Word for the day: RELAXATION. The most effort exerted today was in lifting the kayaks on top of the car. For today was nearly a pure float 6 miles down to the Gateway Arch, then we took everything out of the water for Mudd’s journey home, and another 100 mile hyperspace jump for me.

When I woke this morning I had received the graphic below from Mike Puklin. This shows all of the Mississippi tributaries on its journey to the Gulf of Mexico. It’s pretty amazing seeing it like this, and makes it easy to see why the volume of this river is so large. Thanks Mike!

This graphic also made me think, it sorta looks like capillaries returning blue blood to the source; and the heart here is the ocean (or the Gulf of Mexico ). Water can never be created or destroyed really, the water evaporates and then gets redeposited in the form of precipitation. So think about that the next time you sit on your porcelain throne and flush, that regular routine may be coming back down on your head in the form of rain soon. So you should always carry an umbrella.

We woke at sunrise, but had plenty of time to get underway. So, not only 2 cups of coffee each, but a breakfast skillet instead of instant oats today! As we enjoyed our breakfast, we compared our feet, for we had both been bitten by some sort of sand fleas. A quick interweb search indicated that it was likely nothing to worry about. Unfortunately it’s now too late in Mudd’s journey for him to evolve into Fleaguy, but maybe he can make an appearance somewhere.

We set off at 9:30, planning to meet our wives at the Arch at 11:15. The current here was running strong, so this would be a walk in the park. We paddled and chatted about La-Z-Boys and lazy people, and we still felt celebratory on our two man parade to the Arch. We arrived early and just drifted under the shadow of the Arch awaiting our rides. I guess I was so excited to see Christin and focused on what’s next that we forgot to get a photo of the four of us. But we had a great week together and I’m thankful that Mudd wanted to take on this challenge, and I’m glad his niece was wrong – he lived through it!

So we loaded up the kayaks and I decided that I would skip ahead to Cape Girardeau Missouri; this would just about get me back on schedule to finish in New Orleans just after mid-October. So we said our goodbyes to Mudds and drove south.

We enjoyed a short walk around Cape Girardeau and had a nice dinner at the Minglewood brewery (I am partial to sampling brewery food, and maybe a beer). When we got back to the hotel I discovered that the Minglewood was included on my original schedule as a planned stop for today (it was only a block off the river), so I felt that this reset was all in order.

For today’s playlist addition, I’m going thank Isaac again for uncovering this band for me: The Heavy Heavy Go Down River; it’s perfect for Christin delivering me down river.