Progress report
October 20 to October 26
Monday the chilly air bound my feet within my sleeping bag for a half hour after dawn. At least
the mosquitos were gone. After packing our gear we took some extra time to shave the offending swollen dowel in the steering
box. With some grease it turned so easy it almost seemed broken. The pedals, my dad made, and all the other gear the rest of
my friends and family had donated or helped make was performing excellently. We've had no water in the hulls in the last
three weeks. I
think the deck hatches were the problem in the past, but the silicone caulk has stopped that. The fish had been in such a
feeding frenzy last night that one small one had unfortunately landed on the trampoline and couldn't get back to the water.
I saw a white crane and of course I knew that meant we would have headwinds. Fortunately, only the first 22 of 33 miles were
southerly into the 8 - 10 mph headwinds. When we turned west and then north our last 11 miles were a breeze. At the low water
levels of this time of year most dikes were above water. Some only revealed a few boulders or a straight long ripple
across the water. I reviewed the charts frequently. With winds in our face at 10 mph and a current of 3.3 mph we did four mph
while pushing hard on the pedals. When we stopped pedalling, to rest, we would turn the boat sideways to catch the current,
and we did three mph. At the southernmost tip of the U turn in the river we entered Tennessee for a little while. As we
turned north we went back into Kentucky. Near the tip we watched a crop duster buzzing the fields and heard what seemed like
artillary fire for an hour.
Ted and I were happy that the sail took over for our wearisome legs for
the last two hours of our day. At 4:00 we passed a horde of moored barges and landed near the ramp that was under repair at
New Madrid, Missouri. Arlene had a meal waiting for us. She dried our tent while Ted and I cleared and cleaned the ship.
After giving Ted the zero degree bag, Arlene grabbed as many smelly clothes as she could and took them to the laundry.
New Madrid, Mo... Ramp under construction
Tuesday... Up at 5:30, and back to New Madrid with Arby's breakfast. We ate and were packed and
ready for launch at 8:05. We were loaded with food since we were not expecting to meet Arlene this evening. The first 20 miles
of river to Tiptonville, TN, were in a southerly direction, and the wind from the west was helpful. That stretch took about
3 1/2 hours. Then we turned to the west and fought headwinds for 6 miles. When we turned south again, the wind quit. The river
turned to the west again, and we fought 8 mph headwinds for 4 miles. We landed behind a long dike. The river current was
3.5 mph. The back eddy created by the dike ran at 2.5 mph. As the back eddy curled around it passed a small bay and created
a back-back eddy that made a calm mooring for our ship. We made 36 miles this day and landed at 3:30. We had gone three miles
further than I planned. We had camp set up early and were to bed before dark.
Wednesday, the cold damp air didn't dimininish our energy, and we launched early at 7:45 expecting
to meet Arlene at Caruthersville at 10:30. After 5 miles upwind we had a good change in the river course and made Caruthersville
at 9:10. Arlene was ready for our early arrival and loaded us down with food. Some locals saved us a trip to town by filling
our water bag from their cooler.
We shoved off from the ramp a half hour later into a wonderful tailwind. Ted suggested
drying the tent, and since I wasn't doing anything while he piloted our sailboat, I was happy to dry the gear. With 22 miles
of downwind sailing I dried one at a time: the space blanket, the rainfly and finally the tent. A change in the river's
course brought us into a headwind for four miles, but the river soon made a u-turn and we had 25 miles of downwind sailing
in 8 to 12 mph winds. Finally the wind died, and we pedaled four more miles to what seemed like a good beach far from the
sailing channel. The steep banks, viewed from a distance, turned out to be an illusion as we bottomed out 15 feet from
shore. There was no better landing nearby, so we dragged the boat close to shore and moored there. We landed at 6:00. With
the half hour stop with Arlene accounted for. We pedaled and sailed 9 and 3/4 hours and made 59 miles. Our top recorded
speed was 8.5 mph. We set up camp with the aid of flashlights. Ted's sandals weighed five pounds each from the mud caked on
them. We vowed to shop better for a good landing. The beaches of Missouri were no longer available, and we had to choose now
between Arkansas and Tennessee shores.
Thursday we were pumped up after making 59 miles. We had only had 60 miles to go to Memphis, TN.
If we did that in two days we would arrive a day ahead of schedule. Anything better than 30 miles should be good for today.
Our previously scheduled stop for tonight was to be the Bullerton boat ramp near Osceola, Arkansas, but now it was only 8
miles away. I had called Arlene on the cell phone last night to arrange an early meeting. The wind was against us, and we
didn't arrive until about 11:30. She had breakfast, coffee and more food supplies ready for us. She and a reporter from
Osceola had been anxiously scanning the river for us. The reporter took some pictures while Ted and I stuffed ourselves with
breakfast sandwiches.
Osceola meeting
We launched again, and the turn in the river course to the south made the west wind somewhat
favorable. We did 10 miles to Mississippi river mile 773 where we had a scary moment.
(see the story of mile 773)
Most of the day the winds were against us and by 5:00, with 37 miles of progress we shopped for
our better landing. The charts indicated a long bay behind one of the dikes. We turned into the shelter of the bay and
found a steep sandy bank with deep water a few feet offshore. This was a beautiful spot where the sun slipping behind the
trees across the river reflected its orange hues in the calm harbor. For anyone looking for a good mooring, this spot is at
mile 758. The Mississippi river chart mileages descend on the way downstream, whereas the Ohio and Monongahela mileages
ascended going downstream. This was such a nice site that I had to sit on shore till dark drinking in the beauty of the
scene before me. The towboat's intense headlights glanced furtively from shore to shore. From daymark to buoy, to sandbar,
to anchored pleasure boats, like the human eye the cyclops vision of the tow captain is scouting his route through myriad
problems. I was up till 10 p.m. recording the story of mile 773 under the light of my headlamp.
Friday morning was dry, warm and breezy. Since we had only 23 more miles to Memphis, it should
have been an easy day. Of course the breeze was in our faces and it picked up as we went on. When there was no traffic
around we turned our craft sideways to the current so the knife-like hulls would grab the current instead of letting it
slip by. This would increase our speed by 1 mph. When other boats came into sight we would reallign our boat, so it wouldn't
look as if we were disabled. As was frequently the case a fisherman pulled over to talk to us. I knew the Mud Island Marina
was in the harbor at Memphis, but didn't have the exact location of the marina. He told us where it was, and we continued on.
We met a policeman on a harbor patrol boat, and he confirmed the location of the marina. We left the increasing current of
the Mississippi River and pulled into the harbor at around 1:30. Fifteen minutes later we arrived at the marina where Arlene
was waiting for us. Being that tomorrow was Saturday, we planned on staying two nights so Ted would be able to attend mass
Saturday evening. We were a day ahead of schedule anyway, and this would allow me plenty of time to do long overdue updates
to the web pages and the next week's logistics with Arlene. Our connections would be few and far between in the next several
weeks. The folks at the marina said the current was 8 mph in some places on the river around Memphis. I hope it helps, but
that kind of current will require precise navigation.
Mud Island Marina...Memphis, Tennessee
Saturday we waited for the media we had called on Friday, to show up at the Mud Island
Marina. At 2:15 the Fox 13 News interviewed Ted, and later at 5:00 interviewed me. By that time Arlene and I had visited the
Mississippi River exhibit on Mud Island. It is an accurate topographical representaion spanning several hundred yards, with
running water down the channels. It is highlighted with historical markers and street layouts of the major cities along the
river course. Downtown Memphis is a showcase of enchanting buildings and enterprises. Ted made it to mass, and I am fighting
an uncomfortable motel chair to enter updates into the laptop computer that Dorothy, my mother-in-law, loaned us for this
trip. At 10:00 p.m. the hard drive on Dorothy's laptop started grinding to its teeth and it wasn't long before the operating
system was gone. I wasn't finished with the internet updates, and the loss was as depressing as the approaching rain storms.
Most data was backed up, but I didn't relish rebuilding the system.
The cold front's chill was made miserable by gusting wind Sunday morning. I was up at 4:00 trying
to tell the computer its hard drive wasn't really broken, but it continued to play dead, and I was as gloomy as the pending
day. I couldn't sleep. As soon as it was light we made it down to the ALS Paddler to retrieve Ted from his den. It was a rough
night in the wind and rain for him. He had stayed dry though, and we went to Denny's for a hot breakfast. I decided we should
lay over in Memphis this windy cold day. That would give me time to buy a new laptop. I figured I would never find a technician
working on Sunday to repair the hard drive. We left Ted at the motel room at 10:00 while Alrene and I
went shopping. We bought a laptop at Sam's Club. Being the last they had, it was a display model and had been fiddled with. I
had to do a system recovery before starting the rebuilding process. After loading the ATT conection manager I was
automatically connected to the internet. Before I could type Microsoft in the address field, I was attacked by the Blaster
Worm virus and my new machine began shutting down. I was in this situation before with Dorothy's computer, and my son, Doug,
had left me with the instructions for recovery. After four hours of security updates and software installation I was finally
back to normal. (Almost, I still have camera software to load.)
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