The night we spend at Hoppies Marine service a day and a half north of Cairo Illinoise was a stressfull one for me. We'd docked near a pair of million dollar motor yachts, populated by what I have to presume where millionaires. People who've amassed great fortunes seem to develope know it all personalitys. Ofcourse these guys had already done what we where about to do in the past, but now that we're 3/4 of the way through the lower Mississippi, I have to say that I think their description of the lower as being "the wild west with killer currents to suck you in front of barges, and no one to help you if you get in trouble. Your on your own out there and you have to start looking for a place to spend the night at noon because if you don't have it your in trouble." Well as far as I can tell the lower Mississippi is just the upper Mississippi without docks.
The river we'd pulled into last minute the night before turned out to be the nicest anchoring spot so far. We've been steadily improving out anchoring skills since we started and we're getting good! Likewise, the lack of Marinas hasn't hampered our gas getting abilitys one bit. It seems like there's almost always someone wanting to help out when they see river rats with gas cans. Anyway, everything so far is way better than all the nay sayer, which is virtually everyone, predicted. I guess my point is, don't listen to anyone! Or if you do, give the positive people first dibs on your decision and maybe add the nay sayers in later if there's time. I hope you learned something here today. Now, onward!
The girls stayed in bed, and I started us south. It was a pretty morning, and I actually had my camera this time. I put in my two and a half hour shift before Karla took over. It was a mostly uneventful day besides a state change over to Mississippi, and knowing that we where in gator territory. I attempted to make french toast, and now believe that breakfast is about chemistry. Eggs, scrambled or fried, along with pancakes, undergo amazing chemical transformations from mush to delicious. French toast
doesn't do anything magical. It begins as bread, and ends as bread, and that's why it's only ok in my book... that and I can't seem to make it very well for some reason. How dare it?! Breakfast takes about 3 hours from start to finish, so that took a good chunk out of the day. Jenny suprises me in that she probobly drives more than any of us. It's not at all unusual for her to put in a four or even and ocational five hour shift. She's hardcore! I'm usually ready to be done after 2 and a half. She seems to enjoy it though. She's usually out there singing and texting while steering with a foot. She did a shift like that today.
We traded off untill evening, and Karla took us up another river that she'd found on the gps. This one was actually pretty wide, and there where trees jutting up out of the water on either side. As we motored in I heard sticks cracking just out of sight in the trees, and some king of strange shrill buzzing that almost sounded like an alarm. It was a creepy and extremely cool place to camp. We motored in, and attempted to tie up to a tree, but the current was pretty strong so I switched spots with Karla and attempted to get us close to a tree while Jenny ran the cam corder. The current was just too much for me, so I pulled the plug, and motored up river further looking for an easier spot. We found a downed tree right off lang and it was perfect. We did the anchoring thing, and I installed the new spark plugs that I'd picked up a few citys ago. The old plugs had nearly 2000 miles on them, and I'm pretty certain not too many 8 horse johnsons get this kind of work out. Then it was back to the kitchen. It was my night to cook while Karla bloged. I made better cheddar bratworsts, and rice a roni. The brats are fool proof, but the the rice a roni requires a lid, and we just arn't that prepared, so it came out crunchy. I'm not much of a cook without a George Foreman Grill and a microwave I'm afraid... Or at all. I cleaned up and tryed to blog myself, but the signal was too weak to save my work so I lost it all. Maybe I was wrong. It's not the docks that are the biggest chan
ge from upper to lower Mississippi river, it's the lack of cell towers. People must not keep in touch down here, or get flat tires, etc. As I was cleaning up after dinner we heard a splash. I'd fixed the spot light a few days earlier, so Karla took it out and shined it around. We saw green eyes submerged 100 feet down river! Our first gator. That's what we thought anyway, untill we went back out to brush out teeth, and caught the source of the splashes in the bean of the spotlight. They where caused by these little muskrat looking rotents called neutrenos doing jumps and flips. If the rodents are playing there probobly arn't many gators around. We went to bed dissapointed, and watched A movie who's name escapes me because it took me so long to get done with this blog. It was a sunny days with a state change and over 100 miles of progress. Not too bad.
The river we'd pulled into last minute the night before turned out to be the nicest anchoring spot so far. We've been steadily improving out anchoring skills since we started and we're getting good! Likewise, the lack of Marinas hasn't hampered our gas getting abilitys one bit. It seems like there's almost always someone wanting to help out when they see river rats with gas cans. Anyway, everything so far is way better than all the nay sayer, which is virtually everyone, predicted. I guess my point is, don't listen to anyone! Or if you do, give the positive people first dibs on your decision and maybe add the nay sayers in later if there's time. I hope you learned something here today. Now, onward!
The girls stayed in bed, and I started us south. It was a pretty morning, and I actually had my camera this time. I put in my two and a half hour shift before Karla took over. It was a mostly uneventful day besides a state change over to Mississippi, and knowing that we where in gator territory. I attempted to make french toast, and now believe that breakfast is about chemistry. Eggs, scrambled or fried, along with pancakes, undergo amazing chemical transformations from mush to delicious. French toast
doesn't do anything magical. It begins as bread, and ends as bread, and that's why it's only ok in my book... that and I can't seem to make it very well for some reason. How dare it?! Breakfast takes about 3 hours from start to finish, so that took a good chunk out of the day. Jenny suprises me in that she probobly drives more than any of us. It's not at all unusual for her to put in a four or even and ocational five hour shift. She's hardcore! I'm usually ready to be done after 2 and a half. She seems to enjoy it though. She's usually out there singing and texting while steering with a foot. She did a shift like that today.We traded off untill evening, and Karla took us up another river that she'd found on the gps. This one was actually pretty wide, and there where trees jutting up out of the water on either side. As we motored in I heard sticks cracking just out of sight in the trees, and some king of strange shrill buzzing that almost sounded like an alarm. It was a creepy and extremely cool place to camp. We motored in, and attempted to tie up to a tree, but the current was pretty strong so I switched spots with Karla and attempted to get us close to a tree while Jenny ran the cam corder. The current was just too much for me, so I pulled the plug, and motored up river further looking for an easier spot. We found a downed tree right off lang and it was perfect. We did the anchoring thing, and I installed the new spark plugs that I'd picked up a few citys ago. The old plugs had nearly 2000 miles on them, and I'm pretty certain not too many 8 horse johnsons get this kind of work out. Then it was back to the kitchen. It was my night to cook while Karla bloged. I made better cheddar bratworsts, and rice a roni. The brats are fool proof, but the the rice a roni requires a lid, and we just arn't that prepared, so it came out crunchy. I'm not much of a cook without a George Foreman Grill and a microwave I'm afraid... Or at all. I cleaned up and tryed to blog myself, but the signal was too weak to save my work so I lost it all. Maybe I was wrong. It's not the docks that are the biggest chan
ge from upper to lower Mississippi river, it's the lack of cell towers. People must not keep in touch down here, or get flat tires, etc. As I was cleaning up after dinner we heard a splash. I'd fixed the spot light a few days earlier, so Karla took it out and shined it around. We saw green eyes submerged 100 feet down river! Our first gator. That's what we thought anyway, untill we went back out to brush out teeth, and caught the source of the splashes in the bean of the spotlight. They where caused by these little muskrat looking rotents called neutrenos doing jumps and flips. If the rodents are playing there probobly arn't many gators around. We went to bed dissapointed, and watched A movie who's name escapes me because it took me so long to get done with this blog. It was a sunny days with a state change and over 100 miles of progress. Not too bad.
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