Back in my Happy Place
Start: River Mile 736
Finish: River Mile 711
Day Total: 26 Miles
Segment total 527
Our morning started with an Uber ride from our hotel (with all our gear and supplies) to the Mud Island Marina on the Memphis riverfront. Mud Island has a really cool park that has a scale replica of the Mississippi River as part of on interactive educational display. If you are ever in the Memphis area, be sure to check it out.
We got our boats loaded and carefully lowered them from the dock down three feet to the water. It’s always an anxious moment, working to ensure you don’t flip it before it hits the water. Then comes the even more delicate process of lowering myself the three feet into my kayak without flipping and falling in the water.
Since we got a late start, we set a pretty conservative goal of 26 miles to the boat ramp at river mile 711. We were fortunate to have the wind at our backs a good 75% of the time. We did encounter well over 10 barges, all of them heading upriver, against the current. This kicks up a greater wheel wash or wake as we call it in the Midwest. We’ve gotten pretty good at judging were we need to position ourself relative to the Barge and the edge of the channel so we minimize our exposure to Wheel Wash.
After 6 hours in the boats we arrived at our ramp, which had a really nice little park at the top. We set up camp next to a picnic table (Oh the luxury!) under a shade tree, with our tents on actual grass!
As I was walking to the river overlook, I met a gentleman named Wayne Ginn and his cute little rescue dog Jack. We chatted for several minutes about our trip and the other paddlers he’s seen this year, including our Paddle Buddy Rebecca from our Tuesday segment. Wayne asked if we needed anything and I jokingly said we could sure use some beer. He immediately offered to go buy us some. What a great guy. He came back with the beer and Jon and I chatted with him for another 15 minutes, before he had to go tend to Jack.
Quote of the Day comes from Wayne Ginn. In explaining how to pronounce his last name. It’s Ginn like Gin with an extra kick! Wayne you were the highlight of our day.
My favorite anti-litter sign
Beautiful day for paddling
Our Camp at Mississippi River Park
No comments:
Post a Comment