Note: For now, I’m skipping posts from the weekend in Hannibal. I’m trying to get back to near real-time on the water. So I’m jumping to day 38, though as I post this I’m on day 40 at lock & dam #25; only 2 days behind. Like that confounded day 7, I’ll get back to the Hannibal weekend where there’s a lot of guys named Steve, trips to Florida and Paris, and a 91 year-old birthday party.

Today’s word: RESTITUTION. After what seemed an impossibly long break, it was back to the water today. I felt anxious and out of practice. I was nervous about forgetting something and felt myself triple checking all of my bags. Also, this was my first day on the water with Steve Mudd, side dish #4, which was another unknown.

Steve has been a friend from Batavia for about 12 years. He was basketball coach for each of my daughters when they were in7th and 8th grade. He had a passion and intensity in coaching that made other coaches dislike him, upcoming 5th and 6th graders fear him, and current and former players admire him. He had many impassioned pleas to his players that made it seem victory was a matter of life or death, but this was 12-14 year old girls, at a small Christian school… He was a fabulous coach who loved basketball nearly as much as his players.

But, as far as side dishes go… while Mudd spent his working life in San Francisco and Chicago area for 35+ years after graduating from Mizzou, he’s from Missouri. You can take the boy out of Missouri, but you can’t take the Missouri out of this boy. Which I guess is why he’s been drawn back here in his retirement years. He’s an old school, nothing fancy, ‘git ‘er done, turkey hunting kinda guy that seemingly everyone likes even if they don’t really like his type. As a side dish, he’s baked beans.

We wanted to be on the water around 7:30 today. But… we had left over lasagna still to eat for breakfast. And we enjoyed our coffee and last encounters with porcelain until who knows when. So although we had loaded the car the previous night, it was after 7 before we left the house. We then had a 20 minute drive to Hannibal where we had to stop at Walmart for more fuel for the camp stove, trade the car with a truck that could haul the yellow kayak, transfer all the gear from car to kayak, drive to pick up kayak, drive to marina where Big Blue was locked up, then unload everything into the boats. We gathered a bit of a launch party of Steve’s friends and other well-wishers during the process. When we finally paddled off it was 9:45.

When we pushed away there were a number of onlookers. The LST 325 was still there with some school field trips aboard, along with other people in their normal Monday in Hannibal routines. I thought Steve moved out pretty quickly and was staying right with me, until we realized we were hooked together; this was not our intended way to travel.

Like everyone who has paddled these big boats so far, it took Steve a while to keep it straight. It takes some coordination and concentration to keep peddling while steering with the paddle. Steve found the early going frustrating, but that was to be expected.

We entered lock #23 just before lunchtime. Thankfully we got in just before the David Fields who was pushing 12 barges; I thanked him on the marine radio for the 20 minute wait but he didn’t respond.

That afternoon, several hours after the lock, the David Fields passed by; he didn’t run us down, but he didn’t wave either. Though not once has anyone waved from a barge tow – maybe it’s just some unwritten rule.

We planned to do about 20 miles today after our late start. Though we saw plenty of great beaches for stealth camp throughout the day, now there was nothing. We were losing daylight when we tried for a levy to make camp, but the approach was steep, with ankle-twisting rocks, and burrs. So we moved on a bit to a tiny island: maybe 8’x30’ of land. It was covered in tall grass but it looked like a couple of large animals had been laying around there for days – the grass in the middle was all matted down. What we surmised was this was some sort of summer home for beavers, and it would have to do. I felt bad that my first stealth camp with Mudd was the worst yet, but it would be upwards from here I’m sure. But, the grass was comfy for sleeping and we had a beautiful sunset as reward.

We didn’t sleep too well as the angry beaver we evicted seemed to make splashes and sniffed around our camp for some time. The around midnight, the LST 325 passed by, we were awoken by the sound and lights. I knew from my Marine Tracker app that she was on the move. It seemed like the waves from the ship were going to come into our tents, but we stayed perfectly dry. I suspect this is the last I’ll see if her. Good voyage and stay safe!

Mudd found today pretty amazing. The barges and locks were impressive. The scenery and wildlife was fantastic. Even the ability to camp for 2 set up and have a hot meal off the kayak on a tiny piece of land within 30 of landing was amazing. I must admit, I’ve become a little numb to these things, but they are indeed amazing. For this, today’s playlist addition: My Morning Jacket – I’m Amazed