Day 72 and 73

The lower end of the river really lives up to the name Big River, everything about it super sized. The curves and bends go on for 4 to 6 miles, each one taking an hour or two pass through completely. The currents that ran along the edges are no longer a small swirls or pockets of slack water, they too have grown to a mass swirling, boiling, up stream running pockets a quarter of a mile or longer, the slack pools are now long runs of water with no current filled with trapped foam and the bodies of decaying Asian carp. Both are so large if you find yourself in them without being aware it can take half and hour to paddle out and get back into the main flow.  In St. Louis Mike told me most of the groups that make it past St Louis and end up quitting do so in Vicksburg. At the time I though that was strange but as the miles stretch on I can see where the wide open river and long miles could push someone to believe they will never reach the end. As for me I am fine with the new changes to the river and continue to paddle on river time, whatever the river gives I will take. As I approach Vicksburg in the next day I am excited I will be only 45 minutes from my home and look forward to spending the holiday weekend with friends and family I have not seen in 3 months. I was pushing myself hard today, no stopping to read or take my new favorite break activity, a swim in the nude. I found myself getting frustrated that I wasn't making the miles as fast as I wanted, I knew the strong south wind blowing across the big water was the reason but it did nothing to help me feel better. I took a short break about 4 to pick up some trash left by someone on a beautiful sandbar, I just happened to check the radar and noticed a storm was very near. I quickly jumped in the boat ans began to paddle determined not to get any further behind. Well only 20 minutes later the sky was filled with dark clouds and the wind spun the canoe and drove it towards the bank. With my frustration at a max I tied off the boat, grabbed my chair and climbed the bank. I watched as the rain moved across the river only a few hundred yards downstream, the wall of water completely blocked my view a willow topped island half a mile distant. I set up my chair behind a large willow so as to block the little bit of rain blowing my way. I placed my head against the tree in frustration and to my surprise took a wonderful 30 minute nap while the storm lashed the island downstream. When I woke again I was completely relaxed and took the beauty of my view in with eyes that had been blinded by my emotion only a short time before. I love the way nature finds ways to remind me that this trip is about more than my time frame and my perception of the world.