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2012-06-08 tl;dr: The Tombigbee River is meandering. Still no current. Lots of springs to get water from. Lots of critters. Camping in the South: throw everything in the tent and climb in quickly, because otherwise the mosquitoes get you. The screen is enough to keep the heat in. Spend half the night sweating, sand sticking to your back, listening to bugs and frogs, itching because of the day's new bug bites, and wondering just how many mosquitoes sneaked into the tent, anyway. At least three towboats trundle past at various intervals. When morning comes you don't want to get up because it has finally cooled off. But you do, and the first thing that happens when you stick your foot out of the tent is you get bitten by a fireant.I'm seeing eagles again. There's an old saying: The shortest path between two points is not a river. I find myself swinging from one side of the river to the other to shave off a few yards here and there when going around corners. I locked through Howell Heflin Lock. There just wasn't any way to portage without adding another four miles to my journey. It wasn't too bad. After my water supply troubles earlier, I have been packing extra water. Of course that means water supplies are plentiful. Even today, getting as remote as I am, I found a series of springs pouring clear cold water right off the rocks into the river. I stopped early. There were several reasons for this. My shoulder was starting to ache. To continue on would put me in the vicinity of a noisy Interstate 20. But mostly, I stopped early because I spied a spot that was likely not infested with ants. I am really really starting to hate biting ants. I will no longer even get out of my kayak if I suspect the bank to have ants. |
 good morning Alabama  floating plants   back to work   Howell Heflin Lock   spring water   wild pigs  bad zoom on piglets   |