Oct. 29 - Day 27 - Baton Rouge, LA to about 90 miles from New Orleans

Last night was a hot night - I didn't sleep well and neither did Karla. We all woke up at some point in the night throwing off our covers because it was so hot. We were on our way again by about 8 o'clock - Karla started us off. She drove until we go to Plaquemine.






We arrived there about 10ish. We got off the boat with 3 gas cans and headed into town. Karla and I have little faith in Wade's Garmin (GSP) for it has failed us many times. lol I thought his Garmin was crazy when it told us that a gas station was just 0.4 miles away from where we had anchored. We got off the boat and were walking through some trees and saw cow hoof prints. We were in a pasture? It looked like we were in the middle of no where! But Wade was like, "Garmin says it's just over this way, on the other side of that hill." And sure enough, after climbing a steep, nasty hill - we could see the town. It was much hotter now than during the evening (as you can imagine) ... so humid! It got up to 85 degrees! But in town we were able to grab a bite to eat, get some snacks, and fill up the gas cans. It was Wade's turn to buy this time! The walk back to the boat was miserable. We each took a gas can and lugged it along... it was SO hot! We had to take about 30 breaks... lol well at least Karla and I did! Anyways, it took forever to get back! At one point Wade was carrying all 3 gas cans. lol But for a very short time, but he did take like 2 half the way - Karla and I switched off carrying the grocery bags and the gas can.

Finally we got back to the boat all gross and sweaty! Right away Karla and I changed into shorts and a t-shirt while Wade got us started and on our way again! It's quite a challenge to get changed on such a small area - especially having to share that small area with another person while struggling to get changed! lol In the course of changing Wade managed to hit some waves which made things twice as diffecult! Trying to keep my balance, on the wet slippery floor, (still in the midst of changing) I was having a hard time staying on my 2 feet. But then Wade hit an exceptionally big wave that resulted in me toppling over and falling, as Karla laughed on.








After we were changed into cooler clothes Karla and I sat out in the cock-pit and drove for a couple hours. The wind had really picked up, making the water really choppy and sending occasional sprays of icy water on us. However, it was really nice laying in the hot sun - soaking it up on our last few days of our trip! We've had so much rain and cold weather, hot sun wasn't so bad! Karla drove for about an hour and then I took over for her. Wade was inside blogging and applying for jobs. Karla sat out with me reading for a long time, but got sick of the more frequent splashes of water and went in the cabin. As I kept driving the waves just got worse and worse! It was harder to stir because the water was like swirly and wanted to spin you! It was weird. Then I arrived to another "barge city" - making the waves so massive! Like the biggest I've seen on the whole trip so far! They weren't like nice waves you just ride over the top and enjoy it, they came in every which way and the front of the boat would go over them and make some air and slam back down to the water - it was like Very wet and unpleasent for the riders. So along with having trouble stirring, and huge waves, I had to try and avoid all the traffic. There was a ship anchored from shore, just sitting like a 1/4 of the way into the river, there was a barge coming at me, and barge gaining up behind me, plus a tug boat to the left of the ship and another tug boat to the right! I didn't feel comfortable trying to out run the barge coming from behind me... but there were no bouys so I didn't know how far over I could go on the other side of the ship. So I called the problem solver of all time and captain (Wade) to get his advice on what should do. He didn't really quite know what to do with the situation himslef - just then the tiller came off! I kept a grip on it and was trying to pull it into to boat! But with the current and the position I was in, I couldn't. (It could hve been I was just too weak also! lol) Wade took hold of the handle and struggled to get it in and he hollered at me to stir the boat with the motor because we were going out of control and heading towards the side of a barge! Now, driving the boat with just the motor and not the tiller is SO hard - for me anyways! I did my best - I tried stirring us towards shore to get ou of the way but I was just making us go back and forth, I couldn't make us just go straight! I dealt with it for a few minutes and lost my patience and snapped at Wade to take over. (The things he puts up with!) We got out of the way, put the tiller back on, which wasn't easy with the waves and current, and waited for some barges to pass by so we could continue on our way. It was almost Wades turn to take over anyways so he just stayed outside and endured the waves.

I got inside and Karla was sitting at the computer with a goofy frown. I laughed at her expression and asked her what was wrong, she went off on this rampage, "I'm sick of this. I want to go home. I'm sick of the waves, the wind, being dirty, being smelly, and sick of being on this dang boat!" Then I tried cheering her up and said, "Why don't you play Jewel Quest?" (That's the game that she's been obsessed about and loves!) And she replied, "I tried. But that's when the tiller fell off and I lost 2 lives." lol So I the real problem was that she was losing at the game she was conquering. haha! But it was so funny coming in and finding her pouting over this game! Just like a kid!





As long as I am on the subject of Karla I will tell you another story much funnier! The waves didn't seem to settle down and Karla was standing right outside of the cabin because she was getting something then Wade warned, "Watch out! Big waves!" Karla didn't want to get wet, she was sick of getting wet. So she hurried back into the cabin! She beat the splash, but lost her balance trying to get inside and ended up doing a belly flop onto the berth (like a bench in the cabin) So it was soft landing... sort of... lol and hilarious to watch! ;)

I don't want to get carried away with stories about Karla but.... I was driving the other day and Karla and Wade were inside the cabin. I got a little bored driving and I noticed Karla was standing in the cabin, so I turned the tiller and when I turned it, it got Karla off balance! I'd stop for a while then turn it again and watch her catch her balance again! It finally got too funny and I started laughing when I did it - Karla finally caught on that I was swerving intentionally! he didnt find it as funny as I did. =D

There wasn't really and ideal spot we could stop for the night - no little streams or islands we could get away from the barge traffic and heavy current, so we ended up just tying to a tree by shore and anchoring off the back. Where we stopped the birds were simply swarming the sky! It was crazy! We don't know or sure why there were so many and flying around in such disarray, but Wade mentioned that it could be because a storm is coming? We have been told that we are supposed to get loads of rain, about 8in worth actually. Hopefully that's not the case and we won't have a stormy night. But just in case there were strom winds and such with the storm, we anchored really good and made sure to tie up extra well!

We were getting settled in the cabin and there were a lot of mosquitos flying in the cabin so we closed the hatch and the doors so we wouldn't get eatten all night. It was Karla's night to cook so she went out to get food for cooking - she came back inside slamming the doors behind her, "The bugs are horrible out there! Look!" - and she put the head lamp to the window and you could see the swarm of mosquitos! No one wanted to go out in that...or let all those bugs in... and we didn't want to use the oven if we couldn't even open the doors! Normally when we cook we leave the doors open not only because it makes the entire cabin an oven, but it's not an alcohol stove, it uses wet gas so it produces fumes, which without ventilation could sufficate us. We didn't have much of a choice, so we didn't cook a supper. :( Karla let me finish her cearal, Wade had the last MRE, and Karla finished her subway she bought earlier.

The mosquitos continued to sneak into the cabin and they were driving us mad! So we went to drastic measures and duct taped any cracks up! Wade also had brought a screen so he tacked up the screen to the entry way, so we could have the doors open for the night and not get eatten alive and die of heat! Wade also brought a little fan which he jigged up to the ceiling to help keep us cool! Wade put a lot of work into trying to make our night a comfortable one! The screen kept the mosquitos out and helped the cabin not get so muggy!

We did however have a colony of mosquitos locked insie the cabinwith us though. We squished as many as we could so they wouldn't snack off us all night! There were dead mosquito corpses all over the ceiling of the boat! Poor COTS....

We are going to be in New Orleans tomorrow -we are all determined! lol We want showers again badly! Bathroom facilities are convienant as well - we are sick of having to prepare the porta potty everytime we have to go! It's such an ordeal to get it set up; it's under our bed so you have to more the pillows, move the cushin, move the board, nove the bag of winter clothes, move the heater, move the lantern, and finally get to the porta potty so you can get that set up! We are incredibly sick of it! So marina will be wonderful! I can't wait!

By Jenny