A Windy Day for Hunkerin Down

I’ve been back on the river for 6 days since my visit to St. Louis. In that time I’ve paddled 216 miles from Caruthersville, MO down to my spot on this island near Fair Landing, AR.

Other than my time in Memphis, my days have been filled with paddling from sunrise to close to sunset. The sandbars have been massive and plentiful, so no lack of great campsites. The weather has been pretty good, fairly hot during the day, not a ton of wind, and when I’ve had it, it’s been a tail wind, which is great. The nights have been calm, cool and sometimes a little breezy to provide an amazing atmosphere to sleep. Of course the sunrises and sunsets have been indescribable, and my pictures barely do them justice. I spend about an hour each night just staring up at the stars, watching the occasional plane go by and spotting satellites as they cruise across the heavens. The glow of one band of the milky way is ever present.

Today was the first day where I had a really sustained headwind, close to 20 to 25 miles per hour. So after hard paddling for eighteen miles this morning, the wind was only picking up. I picked the next sandbar island up ahead that had some trees to block the wind to stop. Plenty of time to set up camp and hunker down for the expected storms overnight. And plenty of firewood.

One of the reasons I’ve been putting in so many miles on this trip so far is to build in time for days like this. Better to put miles in the bank early and relax on the back end versus having to really rush towards the end. And when the weather is good, why not paddle the whole day?

For food, I’ve mostly been cooking some of my dehydrated meals I prepared ahead of time. But if there’s an opportunity to stop at a town and grab some food and cold drinks there, I won’t pass that up. Like yesterday in Helena Arkansas, I spent 1 – 3pm in an amazing barbecue place. I ate enough so that I didn’t have to eat dinner later.

The barge traffic has been constant, though I mostly paddle out of the main channel to avoid them and their wake. They rumble by at all hours of the night, but at this point, I can sleep right through the noise, and it’s kind of a feeling of comfort to have that presence. I think the biggest load i’ve seen yet is 48 barges with one tugboat. I hear myself mentioned as that kayaker coming down the river on the radio once in a while, and sometimes I chime in with where I will be, but mostly it’s listening to the captain’s chat back and forth with their incredible southern accents.

I’m used to traveling like this solo, so it’s pretty comfortable. At times I think it would be nice to have someone to peddle and camp with, but the advantage of doing it solo is that I can paddle when I want, and not paddle when I don’t. Every decision I make is mine and mine alone. I put on the occasional podcast, audiobook or playlist, but try to use those sparingly to conserve battery. Most of the time, it’s great just to be on the river with its natural sounds and scenes.

By my estimate, I have about 476 miles to the Gulf, and 12 days to do it in. There’s still some towns I want to stop and check out and hopefully some cool river people to meet. That should be quite doable if the weather and river cooperate.