Day 42

Day 42
The weather had forecast another heat advisory for the day so I was up and moving by 6. The first few hours and dozen miles passed with nothing much of note. By 10:30 the heat was up, I was sweating buckets, my shirt and pants were soaked and it was dripping off my arms with every stroke of the paddle. I would paddle about an hour and stop for a few minutes to drink a liter of water. As the day approached noon i knew I couldn't keep this up the length of the 46 mile pool I was trying to paddle down without a serious break. Just after noon I paddled into the town of Fort Madison and headed to the marina and a covered pavilion. I found some relief under the pavilion but even with my shirt off the 100+ degree heat index had me dripping a steady stream as I worked on updating my blog. After a couple hours work my phone gave notice of a weather warning in my area, funnel clouds had been spotted to the west and thunderstorms were coming later in the day. I was reminded of my hiking friend Roger who is fond of saying, 100% chance of weather every day. Not long after I meet a local named Tim who was eager to hear about my trip so far. After giving him my story he proceeded to tell me all about Fort Madison. Fort Madison was the first fort built west of the Mississippi River in 1816. He pointed out the more recently built fort located down the street and the original location in the middle of the highway. He showed me the high water marks from the different floods over the years as well. Having finished my work on the blog I set out to find something to eat, only to discover everything was closed. When I returned to the pavilion Tim said he had realized it was Sunday and everything near was closed so he ordered a pizza because he couldn't let me leave town hungry. Tim and I enjoyed the pizza before i set off back into the heat. As I paddled along I let myself get fixed on  the goal of making through Lock 19 and into Missouri below before camping. As the sun was setting I realized I would not make the Lock or Missouri in the day light. To top off my poor planning there was no available camping between me and Missouri. Just as the sun set I paddled up to Lock 19, the Lock Master told me a barge coming up behind me had to go first because he had no place to stop and the current would draw him into the hydroelectric part of the dam. I tied up to near the dam to wait my turn. The Lock Master told me this was the oldest Lock and Dam structure on the river built in 1910 and it took 3 years and hundreds of men to do it. After about an hour I was in the lock and was making the 39 foot drop to the pool below. I felt very small in the 1200 foot long lock with 60 feet of concrete over my head. When the doors opened I paddled out into the semi darkness headed for Missouri about a mile below. The bank was lined with various factories and grain storage building whose light cast a glow over the dark water. I was very much on edge easing own the river, trying no to hit anything in the darkness. I was suddenly shocked as the water exploded around me and things smashed into all sides of the canoe from out of the darkness. It took me a few moments to realize it was a school of silver Asian carp that I had spooked. I paddled on for another 30 minutes before a large clump of trees appeared in the channel before me, slowly I could make out the white trunks of massive cottonwood trees on the island. I paddled to the island and found a spot just big enough for my tent. I set up my tent using my headlamp and was glad there was not a bugs around to bother me. It was almost 11:30 by the time I climbed into the tent, still sweating, clothes soaked and hungry. I scolded myself for getting tunnel vision over making Missouri because at the end of the day it was a crap camping spot, with no bath and a cold dinner.  All in all not a bad day I made 46 plus miles and Missouri.