Swimming with the Big Fish
La Place, Louisiana November 4, 2019 Dear Family & Friends: Paddling in the busy ports is a whole new experience and challenge. When I entered the Port of Baton Rouge, I felt like a tiny minnow swimming in a pond with Killer Whales, Great White Sharks, barracuda, alligators and piranhas. I bid farewell to Pat […]
More Southern History and Hospitality-Part 2
St. Francisville, Louisiana October 31, 2019 Dear Family & Friends: Happy Halloween! October 30 started with a trip to a medical clinic in St. Francisville to have a tick removed from my chest and a nasty rash on my body treated. I tried to remove the tick myself with a pocket knife, but to no […]
More Southern History & Hospitality-Part 1
St. Francisville, Louisiana October 29, 2019 Dear Family & Friends: I had two great days of paddling down the River after I departed from Natchez. Soon after I left Natchez, I departed Mississippi. The rest of my journey will be in Louisiana. On the afternoon of October 28, I set up camp on a sandbar […]
Natchez-Part 2
Natchez, Mississippi October 26, 2019 Dear Family & Friends: Natchez is the oldest city on the Mississippi River. It was established by the French in 1716 and was named after the Natchez Tribe of Native Americans. Natchez was ceded by the British to the United States after the Revolutionary War under the terms of the […]
Pirates Cove-Part 1
Natchez, Mississippi October 24, 2019 Dear Family & Friends: The big storm arrived in Vicksburg as predicted. I departed Vicksburg on October 22 after thanking Jill for the great hospitality she showed me. I also thanked my taxi driver, Leonard, who ferried me all over Vicksburg. My plan was to spend the night with the […]
Vicksburg-Part 2
Vicksburg, Mississippi October 20, 2019Dear Family & Friends: In the Civil War, one of the Union military strategies was to take control of the entire Mississippi River, thus splitting the Confederacy in half and cutting off supply routes. In order to accomplish this goal, Vicksburg, Mississippi had to be captured. Vicksburg sits on a high […]
Vicksburg-Part 1
Vicksburg, Mississippi October 18, 2019 I woke up on October 17 to a cloudy, but rainless, sky. I departed at 8:30 am and arrived in Vicksburg at 1 pm. Jill Upton greeted me at the waterfront. Jill is a retired physical education teacher and has a doctorate in Exercise Science. She lives in Jackson, Mississippi and has been […]
Weather, Weather, Weather
Somewhere on the Mississippi bank of the River October 16, 2019 Dear Family & Friends: On October 14, Ed took me back down the River to my canoe about 8 miles south of his home. I made good progress down the River in near perfect conditions. I’m guessing I travelled over 40 miles from Ed’s […]
Post Script to Southern Hospitality
Before I departed from Ed’s home, we checked the weather reports carefully. It was cloudy, but the reports showed that I was at the tail end of the front. I was back on the River at noon in a light rain. Sure enough, the front spotted me departing and made a U-turn. Within one hour, I was […]
Southern Hospitality
Somewhere in Mississippi across the River from Arkansas City, Arkansas October 13, 2019 Dear Family & Friends: October 12 was the bluebird weather day I had dreamed about over the last week. Sunny skies. Cool temps. No wind. Fast current. Few towboats and almost no wing dams. I felt like I was flying down the Big […]
