04-27-2015

Monday, April 27, 2015

Another chilly morning! I think it is going to warm up later this week. However, tonight is going to be another chilly one, in the 30’s.

Our breakfast this morning was a combination of oatmeal and couscous with blueberries and apples accompanied by homemade granola. I love mealtime and the anticipation of what we are going to pull out the bag to eat. All the planning and preparation of the last year makes mealtime so relaxed!

John was still angry at himself for mis-locating the items from prior days and so made another search. He thought he had looked everywhere possible when he found them all safe and sound in the laundry bag (laundry bag?!)

After we cleaned up breakfast and packed up everything, it was time to take the items to the kayaks. I was surprised to see the water had risen about ten inches, which caused the river to move approximately four to five feet up slope of the bank as we slept. Even though it was a dry and beautiful day yesterday, it had rained all day Saturday. It is amazing how long it takes what happens upstream to impact the conditions downstream. One benefit to the river rising is we didn’t have as much “quick sand” to walk through this morning.

Great day to paddle 22 miles, very similar to yesterday. Along the way we saw eight more eagles and two nests.

We entered the Indiana/ Illinois boundary. When we first entered (before lunch) John expressed interest in taking a photo of me in a “separate state” (across the river).

Since today’s paddle was a little longer, we made a conscious effort to stop for lunch. (another muck/mire/quicksand bank) It really was a nice break even though the Asian Carp were jumping at me as I approached the shallows. (which John had fun capturing on video to embarrass me with on Instagram! )

After lunch and we were underway, John said, “Stay here close to this bank.” Then he said, “I’m going to paddle over there,” and proceeded to the other side of the river.

I thought he had changed his mind about where he wanted to paddle, so I followed him. His intent had been for me to stay in Indiana and he would go to Illinois to take my picture. Imagine his surprise when he turned to take my picture and I wasn’t there.

When he heard me paddling behind him, he said, “What are you doing here? I asked you to stay over there.”

I said, “I know – I thought you had changed your mind.”

John explained his reasoning, ” I wanted to take your picture.”

“Oh! Why didn’t you say so?”

Once that was clear, John went back to Indiana and took a picture of me in Illinois.

John was able to take care of some business on the phone during lunch. His zipper on his cockpit skirt quit working, so he called Fluid Fun. (the store from which we purchased our kayaks and some of our other gear) They contacted the manufacturer and arranged for them to send a replacement skirt along with a return label to our next food drop-ship post office, St. Francesville, Illinois. It’s amazing what you can do along the river with technology and a great supporting outfitter like Fluid Fun. Thanks guys!

Unfortunately, technology is not always available. We do not have any service here at Darwin Ferry. (Muck/mire/quicksand bank again!) You don’t realize how much you use something until it is broken or not available. The upside is without the technology to take up our time, we will have time to do other things – like read and play guitar.

Dinner tonight was corn bark chowder with ham and rice pudding with bananas. We enjoyed our last freeze-dried ice cream sandwich from John’s brother and sister-in-law, Del and Becky. Little things – reading, playing guitar, dancing, and eating dried ice cream sandwiches – make us happy!