Monday, May 18, 2015
Weather conditions:
High – 81
Low – 56
Whoosh, whoosh, drip, drip, flash, flash, rumble, rumble. These are the sights and sounds of the last four days. In that time we have been able to paddle only six miles. The rest of the time had been spent looking at the radar, wondering if we will be able to move further downstream.
Today started at 3:30. John looked at the radar and determined the storms would miss us. Up as usual – sleepily. John pumped the water out of our kayaks and was in the process of hanging some things on the line, when I saw lightning. I said, “John….”
John replied, “It’s going to miss us.”
Then another flash, followed by a boom, and the sounds of wind and rain as the storm progressed our way.
John quickly grabbed the still-wet items (John had a little incident getting out of his boat yesterday.) from the line and zipped the zipper of the tent just as the rain could be heard on the tent. “The radar didn’t show this……”
This calls for a nap. It seems a bit odd to take a nap at 4:15 in the morning. Or is that called going back to bed?
At about 8:00, we decided to try this again. All tent items were rolled and sitting neatly by the door, waiting to be packed. Couscous breakfast was sitting 10 minutes after adding boiling water. Lunches were made and packed. John looked downstream and could see the wall of rain heading toward us. We grabbed the breakfast, secured as much as we could, and gathered the still-wet items from the line. Zip…. Just as the wall of rain reached us. “Where did that come from? That wasn’t on the radar.”
Rule number seven was broken yet again, as we ate breakfast in the tent. By this time it was 9:30. John said, “We’re staying here today.”
We had planned to go to Cairo, Illinois today, where three packages are waiting for us. Then we were going to paddle a few more miles downstream to camp. We need to leave here no later than 10:00 to accomplish all this.
The rest of this afternoon was spent, after the rain finally stopped, drying items, removing water from our boats, shaving (John), and journaling.
Everything dried fairly nicely this afternoon. Late afternoon lunch and then butternut squash soup and rice and pudding for dinner. As we were finishing the last bites of pudding, we encountered the same experience as yesterday, a wall of rain coming toward us. Scramble to the tent…. Zip….
Thanks for following our adventure. For photos and videos of the events mentioned in this daily journal, check us out on Instagram @ separateboats.
Also, please continue to pray for and support our charity, The Fortress. The fund-raising is not going well and they need your support. Thank you.
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