat since our clothes were in desperate need of a cleaning. After breakfast we returned to the boat launch. I had to wait to hear from a nurse in Madison, WI. I had concern about a bite on my arm that hadn't faded after almost a week. It was red and then light red around the bite about the size of a half dollar. I was concerned because I had several mosquito bites come and go, but this one never faded. I had no symptoms of Lymes disease but I didn't want to blow it off incase that's what it was. The nurse told me to just keep it clean and get it checked within two days. Memphis was 5-6 days away so it would have to wait. I was hoping I wouldn't get any of the symptoms while out in the middle of nowhere. We finally took off after hearing from the nurse. The sun was going down and we were hopeful that we could find a sandbar. After 30 miles of paddling, we approached an island that had a huge sandbar on the satellite imagery of our phones but we couldn't see anything. We went around on the inside corner and made a loop back into the center of the island. It was still water here and we found a nice huge sand island. We set up tents with no rain fly because 0% rain was in the forecast and then gathered all the dry wood that had floated onto shore. We started a huge fire to keep the bugs away and went to bed early with a plan to do 80-100 miles the next day!
I woke up on Day 48 (July 17) and everything in my tent was soaked. It didn't rain last night but the air was so wet that it might as well have. I hung some stuff to let it dry while we packed but it didn't help much. We ate breakfast and got in the water prepared for our longest day yet. The first 24 miles was quick and productive. We were moving nearly 10 mph! We approached the confluence of the Ohio River with caution in case there were any whirlpools or anything. It turned out to be the exact opposite. When the Ohio merged with the Mississippi the water almost came to a standstill. We were now paddling hard and only going 5 mph. The current gradually improved to about 6.5 mph while paddling, but was still demoralizing. We've been spoiled with such a nice, quick current that this speed feels like we are doing nothing. A couple hours into paddling I could hear what sounded like a jet passing over. I looked around the sky and spotted a very large plane with three fighter jets escorting it. Someone important was flying over us. We were now paddling between Missouri and Kentucky. It felt good to be done with Illinois. We noticeably started slowing down our pace. We were both exhausted. It had been about 10 hours of sitting and paddling. We had to ration water because we were unsure of when the next town was. We had already drank 10 of our 20 liters of water. I was extremely tired the last 15 miles. I would occasionally catch myself paddling with my eyes closed. I knew that one mistake with my paddle would end with me in the water so I tried to snap out of it. We finally arrived at a last resort camp spot. The sun was going down and we needed time to set up camp. We pulled over to a very rocky boat launch in Titonville, TN and set our tents up. We both crashed early after another exhausting day, completing 78 miles.
We pushed off in the water for a minimum 50 mile day on Day 49 (July 18). The bends in the river were now longer than ever and never seemed to come to an end. Some bends would last more than five miles and made it seem like we were just paddling in a large circle. We learned that taking the inside corners of the bends in the river didn't really pay off as far as saving time. When we would cut to the inside corners the current would frequently come to a stand still which required us to do a lot more work to cover the distance. There were also wing dams on the inside corners which would frequently create turbulent water and sometimes small rapids. We decided against taking anymore inside corners because it was the only part of the river where we felt slightly unsafe when going over the wing dams. We paddled to a small town called Caruthersville, MO and pulled out at their local boat launch after 53 miles of paddling. We were approached by a gentleman who told us that are kayaks would be safe if we left them in the park while walking into town. Shortly after we saw a group of teens on bikes that came down and looked at our kayaks without saying anything. They made several return trips and we felt as if they were scoping out our kayaks and gear. We then had two individuals who appeared to be drug addicts walk within feet of our gear and not say anything. It was then that a truck pulled up with a nice gentleman and his wife. They informed us that the area was poor and that people will steal our gear in a heartbeat to sell it. His son was a cop and he got on the phone with the local station. Five minutes later we had two cop cars pull up to ask what they could do. They offered to keep our kayaks secured in their fenced in facility that was monitored by security cameras. They said we were welcome to camp anywhere around town but advised that we try to stay out of sight. We walked into town and grabbed some dinner before setting up our pop up tents behind a few trees at the local war memorial.
I woke up about 6 am on Day 50 (July 19) and walked into town to a local restaurant. When I walked in, I could tell that everyone there were locals that ate there everyday. They all stared at us in silence and didn't have much to say. We ordered our food and one of the gentleman came over and sat next to me and asked if we were both Marines. He said that he noticed our hats and that he served in the 90's. We explained what we were doing which sparked the rest of the restaurant to ask us questions about our trip. He thanked us for our service and wished us safe travels before letting us enjoy our meal. He walked out the door and the waitress came over and let us know that our meal was covered by that gentleman. Thank you so much Juan Johnson for being so thoughtful and generous! We put our kayaks in after being warned by yet another gentleman that there were Bull Sharks and Alligators in the water. It was a perfect day for paddling. The temperature was in the low 70's and plenty of cloud coverage to keep the sun off of us. We finally finished up the state of Missouri and entered the state of Arkansas! We decided to pull off onto a sandbar near the city of Osceola, AR. We set up our popup tents and decided to try and walk a few miles into town. Just as we were about to walk away, a boat pulled up to the shore and said that they spotted us paddling further upstream. The gentleman introduced himself as Buddy and his friend's name was Danny. Rather than us walking all the way into town they said that we could jump on their boat and catch a ride into town because they were done fishing for the day. We took them up on their offer and Buddy drove us into town to grab some dinner. He drove us back down the small trail that led to our sandbar but his truck couldn't fit all the way down the trail. We hopped out and thanked him for everything and started walking to the campsite. It was extremely dark out and the bugs were as loud as can be. We ended up realizing that we were walking down an off road trail that people take their four-wheelers and jeeps through. We had to walk through a couple areas of thick mud and then made it back to the sandy beach area. We went to bed early knowing that we had to paddle hard the next day to make it to Memphis which was 53 miles away.
We skipped breakfast on Day 51 (July 20) and pushed our kayaks out in the water by 8 am. We snacked on a few Pop-Tarts before paddling hard. There was a lot of barge traffic today which required us to weave in and out of the main channel. Over the last couple days I had been in contact with a gentleman named Dale Sanders. He is one of the River Angels that frequently takes care of individuals who attempt to do what we are doing. The River Angels are a community of people who assist paddlers from the upper to lower Mississippi. Dale had worked it out so that two other gentleman would meet us at a marina in Memphis, TN. They were then going to take us to dinner and take us out to Dale's house which was about 40 minutes from the river. Dale spent 37 years working for the United States Navy and is now retired but volunteers his time as a river guide and helps conserve the Wolf River in Memphis. Next year he will break the record as the oldest man to ever paddle the entire Mississippi River from source to sea at 80 years old! We paddled hard and made it to Memphis in 7 hours! Tom Graves and Richard Day met us at the marina where we kept our kayaks for evening. Tom has been helping river paddlers for the past several years and Richard is a Marine Corps veteran who is also a River Angel. Tom took us up to his apartment where we were finally able to take a shower (our first since St. Louis!). They took us to an excellent restaurant called Central BBQ. They very generously covered our delicious meal and then we took off to Dale's house. Dale has a beautiful home and a basement that is covered in boat memorabilia. We had the entire basement to ourselves which was fully furnished! We paddled 53 miles today.
Today (Day 52) we're spending the day in Memphis with a gentleman named Charles Beech, who is the president of the Navy League! He'll be showing us the highlights of the city and we'll get to enjoy a day off before getting back to paddling!
On Day 46 (July 15), we skipped breakfast and just decided to consume several cereal bars. We paddled hard to maintain at least 8-9 MPH the entire day. When we reached 30 miles we disappointingly pulled out our MRE's. These are starting to get harder to eat. Mine was sloppy joe filling. I cut off a corner and squeezed it into my mouth, it was awful. Gabe had beef brisket for the 50th time and we both talked about how awful they had become. The more we talked about it the worst they tasted. After maybe a half cup of my sloppy joe filling I dumped the rest in the water and grabbed three more cereal bars. Gabe dumped his too and we resorted to snacks for lunch. With a plan to do 72 miles, it's unfortunate that our appetites were no longer interested in our main meals. After completing 40 miles we pulled over to stretch out for 5 minutes. We looked across the river and spotted Tower Rock. In flood level stages it appears to blend in with the other islands. We were warned to avoid the water down stream from Tower Rock due to large whirlpools. We got back on the water and made our way to our destination for the night. After nine hours and 72 miles on the water, we landed in Cape Girardeau. We pulled up to the boat launch and found it to be a crowded area full of fisherman and teens riding around on bikes. We immediately knew it wasn't a good area to leave our gear. We called around to American legions, VFW posts and Marine Corps recruiters, none could offer any help. We met a man named Frank and his wife Michelle, who were having a beer with a few local men by the river. Frank drew an interest in what we were doing and he and the other three men advised us not to leave our gear at the park we were at. They made it sound as if our gear would certainly get stolen. Frank said he would see what he could do. Then one of the three men named Troy took his phone out and started calling around too. They were all so helpful. Frank drove off and came back with a man named Darrell who had a truck. Darrell had a son in the Marines and gladly drove us and all of our gear into town to a cheap motel. A motel seemed to be the only option here because the entire city was blocked by a floodgate past this boat launch. We would have stayed on an island but Cape Girardeau was our last opportunity to restock on food and water for the next several days. Frank and Michelle followed us to the motel to make sure none of our gear fell out. We thanked them for their help and ate a well deserved dinner in town.
On Day 47 (July 16), we woke up and walked a few miles to the nearest Laundromat since our clothes were in desperate need of a cleaning. After breakfast we returned to the boat launch. I had to wait to hear from a nurse in Madison, WI. I had concern about a bite on my arm that hadn't faded after almost a week. It was red and then light red around the bite about the size of a half dollar. I was concerned because I had several mosquito bites come and go, but this one never faded. I had no symptoms of Lymes disease but I didn't want to blow it off incase that's what it was. The nurse told me to just keep it clean and get it checked within two days. Memphis was 5-6 days away so it would have to wait. I was hoping I wouldn't get any of the symptoms while out in the middle of nowhere. We finally took off after hearing from the nurse. The sun was going down and we were hopeful that we could find a sandbar. After 30 miles of paddling, we approached an island that had a huge sandbar on the satellite imagery of our phones but we couldn't see anything. We went around on the inside corner and made a loop back into the center of the island. It was still water here and we found a nice huge sand island. We set up tents with no rain fly because 0% rain was in the forecast and then gathered all the dry wood that had floated onto shore. We started a huge fire to keep the bugs away and went to bed early with a plan to do 80-100 miles the next day!
I woke up on Day 48 (July 17) and everything in my tent was soaked. It didn't rain last night but the air was so wet that it might as well have. I hung some stuff to let it dry while we packed but it didn't help much. We ate breakfast and got in the water prepared for our longest day yet. The first 24 miles was quick and productive. We were moving nearly 10 mph! We approached the confluence of the Ohio River with caution in case there were any whirlpools or anything. It turned out to be the exact opposite. When the Ohio merged with the Mississippi the water almost came to a standstill. We were now paddling hard and only going 5 mph. The current gradually improved to about 6.5 mph while paddling, but was still demoralizing. We've been spoiled with such a nice, quick current that this speed feels like we are doing nothing. A couple hours into paddling I could hear what sounded like a jet passing over. I looked around the sky and spotted a very large plane with three fighter jets escorting it. Someone important was flying over us. We were now paddling between Missouri and Kentucky. It felt good to be done with Illinois. We noticeably started slowing down our pace. We were both exhausted. It had been about 10 hours of sitting and paddling. We had to ration water because we were unsure of when the next town was. We had already drank 10 of our 20 liters of water. I was extremely tired the last 15 miles. I would occasionally catch myself paddling with my eyes closed. I knew that one mistake with my paddle would end with me in the water so I tried to snap out of it. We finally arrived at a last resort camp spot. The sun was going down and we needed time to set up camp. We pulled over to a very rocky boat launch in Titonville, TN and set our tents up. We both crashed early after another exhausting day, completing 78 miles.
We pushed off in the water for a minimum 50 mile day on Day 49 (July 18). The bends in the river were now longer than ever and never seemed to come to an end. Some bends would last more than five miles and made it seem like we were just paddling in a large circle. We learned that taking the inside corners of the bends in the river didn't really pay off as far as saving time. When we would cut to the inside corners the current would frequently come to a stand still which required us to do a lot more work to cover the distance. There were also wing dams on the inside corners which would frequently create turbulent water and sometimes small rapids. We decided against taking anymore inside corners because it was the only part of the river where we felt slightly unsafe when going over the wing dams. We paddled to a small town called Caruthersville, MO and pulled out at their local boat launch after 53 miles of paddling. We were approached by a gentleman who told us that are kayaks would be safe if we left them in the park while walking into town. Shortly after we saw a group of teens on bikes that came down and looked at our kayaks without saying anything. They made several return trips and we felt as if they were scoping out our kayaks and gear. We then had two individuals who appeared to be drug addicts walk within feet of our gear and not say anything. It was then that a truck pulled up with a nice gentleman and his wife. They informed us that the area was poor and that people will steal our gear in a heartbeat to sell it. His son was a cop and he got on the phone with the local station. Five minutes later we had two cop cars pull up to ask what they could do. They offered to keep our kayaks secured in their fenced in facility that was monitored by security cameras. They said we were welcome to camp anywhere around town but advised that we try to stay out of sight. We walked into town and grabbed some dinner before setting up our pop up tents behind a few trees at the local war memorial.
I woke up about 6 am on Day 50 (July 19) and walked into town to a local restaurant. When I walked in, I could tell that everyone there were locals that ate there everyday. They all stared at us in silence and didn't have much to say. We ordered our food and one of the gentleman came over and sat next to me and asked if we were both Marines. He said that he noticed our hats and that he served in the 90's. We explained what we were doing which sparked the rest of the restaurant to ask us questions about our trip. He thanked us for our service and wished us safe travels before letting us enjoy our meal. He walked out the door and the waitress came over and let us know that our meal was covered by that gentleman. Thank you so much Juan Johnson for being so thoughtful and generous! We put our kayaks in after being warned by yet another gentleman that there were Bull Sharks and Alligators in the water. It was a perfect day for paddling. The temperature was in the low 70's and plenty of cloud coverage to keep the sun off of us. We finally finished up the state of Missouri and entered the state of Arkansas! We decided to pull off onto a sandbar near the city of Osceola, AR. We set up our popup tents and decided to try and walk a few miles into town. Just as we were about to walk away, a boat pulled up to the shore and said that they spotted us paddling further upstream. The gentleman introduced himself as Buddy and his friend's name was Danny. Rather than us walking all the way into town they said that we could jump on their boat and catch a ride into town because they were done fishing for the day. We took them up on their offer and Buddy drove us into town to grab some dinner. He drove us back down the small trail that led to our sandbar but his truck couldn't fit all the way down the trail. We hopped out and thanked him for everything and started walking to the campsite. It was extremely dark out and the bugs were as loud as can be. We ended up realizing that we were walking down an off road trail that people take their four-wheelers and jeeps through. We had to walk through a couple areas of thick mud and then made it back to the sandy beach area. We went to bed early knowing that we had to paddle hard the next day to make it to Memphis which was 53 miles away.
We skipped breakfast on Day 51 (July 20) and pushed our kayaks out in the water by 8 am. We snacked on a few Pop-Tarts before paddling hard. There was a lot of barge traffic today which required us to weave in and out of the main channel. Over the last couple days I had been in contact with a gentleman named Dale Sanders. He is one of the River Angels that frequently takes care of individuals who attempt to do what we are doing. The River Angels are a community of people who assist paddlers from the upper to lower Mississippi. Dale had worked it out so that two other gentleman would meet us at a marina in Memphis, TN. They were then going to take us to dinner and take us out to Dale's house which was about 40 minutes from the river. Dale spent 37 years working for the United States Navy and is now retired but volunteers his time as a river guide and helps conserve the Wolf River in Memphis. Next year he will break the record as the oldest man to ever paddle the entire Mississippi River from source to sea at 80 years old! We paddled hard and made it to Memphis in 7 hours! Tom Graves and Richard Day met us at the marina where we kept our kayaks for evening. Tom has been helping river paddlers for the past several years and Richard is a Marine Corps veteran who is also a River Angel. Tom took us up to his apartment where we were finally able to take a shower (our first since St. Louis!). They took us to an excellent restaurant called Central BBQ. They very generously covered our delicious meal and then we took off to Dale's house. Dale has a beautiful home and a basement that is covered in boat memorabilia. We had the entire basement to ourselves which was fully furnished! We paddled 53 miles today.
Today (Day 52) we're spending the day in Memphis with a gentleman named Charles Beech, who is the president of the Navy League! He'll be showing us the highlights of the city and we'll get to enjoy a day off before getting back to paddling!