06-16-2015 (The little lights aren’t twinkling Clark.)

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Weather conditions:
High – 93
Low – 73
Skies – Mostly sunny in the morning. Scattered storms and thunderstorms in the afternoon.
Winds – SSE 5-10

As I sit here on the beach, with a gentle breeze blowing at my back, I hear a commonly heard sound in the distance – cows! John is scared because remember – more people are killed by cows in the US each year than by poisonous snakes.

We are starting our eleventh week – Wow! It’s still hard to believe we have lived on the river that long. At this pace, without weather delays or more sickness, we should reach New Orleans in about four more weeks!

John still doesn’t feel well. Interestingly enough though, the time he felt the best today was when we were on the river. (Probably because he had something to take his mind off of feeling poorly.) The atmosphere on the river today was fairly pleasant, even after a humid beginning to our day as we pulled our boats to and placed them in the water. There was a SSE breeze of 5 – 10 mph, cooling us as we paddled. About the time we stopped at 1:00, the sun was becoming quite intense. (Yay for 4:00AM alarms!) So glad to stop, lay the tarp in the shade, put on my swimsuit, cool off in the water, lay on the tarp, read, then fall asleep. Life’s rough here in the wilderness.

At lunch, John found a patch of black raspberry bushes. (See Instagram @separateboats) They were delicious. I miss fresh fruit. If anyone wanted to bring me a treat, fresh fruit would be wonderful! (I wouldn’t turn down ice cream either.)

As we were looking for a place to camp, we passed by an area of flooded willow trees. (See Instagram @separateboats) What an interesting sight to see the woods floating in the water. (Speaking of flooding. We are hearing reports of so much flooding around the country right now. From Texas, with Tropical Storm Bill, to our home area in northeast Indiana. The Wabash River, where our trip began, and many other rivers in the area, are out of their banks.)

A couple of weeks ago, we found some strange prints in the sand and discovered they were turtle tracks. Since then, we have seen hatched turtle eggs on several beaches. Today, as we were approaching our campsite, we saw a lot of turtle tracks on a sand dune. John said, “I wonder if the turtles dig their holes and lay their eggs at night.” No sooner had he said that, I saw a turtle run down the dune into the water. Then John saw sand being flung up and wondered what it was. The flinging stopped and a turtle scurried to the river. Then another, and another, and another….. Really cool to see.

Nature has caught our attention today. John has been mesmerized by Great Egrets. While I was reading, he laid on the tarp with the camera in his hand waiting for one of these graceful white birds to fly by so he could video it. John doesn’t have much of an attention span. As soon as he would get tired of waiting and put the phone away, one would fly by. I think I heard one of them laugh. (At least for a brief moment John quit moaning about feeling ill).

Another day spent with John! I have loved every minute of it and will cry the first day he has to leave me to go to work! (That’s assuming we aren’t killed by the nearby cattle.)

Thanks for following our adventure. For photos and videos of the events mentioned in this daily journal, check us out on Instagram @ separateboats.

Also, please continue to pray for and support our charity, The Fortress. Check out our “Charity Page” – you can donate using the Pay Pal button. Thank you.

http://www.wopifortress.org