Page 83 - Louisiana Loop (manuscript Edition)

Trying to describe everything that is going on up until this
moment probably is best remembered , not recorded as it
happens.

I mean just simply looking at the ladybug I think about it where
do ladybugs come from where did they go …….how do they get
here……. where they going when they’re crawling around
………..where they going when they’re flying ……….all I can
say is that today is so much better than the last six days today
I’m sitting on the banks of the Mississippi River.

I am oh maybe only about five or 10 miles south of Baton Rouge
Bridge …….maybe I’m only …...oh I don’t know six or seven
days before I get going again ……..maybe four or five …….but
today the sun is shining today.

It’s hot like it’s supposed to be in Louisiana.
It’s muggy like it’s supposed to be in Louisiana.

And I’m not freezing and I’m inside a large family tent that I can
stand up and I’m not crouched down in a little pup tent with
umbrellas over me and a tarp hanging on to for trying to keep
warm inside my mommy bag while it’s pouring down rain.
I’m not throwing up left and right from some water pollution or
some bug or virus that I got. I’m not laying in a hospital bed.
I may not have all the gear I started with and I may not have as much weight as I begin with but today I’m actually
healthier and in better shape then when I started.

I know that doesn’t make much sense to some people but you see you have to be here fron far away and a long distance
paddler or a expedition kayaker or solo kayaker to understand where I’m coming from .

The reason is we don’t look back on what but we just survived in order to get where we are today we look forward to
how we adapted and I made it this far and how much easier it is now that we’ve streamlined our process.
That we’ve adapted to the circumstances.

That when it should’ve been the way we planned it …..turned out to be cold and rainy in ways that we weren’t prepared
necessarily for but not unprepared.

That’s the nature of the great American adventure.
Not that it turned out the way you wanted to but that you pass through it. That you get through the thunder and
lightning. You make it to the rain. You survive the cold. And then when the rainbow comes out and you’re sitting on the
water paddling and everything is just smiling at you……..you know this is where you belong .
You got a wind at your back and you‘re looking down ……..out ………..far away ……..towards the saltine Gulf waters.

You know that you know that you know you did it.
Not just because you planned it but because you adapted to all the circumstances that came up on the Mississippi river
on the Louisiana Loop and the fact that you still have a paddle to paddle and kayak to kayak means you still have a
journey yet to be uncovered and rediscovered “Up Around the Bend”.
Just down the river from beginning to end. The story never ends because there is still adventures waiting for you and you
are the one doing it, not reading it, but being inspired to go out and do it yourself.