Seth & Courtney, Aubrey & the twins made a banner to welcome me back to the real world.
They got to the take out point well before I did and the banner attracted a few people who were curious.
I was about 15 minutes out when Courtney found me with the big lens on her camera.
84 days, 2450 miles. It felt great to be out of that boat.
A bystander recorded my arrival at Jackson Square on 4 Nov. Here is the address. HTTP://youtu.be/DzX9inIZOUM or Google (2011 New Orleans 030 video)
L 111 That's 16 more miles. A front blew in at around 9. My day deteriorated from that point. It wasn't the rain, it was the wind. New Orleans has the busiest port on the east coast. It's really hard to describe, you kind of had to have been there. I had a rudderless boat that I could barely control in the high wind and there were ships, tug boats, tow boats and thousands of moored barges on both sides of the river for miles. Today will be added to those other days I will never forget. I'm not sure but this might very well be my last post. My routine of eating my freeze dried dinner, listening to NPR ,and making a blog post will, hopefully, be broken tomorrow. As you all know Jenny has been my # 1 supporter. I could not have done this with out her encouragement. She is, obviously, very special. My sisters have been great morale boosters when they sensed I was faltering. Jenny and I are especially grateful to Pat for her shuttle service in Minnesota. (And her poetry) To everyone who took the time-and figured out how-to make a comment, I thank you. This trip has been an emotional roller coaster for me and knowing that there were people following my progress bolstered my spirit. Thank-you. I will thank Seth, Courtney and my granddaughters tomorrow. I'm almost sure this is it for davebigmuddy, I'm out of food, fuel, lemonade and I only have 2 ounces of Bourbon left. I guess I'll swig it.
L 141 I want to be the first to observe that the Mississippi river becomes a lake in Louisiana. I swear there is no flow. Nada, zilch, zippo. I stopped paddling a few times today and I started drifting back toward Minnesota. I am in my second to the last camp site. I'm worried about finding a place tomorrow afternoon. I want to be around 15 miles above Jackson Square, THE END. The shore is getting more and more developed. I say developed but what I mean is
piers and docks, grain elevators and chemical plants. We are exporting a bunch of stuff. From what I have observed nothing is being offloaded it's all being loaded for export. Today was, I would describe as, pretty bad. No rudder, strong winds, much confusing barge and ship traffic plus I was paddling in a lake. I didn't care. If I was moving forward I knew I was getting closer to the end. I'm 46 miles away. I'd like to do around 30 tomorrow. Every stroke gets me closer.
L172 That's 77 miles to the finish. I am way beyond ready for this to be over with. I know it was my idea but I had it over a year ago. Back then I was clueless. I've been hanging tough and I'll do this. I guess it's the proximity of the end, the anticipation, something. Today was a female dog. The rudder is kaput. I have it locked out. There was a stiff east wind and I had 2 long stretches into it. Wind without a rudder is challenging. Well, that's enough self pity. I'm getting close. I've been out here since Aug 12 and my kayak and I have covered over 2100 miles. Two more camps to make and break. Davebigmuddy is close to retirement.
L 206 Well I did Baton Rouge this morning. It was challenging but not really scary. There was a lot of traffic including ocean going ships but I can honestly say that at this point in the trip I'm not too impressed with ships, boats, barges, or anything else that's not human powered. The river provided very little current today. I've noticed a slow change in the river the last couple of days. Sandy banks are giving way to muddy banks. You might remember in Minnesota I was less than enamored with Mud. Tonight's camp site is right next to a dock of some kind. I am kinda worried about camping between here and N.O. One more thing. Jenny has read that the water quality below BR is bad and she doesn't want me filtering river water if I can possibly help it. So I've got a couple of empty bottles that I want to fill in BR. I paddle up to a tow boat and start talking to a couple of the crewmen who are painting the deck. I explain my situation to them and the captain brings out a 5 gallon bottle of water. I get my water bottles filled and don't even have to get out of my boat. You never know unless you ask.
L 241 My old boat is starting to protest. The slider that the rudder peddle slides on is close to failure. The rudder locked up on me today. I pulled over and took it apart and cleaned it but the problem is that it is worn out. I don't really need a rudder but it is a really nice thing to have. Tomorrow begins the last challenging section of this trip. I will go through Baton Rouge tomorrow. The stretch below BR is sort of an industrial ditch. It looks like there is a major road on both sides of the river. I should start seeing ocean going ships. From blogs I've read this next 140 miles or so will require that I pay attention. Retirees shouldn't have to do that.
