Day 27 Mississippi River
A solid nights sleep in the hammock made for an early morning. Without the cover of a rain fly (which I use on my tent and acts like a roof, blocking out sun and the outside world) I typically wake up with the sunrise when hammocking and today was no exception. Toss in the planes taking off from the St. Paul Airport runway directly across the river and I was up and at it fairly early. I made a cup of coffee and packed up my sleeping arraignment as well as some miscellaneous gear. For the past 6 days Max and I have traveled together. It's an interesting dynamic. We both enjoy each others company and had a great time hanging out and meeting folks along the river. I think we both learned a good deal from one another, and we certainly had good times. Definitely had good times. We are also pretty similar in a lot of ways, including the enjoyment of independence and traveling solo. With that in mind, Max pushed off around 8:30. I sure hope to run into him again down river or on another adventure, or even pay a visit to his abode in Chicago.
As Max paddled away down river I hopped on the phone and had another great interview with my friends and colleagues at 950 KWAT radio in Watertown, SD. I told stories, many surrounding the folks I had met along the way thus far.
After wrapping up the interview I finished up packing, did a touch of reading and pushed off into the Miss. The forecast called for rain all day, and as I pushed off it had already been coming down lightly for about a half hour.
Thus far on the trip I have had all kinds of weather. Rain, wind, sun, chilly nights. But today was a rough one. A solid downpour from 10am to 4pm had me constantly debating whether I should stop for the day, put up a tarp and try to dry out. Rain gear is great, but after sitting in constant water all day it can only go so far. I made the rookie mistake of wearing cotton sweatpants underneath my rain pants, thinking the rain pants would keep them dry. I was wrong. A touch cold and a touch wet I continued on through the day hoping for a dry evening.
The rain stopped right around 4pm, but the brutal headwind that accompanied the rain throughout the day rolled on. Near 5pm I cruised up to Lock and Dam #2. I floated up to the concrete wall and tugged on the pull cord to signal that I needed a lock through to the down stream side. A voice came over the loud speaker.
"Give me 12 minutes, wait for the green light and come on in"
After entering the lock two of the lock masters came down to chat. As I peered over the concrete wall that grew larger as the water level dropped, we shot the breeze about work, how many barges can fit in the lock (9 - 3x3 barges) and other small talk.
The massive steel gates opened on the downstream side signaling that it was clear to exit. I paddled a few more hours and found a good looking sand shoreline to camp on. As I pushed off of the sand below the waterline to get closer to shore, I heard and felt a big snap. My paddle. Damn. It snapped right in half.
Just the day before I had bought a kayak paddle to use as my backup. I gave my original backup canoe paddle as a gift to Andrew D. as I thought I no longer needed it. Funny how things like that happen. The good news is Andrew was pumped on getting the paddle and it was too big for me anyway. I'll try to pick one up at a sporting goods store in Redwing, Mn tomorrow.
I camped about a half mile up from the confluence of the St. Croix river and the Might Miss, which join to form the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Boom! A new state tomorrow! Will be my first state other than Minnesota on the trip so far. Making progress!
Solid day. Tough weather. Broken paddle. Feeling great. Life is good on the Miss.