Page 103 - Louisiana Loop (manuscript Edition)

Just about everything that’s on the water or in the water or under the water or along the banks of the water and I like that
because while I may not be able to use it per se on the phone I am able to at least evaluate the information that’s there so
that I can compare it to what my plotted course is and then accordingly adapt my line that I choose to use on the
Mississippi River in crossing over back-and-forth from one side of the river to the other to avoid the deep channel and
the barge traffic that is invariably going to go towards moorings or landings or stay in between the buoy's that are its
guide in order for the barges to travel up and down the river
Now normally most people can see some of those buoy’s and stay in the middle and avoid barges but I like to stay as far
away from traffic as possible and so looking for shallow waters tends to also give me a different kind of current.
Current isn’t always based upon how deep the water is but sometimes a faster current travels along the shore shoreline
often running over shallows faster than it does in deep waters now this doesn’t apply to everything and you do have to be
careful of blogs and other obstacles that may be extended out from the shore but if you’ve looked at your Maps and you
laid your course you could pretty much adapt by learning to read the river and seeing where as you look at the surface of
the river your fastest or your slowest water might be.

That doesn’t mean you always pick the fastest and it doesn’t mean you always pick the slowest for a kayaker you pick
the safest and sometimes that can mean risk of an investment or sometimes evaluating the most likely possible route to
avoid an obstructions if it’s on the water but to give you an oversight in the back of your mind at least you have a picture
of what the river is doing according to Navionics and that’s what I like about using technology and not forsaking it just
simply because I want to be a purist but being a Whitewater kayaker and being a expedition type of kayaker since my
kayak does not roll.

I want to use all my available resources and tools to plan for and be ready for any eventuality whether it be sunshine or
rain or snow or wind or boat traffic of some type or obstructions that are in the water or anything else that might come
my way and I think that’s why people don’t understand just how much goes into my casual or Devil May care attitude.It
isn’t one of belligerence but rather one of careful planning learning to read the river experience from being in my boat
and being malleable or adaptable to the water circumstances such as they are and the weather.
I am amazed at just how much information really is available to just the average cell phone user that I am one of the
opinion that you don’t need anything more than a cell phone and offline usage of your cell phone with maps and with
connections and with ongoing applications that can duplicate radios and short wave and other functions that you don’t
need to much technology but that really we’ve come so far that just about everything can be done on the phone if you
use it properly and correctly and it doesn’t require cell phone towers.