After the last camping trip, dad and I took a much-needed break in Greenville, Mississippi. The temperatures have been nearly 100 degrees everyday so we spent the time in the AC of the boat. I finished reading a really cool book “Endurance” by Alfred Lancing about Shakeltons journey to the Arctic Circle. I highly recommend it.

During a dinner with some newfound friends, they were discussing SEC football, which they all claimed their team was better. Mississippi St, Ole Miss and Tennessee all made that claim I sat quietly thinking to myself “are they serious???” We all know the FLORIDA GATORS are the best. They agreed.

 Last weekend, we were set to leave on Saturday, however, their was going to be a party at the yacht club Saturday, so the decision was made to leave Sunday.

On Sunday the 12th, we took off from Greenville on Mi Casa II route to Natchez, where three days earlier dad and I had stopped our kayaking/camping trip.

Natchez was about a six hour boat ride away, so we took off early Sunday morning.

It’s amazing how not having to worry about ICE can ease your mind. For nearly 10 days of camping we fantasized about it, about cold drinks, so being on Mi Casa II just makes all the worries go away.

I ended up kayaking about 30 miles on Sunday. Not a hard day at all. We found a good place to anchor for the night and relaxed.

Monday August 13 was a full day on the water. I kayaked closed to 50 miles and felt more tired than I have ever felt when I finished. The wind was against me all day, and the only thing that moved me forward was the current. We had problems finding a place to anchor, and after a while of searching, we came to a decent spot away from all the barge traffic. I figured we stopped about 40 miles north of Baton Rouge. The decision was made to take Mi Casa II to New Orleans and come back and camp the rest of the way. The drought is so severe in this part of the country, that the river has shrunk by 50 yards or more.

The best part of the day was finding a red buoy at channel marker 317 and signing it. My friends from The Paddle Crew had signed it a few weeks earlier so I had to sign it too. The boys from Tennessee, who also canoed the entire river, also signed it and I was surprised to find many more signatures on it as well. My name was signed in bigger letters.