Day 77

Last night was cool and quiet no storms, I was only woken one time and it was by an owl that a had landed near my tent and called WHO, WHO, WHO COOKS FOR YOU. I was jolted awake and replied WHO WHO before falling back to sleep. I was up and on the river by 7:30. The morning was cool and barge traffic was at a minimum, making for a easy miles. I was disappointed to see that the butterflies from the day before had disappeared completely. By noon I had covered over 20 miles and was excited to see that making Natchez by dark might be possible. After eating a quick lunch while sitting in the floor of the canoe and drifting. I was back paddling for town. With about twelve miles left till town I rounded a bend to see a wall of rain a mile downstream. I drifted in place for about an hour, nether the current or wind could overcome the other so I sat and watched as the storm inched across the river. As the storm cleared I could see a line of the big tugs lined up and running up river. I crossed to the other side of the  channel and pulled over to a sandbar. After the first tug passed within yards of the sandbar I jumped into the canoe and paddled into his rushing wake. I rode the surging wake for over a mile before I pulled over to allow the next tug to pass. I repeated this another couple of times till all the barge traffic had passed. Paddling the six miles into Natchez the river straightens and opens into an unusually wide run. I could see the old homes perched high on the bluffs overlooking the river. The sky was clear over the river but all around me the sky was filed with dark storm clouds and rolling thunder. The final few miles the I could see lightening strikes from down river past the Natchez bridge. I felt very exposed, paddling alone in the large expanse of open river. The last few yards to the concrete boat ramp the rain began to slowly fall. I quickly unloaded what I needed and pulled the canoe onto the rocks beside the ramp. It was a long steep walk up the boat ramp to the famous Under the Hill section of Natchez. This area was known to be one of the most wild and wicked places on the river during the steamboat era. I walked into the Under the Hill Saloon and inquired if they had a room upstairs available for the night. I rented a room over looking the river and was rewarded with a view back up the river that gave me clear line of sight to the spot were Jim Bowie had his famous duel on a sandbar. The sandbar is now under water but the legend lives on. After a quick shower and change of clothes I visited the Camp restaurant next door, I had the smoked wings and enjoyed a some college football on TV. Soon enough I found myself back at the Saloon and enjoyed sitting on the benches outside visiting with local farmers, ranchers and other tourists. The bed upstairs called my name after a few whiskeys and I drifted off to sleep with the sound of the band playing downstairs.