Day 77, 35 Miles – MM 300 to St. Francisville Ferry

Brice 1920's style

anybody home?

Sunset at the Ferry

Day 76, 36 Miles - MM 336 to MM 300

From far away we heard the low long blast of a signal horn. It wasn't a barge or train, but sounded more like a baritone BBBwwwaaaa, pause, BBBwwwaaaa as if the space ship we were on was about to self destruct and we only had T minus 30 seconds and counting. It was curious but we soon rounded the bend and saw a hydro-electric plant and a warning sign that we weren't close enough to read but mentioned something about discharge. I opened the map and couldn't believe what I saw. The warning sign was there alright, right next to a black dotted line that read 'Coochie Discharge.' Now you know we got a kick out of that one. We couldn't stop laughing and when the next BBBwwwaaaa went off Brice said in a loudspeaker voice, "No swimming in the Coochie Discharge." Oh, the laughter turned into hysterics and we were all waiting for the next honk. It finally sounded and Kathy started to open her legs slowly while saying "releasing, releasing" as she tried not to keel over from a mad fit of the chuckles. The game continued well into the afternoon but I'll spare you any more anecdotes.

Coochie Discharge ??????

Day 75, 27 Miles - Natchez to MM 336

Barges in the not so far distance

Yes, the gun is still in full effect

We met up with Brice and Cammie last night in Natchez. There at the boat were the group of kayakers we saw back up in Vicksburg. They were pretty sun burned but had had a good trip. Kathy and I tied the Big Getter up to a couple of inadequate bushes, dropped a stern anchor and grabbed our goods for the first nights sleep of the boat since June 1st. Cammie helped us gear up this morning before we shoved off. She seemed a little reluctant to see her son go off on a boat that is the fraction of the size of even the smallest tow boat boat but after some assurance she was able to say "good luck, have fun." 

Day 74, 46 Miles - MM 409 to Natchez

It was a desolate day. Yesterday's rain has made the river rise and with the higher water a slew of debris has entered the channel. There is infact more debris now than what I encountered during the flood. 

Day 73, 28 miles - Vicksburg to MM 409

Could this be a future nuclear plant? 

Boat Life

Grand Gulf Nuclear Facility

Both the river and the sky keep getting bigger

Day 72 - Lay over in Vicksburg

Big Getter in front of a Sternwheeler turned Casino in Vicksburg

"No caption needed" - Kathy

The Iron Clad Cairo spent 102 years under 30 feet of water

I am on the starboard side in front of the cannon

We met up with Susan and her family for dinner last night and on top of offering us showers and laundry they lent us a car to tour around in. We drove across the bridge and then on to the Vicksburg Military National Park. The park was a delight and the visitors center was one of the best ones I have seen. By far, the highlight was the resurrected Cairo. Vicksburg was one of the key positions in controlling trade on the Mississippi River during the revolutionary war and iron clad steam boats were an elemental weapon in the battle which lasted several months. 

Kathy has decided to stay on with me and since her schedule allows and some of my guests have backed out. Im glad she is onboard and both good times and bad times are better shared.

Day 71, 6 Miles - MM 443 to Vicksburg

Breakfast in bed is nothing compared to what happened this morning. Kathy and I were enjoying our morning coffee on the roof when a biplane buzzed us. We waved enthusiastically as they flew right of our stern. Downstream they arced back around and started a landing descent. They floated right next to our boat and beached the plane on the same sand bar. Now these were visitors of a different style, rednecks I doubted, but if so it had to be a camo clad Hans Solo and Cewbaka with a mullet. Two men emerged about the time I had climbed onto the bank. As they walked up one of them said "I got a phone call about you last night." That took me by surprise and I asked who the phone call was from. "Susan Chiarito" he answered. Oh yeah. She is the cousin of a friend of mine and had been expecting me soon. The four of us chatted for a while and they were intrigued by Big Getter and said that they wanted to make the same trip but by plane. I eventually asked them advice on where to dock or anchor in Vicksburg. Dan said "well, do you want to see what you're up against from the air?" "Yeah." I sprang into action like the owner of a winning lottery ticket and was in the plane before Dan had climbed off my boat. He took us downriver at the same height as a tug boat pilot house (which is relatively low for a plane) and showed me some back channels as well as his business site. I don't know if you remember me commenting on the Army Corp boat with the crane on it but now I know what it does. Dan owns a construction company that makes the concrete blankets that the Corp uses to contain the sides of the river with. The giant crane is used to clear the river banks in order to lay the concrete blanket down. We continued to Vicksburg and up the Yazoo River where we landed to check out the water front. It was a suitable for the Big Getter so we took back off. He flew me over the town and then up to the industrial harbor. We came back around to where Big Getter and Kathy were waiting and I got a few arial photos of the boat. It was a fantastic morning and one that I will remember for ever. Thanks. After breakfast Kathy, who was a little jealous but very gracious, and I continued down to Vburg to where I knew I could put the boat.

Hans Solo and Chewy pulling up

I wish Big Getter were in this photo for some perspective.

It would be very very small, probably about the size of the index finger of your cursor

The concrete strips used to form the blankets

Big Getter about 5 mile upstream of Vicksburg

Day 70, 23 Miles - MM 466 to MM 443

'Redneckin'

Sunset Dinner

So if you guys aren't aware of the Persaides Meteor shower look up at the sky tonight. We have seen some kick ass meteors, short ones and red ones and one that spanned the skies breadth. It is going on right now but the mother load won't be here until the 11th and 12th so get out of the city lights if you can, take a blanket and a loved one and sit up on the roof of your car cinema style. The meteor shower kept us out of Vicksburg one more night. It would have been easy to arrive there at 4 o'clock this afternoon but between the atmospheric light show and the red necks we met on the river we decided to camp out one more night. Now, when I say 'rednecks' it is only because they self proclaimed themselves as just that. Doug, Phillip and Luke spotted us up river and came out to see us and insisted that we come 'rednecking' with 'em. Kathy and I felt half obliged, half apprehensive and a hundred percent gung ho so off we went. We weren't sure what to expect but they were about the same as anyone else one this earth. They drank Bud, argued over the spelling of hermaphrodite (not they they new what it meant), and cussed at each other while having the time of their lives. The redneck weekend came and went too soon just like everyone else's and the whole goal of 'rednecking', as far as I can tell is to hoot and holler. Yipetty Yipetty Yahoooooooo and fuck you too.

Day 69, 51 Miles - MM 517 to MM 466

Kathy's feet and a Zebra Swallow Tail Butterfly

I lingured in bed this morning enjoying the cool breeze

Blissful was today, still cool from yesterdays storm and for the most part barge free. We floated unencumbered all day. The rivers wide turns are several miles long and and the current held us well. Almost twelve miles went by without us having to make any adjustments to avoid the shore lines. 

Day 68, 31 Miles - MM 548 to MM 517

We had planned to resupply in Greenville, Mississippi but the water front was not only fairly inaccessible from the river it was not close to town either. Kathy and I found a small patch of sand to beach the boat and hiked up the levee to a small RV park where we were able to fill our water jugs. The water flowed out of the faucet brown so we let it run for a while but there was no change. We went to a different spigot hoping for clear water looking water but found the same coffee colored liquid. We decided this could be our cleaning and bathing water and we had enough drinking water to last us the 100 miles down to Vicksburg. I saw a man down the way so I decided to ask him what he knew about the water. "I've lived here 70 years," he said, "and every time I draw a bath it looks like someone has already bathed in it." "It's clean water and sweet to drink, it just looks muddy." He continued on and on about the water and how it hadn't killed him yet. Evidently, according to the old timer, in the town of Greenville when you order water at a restaurant it has a golden tint. Back at the boat we re-evaluated our food supply and although we were down to just carrots, cabbage and canned goods it was enough for at least a week so we left Greenville unladen.

Looking back at the bridges and the tail of the storm

Downstream a few miles there are two bridges that cross the river and as we approached them  so did a north bound 35 barge tow. The clouds had grown dark and I could see wind whipping the tops of the Arkansas forest. A little fishing boat mached by us and I was reminded of the horizontal tornado that Johnny Lawless and I encountered two months ago in Minnesota. Just like that incident this storm was on us in no time and although the wind wasn't vicious the rain was blinding. Our visibility went belly up. The bridges downstream disappeared completely and so did the barge in a very disconcerting way. We couldn't see a dam thing, I became very disoriented and only new which way downstream was by the water flowing under the boat. I didn't want to chance getting to shore since that barge was out there somewhere so I motored against the current and the wind and held our position outside the channel about a hundred feet off a red buoy. That buoy saved us. Relentlessly it rained, and after 20 or 30 minutes of motoring in the same position visibility cleared slightly to reveal the barge. The pilot had driven up against the shoreline and was waiting out the storm just like we were. I still could not see the bridges half a mile down stream and we stayed there for the next half hour until the storm was in front of us. Finally the bridges were in plain sight and barge traffic had resumed, I sighed heavily and turned downstream.