Day 7 - Angels on our Shoulder

River Mile 1195

Boat Ramp #10

Days Milage - 27.4 miles

Total miles -  143.7 miles

Launched from Crazy James camp at 7:40pm, as usual about 40 minutes behind Jon and 15 minutes behind Bill. Since they are both paddling canoes, they have all their gear in 2 or 3 big dry bags, so they take about 10 minutes to load and launch. Since I’m a kayaker, I have only the two hatches, fore and aft. As a result my gear is in 35 smaller bags and containers. Loading my boat is like doing a jigsaw puzzle in three dimensions. The first day I was pretty stressed out about starting so much later. By day 3 I just decided to take my time, do it right and make sure I don’t forget anything. As a result, the first 3 or 4 hours I have the river all to my self. I listen to music, sip my coffee and just get into the flow of the trip.

Our first goal was the bridge crossing at highway 2, river mile 1219 (map 2) a distance of 6.5 miles. A distance I covered in 90 minutes. This was a very peaceful section, no wind, overcast sky’s and The bridge was nothing more than a way marker so passing under it was just a box to be checked. Next up was Gamblers point at river mile 1212. Just before Gamblers I caught up to Bill and we chatted for a few minutes, paddling side by side. Pretty uneventful section, but you could already tell it was going to be hot and humid today. I caught up to Jon at mile 1209 and we paddled together for a while, chatting the way we always do. The three of us connected about 1205 and tied off for a flotilla lunch of Tortilla, PB and Honey. 

I had been chatting with River Angel’s Sandy and Jeff about stopping by. Sandy had offered for us to stay the night, but we were making really good time and wanted to get further down the river before we camped. As we were approaching mile 1201, we saw a big sign that read “Welcome Paddlers” with a woman that turning out to be Sandy standing next to it and waving. We ended up landing and spent the next 90 minutes talking and sharing a beer with Sandy and her husband Jeff. 

Sandy and Jeff are true river angles. They have a bunk house, shower and laundry facilities that they have built just to help river paddlers. We were tempted to stay, but wanted to get another 6 miles down the river as we have two portages tomorrow. 

Sandy had suggested that if the camp site was buggy she’d be happy to pick us up and bring us back to the bunk house. So, that is ultimately what we did. Back at their house, we showered, did laundry and then headed to the Blueberry Bowl for dinner, Jons treat. It was so nice getting to know these two. The Mississippi River runs deep in there souls, and they love to share the love of the river with any that are paddling by. After dinner, they even took us to the grocery store so we could re-supply.

So as I write this we are in the bunk house, sorting our food and gear, stowing our clean laundry and catching up on communication with the outside world. The first week is over, bring on week 2!