Day 83

I sat up in my tent at just the right moment to watch the sun breaking the horizon. As the sun came up it  the large smoke stacks from the chemical factory downstream obstructed the view. I knew that it was an omen for what the rest of the river would look like from here to the Gulf. The forecast called for a sunny sky and with 105 heat index so I loaded the boat and hit the water. The air smelled of chemical residue but the banks of the river looked as wild as any other area. After not passing a barge for the first three hours I started to think maybe everyone is over reacting to the amount of traffic from here south. About that moment the metal straps holding my seat to the boat snapped one by one almost spilling me into the river. I readjusted best as i could but knew not having a proper seat was going to make handling the canoe much more difficult.  By noon I had covered the twenty miles to the northern edge of Baton Rouge Harbor and City. Here I encountered barges parked two to three rows deep on each side of the river and three small work tugs running about. I turned on the VHF radio to scan and quickly caught the tugs communicating. They had three to four hundred barges lined up along the banks and it was enjoyable to listen as they sorted it out and built a barge.  As I rounded a right hand bend in the river I could see the two bridges and the heart of the harbor. The broken seat had wrecked my lower back over the last five miles so I pulled over under the shade of the 190 bridge.  Louisiana Governor Long had the bridge over the river built at a low height. The low height of the bridge guaranteed that ocean going vessels coming up river had to off load in Louisiana. For my much needed resupply I was counting on a Wal Mart just off the river downstream of the Inter coastal Waterway Lock and Dam. I paddled for 3 miles along unused fuel loading docks on one side and a huge oil refinery on the other. In the center of the channel a large dredge was stationed removing sand. Just before the second bridge on my side of the channel sat a massive ocean going grain hauler. The massive storage silos beside it was feeding a endless stream of grain into the hold. I paddled into some slack water and watched as a tug turned 6 barges 90 degrees and docked them behind the ship. I paddled down passed the docking barge and swung onto the sandbar at the mouth of the Inter coastal Waterway Canal. Having stashed my canoe and gear in the willows above the sandbar I set off with an empty backpack to find Wal Mart. It was about a twenty minute walk down the levee to a country road and out to a busy highway and retail area. I grabbed everything I needed for a eight day food resupply including a isobutane tank because I thrown thrown mine away on accident two days before. I had an early dinner of steak and eggs with hash browns at Waffle House before heading back. As I was hiking around a large soybean field a tiny thunderstorm passed over soaking everything. I arrived back at camp wet and muddy and plopped into the canoe to work on the reattaching the seat. I got lucky and found a way to tie it to the frame on my first guess. Today worked out well and I feel ready to push to the Gulf.