Day 91 Mississippi River
After a chilly night in the low 30s I woke up to condensation drowning the inside of my tent. Packing it up wet, I quickly made oatmeal and coffee and did my best to get an early start to the day.
The sun shone through a group of clouds for an hour or two in the morning. Once it disappeared, however, it was gone for the rest of the day. With little wind I was able to make good distance through the sunless afternoon.
At 11am I made a call to one of my Illinois classrooms, which was ended early due to poor service. At 2:45pm I chatted with one of my South Dakota classrooms.
As I was talking to the kids in South Dakota, I floated past the final state border of the trip- the Mississippi/ Louisiana line. From southern Minnesota to this point, there has always been two states to choose from, one state on the eastern bank of the river, and one on the west. After crossing the last state line of the trip, however, its one State until the Gulf- Louisiana.
An hour or so before dusk I noticed a fishing boat working up shore on the western bank. Once closer, they turned 90 degrees and began beelining it towards me. Once near, two fellas in the boat killed the motor and drifted closer. In a thick Cajun accent the camo covered driver yelled out.
"Just came over to check if ya's was OK"
From there we spent a few minutes chatting. The group was out scouting ducks for the Louisiana opener the following day. He told me that his "daddy commercial fishes right der down by the St. Francis bridge" and that his dad had told him stories of other paddlers he'd run into in the past. The fellow recommended a sand bank around the bend as a good place to camp, then sped off.
Just as I was beginning to look for camp rain began to fall. I quickly pulled the boat to shore, tossed on my rain jacket and pants and walked up a small muddy hill to a forested bluff. There I set up a line between two tress and quickly tosses over a tarp for an A-frame shelter. Once all the gear was unloaded from the boat I relaxed under the tarp as rain was dancing around me.
After cooking dinner the rain began to let up. I took the opportunity to set up my tent.
Solid day. A decent push tomorrow could put me in Baton Rouge, LA, which sits about 229 river miles from the Gulf.