Day 81

 I woke to another gray overcast day. I was hoping to make some extra mileage today to make up for the early finish yesterday. I turned the VHF radio to the weather band and listened to the update for my area and the latest report on the Hurricane about to impact the East coast. Possible storms for me and really bad news for the East coast. About six miles after my start I passed the first of three intake areas for the Old River or Atchafalaya River. Water is allowed to enter this river system through a series of gates at three locations. I paddled around the first two gate structures sticking to the far bank, horns mounted on the levee gave a glaring warning of the dangerous flow in the area. As I reached the bottom structure that includes a lock and dam  for changing between river systems  I could see a traffic jam of barge traffic. On the opposite shore I spotted a side channel that would let me slide around and downstream of the traffic. I successfully crossed the channel and continued my progress downstream. It was nearing the end of the day and I paddled into the sliver of shade that was forming on the west bank. I was floating along checking the map on my phone when something caught my eye. I glanced up briefly and saw a painted bottle on the shore as I floated by. I thought it might be message bottle and paddled the few feet to shore. I walked back up and took some pictures before picking up the bottle. It was a medium sized clear glass bottle with 2018 painted in red on the side. Inside I could see a couple of sheets of pink paper and a stick. I removed the cork and the papers from the bottle. It was a note from a kid named Skylar Smith born September 24 2004. Try and find me, is what was written on another. I was pretty excited about my find and hope to locate this kid. It made for another good finish to a day on the river.