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2012-04-16 tl;dr: All night long the wind attempted to destroy my tent. All day long the wind attempted to destroy my soul. It turns out camping on an island is a really stupid idea when the forecast calls for 25 mph winds with gusts up to 40 mph all night long. After a few hours of the tent being knocked around I eventually removed the rain fly, because it was basically a sail. I used it as a blanket instead, because there was still a chance for rain. But that wasn't enough. After a few more hours of failing to sleep in that ceaseless howling as the tent bounded and sagged and jerked around I became worried that the poles were actually going to bend too far and be ruined. So I removed those as well. The rest of the night (which wasn't much) was spent within a collapsed tent with the canvas whipping against my face.That wind did not let up with the morning. Instead it slowly positioned itself to esnure the most misery. Paddling directly into a 30 mph wind for hours on end is...disheartening. At times I paddled as hard as I could just to hold position. If I stopped paddling I immediately stopped and began drifting backwards. On several stretches of river the wind got the waves running at over three feet. I would crash through one after another after another as if I were in the ocean. Oddly enough the water was warm. Some of the swells and waves were very impressive, but that very impressiveness thwarted any attempt by me to take a picture. This ended up being one of those days when you just push and push and don't really think about anything else. I just put my head down and pressed forward. On those occasions when the wind wasn't too insane swallows shadowed me. I guess I was a novelty to them. Though I wasn't looking around, it was pretty hard to miss all the boats washed up on shore. Rockford sure does seem to lose a lot of boats. After six hours of torture I stopped for a quick break at a park near Oregon, Illinois. I almost tumbled over getting out of the kayak because my legs barely worked. I couldn't hardly walk. I'm not sure if they were numb, or if I had just diverted all strength to my arms. Either way, another sign I need more exercise. I paddled a little further to the Paddlewheel Inn, where I plan to spend much of the week catching up on work. I'm sort of surprised I made it. I wonder if I will be able to use my arms tomorrow? For being right on the river, this hotel has no easy access to the water. What a pain. |
  whitecaps  another lost boat  deer  rough water  turkey  swallows  Paddlewheel Inn |