Page 112 - "Mississippi in the 1st Person" - Michael James Stone (Demo/Free)

INSPIRED.

Those two guys and eating had inspired me. The sky was blue the trees were green, there was
just enough water to get in the boat and so with a smile on my face I paddled up around the

bend….and just around the bend sat a tree.

Or I should lay a tree as pretty as you please across the creek pretty much green and not going
anywhere.

Which is what I thought as I pulled up closer. I’m not going anywhere.

Since the sun was out and I was getting used to this I non-
chalantly pulled upriver from the evergreen tree and tied off

my kayaks again. Not exactly the day I expected, but learn-
ing to not expect anything was getting easier and adapting
was second nature to me so I really didn’t pay too much at-

tention. I was on auto-pilot.

The sun had been intermittent with sunshine at times and
clouds other times. The river itself would run north then east

then north then west then north west and even back south a
little at times.

The one thing I can say for certain is never ran straight for
very long.

Animal life was limited to eagles and birds but I never rally
saw too much else at this stage. The dreaded mosquitoes
never appeared. Ticks that I was so worried about I didn’t have much time to worry so I didn’t

notice if I had any.

The creek itself, or Mississippi River as some call it, seemed to demand attention and I certain-
ly was watching the water at all times trying to get a handle on distances, issues, and what if

anything I could count on or do to make the days easier.

With two tents and a egg shell sunshade I should have been thinking I could camp anywhere,
but I had begun to get invaded with that goal setting mentality I did not want to fall into. I had

the map books and looked at them, but while they were comforting in some ways, I was fiding
them aggravating as what I imagined didn’t match what I saw on maps.

Early on I couldn’t get Trimble map, an app I bought for the phone working, and bailed on it.

So far I just enjoyed what I had in front of me and there was no phone service most of the time

and I hadn’t texted or talked to my wife. But I had warned her this would happen a lot.