Posts tagged La Crosse
Day 96 Mississippi River
Day 96 Mississippi River

 I woke up with the sunrise as barges worked back and forth under an orange sky in the Port of Baton Rouge. Before pushing off for the day and leaving the capital of Louisiana behind I needed a water refill and food resupply.

I walked out from the forest I was camped in, trotted over the levy, and put my skateboard to the pavement. Following a cup of coffee and an egg, Swiss and ham croissant at PJ's coffee shop I located a small market downtown. With a backpack full of groceries and empty water containers I skated back toward home base. On the way I spotted a water fountain off the bike path and filled up my 3 water jugs (that started the trip in Minnesota as plastic apple juice containers) and a 2 gallon collapsible container that had been given to me by John Sullivan all the way back in La Crosse, WI.

I was able to push off into the river around 10:30am. Traffic in the Port of Baton Rouge was busy, with barges and tow boats constantly moving back and forth, and massive ocean going vessels moored up to the loading docks. As I paddled through the Port I weaved back and forth between the two shores doing my best to avoid the commotion

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Baton Rouge, barges, LouisianaWill CollinsLa CrosseComment
Day 36 Mississippi River
Day 36 Mississippi River

I woke up in Johns upstairs bedroom at 7am. I walked down to coffee, oatmeal and the apple cobbler I had missed the night before due to my early bedtime. With a bowl of cereal (fresh milk..hmmm), yogurt and cobbler John and I prepared to make a run back to the Marina and send me down river. Before we left, John gave me one of his 2 gallon collapse water containers. The night before we had talked about my limited water storage. Awesome.

As we got to the marina, John helped load my boat. Just as I was pushing off, a older gentlemen with a cup of coffee and gray ponytail walked up the dock near me.

"Where ya headed?"

"The plan is the Gulf of Mexico!"

The guy paused a moment.

"1978. My buddy and I paddled the river from Itasca with plans of hitting the Gulf. We had both flunked out of college and did the trip as a vision quest to try and figure out our lives"

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Minnesota, Wisconsin, Good PeopleWill CollinsLa CrosseComment