New Orleans, Louisiana
November 6, 2019

Dear Family & Friends:

After seven hours of paddling, I arrived in New Orleans yesterday!!

It’s hard to imagine this trip started over 100 days ago, 2,300 miles upstream. Now, I have less than 100 miles to go before I reach the salt water in the Gulf of Mexico.

Brandon Blackmore picked me up in his truck. We loaded my beloved canoe on his truck and he drove me to my hotel. He is storing my canoe at his home. Brandon just retired after 20 years of service in the US Army. He served in bases all over the world and completed two tours of duty in Iraq and one tour of duty in Afghanistan. Thank you for your service to our country Brandon. I’ll include a photo of Brandon in my next post.

I can’t wait for Lisa, Jeff and Lori to join me on November 8. I wish they were here now.

This morning, I plan to wash all my clothes, some of which I will send home with my family. In the afternoon, I plan to visit the World War II Museum. I will probably spend two days there since this is a subject of great interest to me.

I plan to be back on the River on November 13. My next post will be after my family returns home.

Thanks for traveling along with me and inspiring me to do my best. God bless you.

Bill

The Big Easy

The Big Easy