Day 75 Mississippi River
I woke up with plans of reaching Memphis, Tennessee by mid afternoon. Just 24 miles down river, I figured I would make decent speed and stroll into the city with daylight to spare. Boy was I wrong.
A viscous headwind made progress difficult. With large whitecaps layering the main channel and waves crashing into shore I thought about stopping and chalking up a low mileage day to the wind. However, tomorrow's forecast is looking grim and with the thought of Memphis BBQ on my mind I reluctantly pushed on.
A few miles north of the city limits I decided to make a crossing to the opposite shore (toward Tennessee) in hopes of mitigating some of the wind. As I worked across the river rolling waves, several feet high, crashed into my boat. The bow took on water as it dipped under white capped breakers in the midst of the main channel. My mind began kicking into overdrive. A small portion of it reminded me of the stakes at hand (cold day, fast moving water about a half mile wide, and no one to help if things went bad), while I forced most of my head to focus on the task at hand; safely traversing the river.
Once across I was able to loosen the white knuckled grip on my paddle and be thankful to be near shore.
Just before the sun ducked behind the trees of Arkansas, the skyline of Memphis, Tennessee appeared to the east. As I approached I reached out to an old friend, Kelly, who lives in Memphis and offered to put me up of the night.
As dusk was settling in Kelly met me at a public boat ramp on Mud Island. We loaded up the gear in her four door VW, tossed the canoe on top and headed into town.
After a shower and a load of laundry the two of us hit Central BBQ for dinner. Pulled Pork nachos are a great way to sooth the soul.
One of the tougher days of paddling yet made good by reaching Memphis, getting some local eats and having a roof to sleep under. The plan is to take a few days off and explore the city.
Life is good on the Miss.