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A passing paddle boat
| Barge at night |
Only in Mississippi will
you find a catbuck
you find a catbuck
What a catch!! George Jones Sr and George Jr caught this fish while checking their trot
line. Click HERE to see more catfish pics including the cleaning of the fish.
line. Click HERE to see more catfish pics including the cleaning of the fish.
More pictures below
I ended up leaving Demopolis Monday around 10:00 A.M. shortly after posting my last update I get a
phone call from the Deanne who is the features writer for the Choctaw county newspaper. Turns out
Lynne Ernest who I had met a few days earlier went down to the newspaper with some pictures she
took of me and my canoe and shared my story. I remember Lynne telling me she was going to submit the
pictures and inform the newspaper, but so many times people say things and never follow through, but it
was nice surprises to find out Lynne did.
After leaving Demopolis I was a day behind schedule because of the bad weather Sunday.
Paddling upstream is way different than paddling downstream besides the obvious fact that the current
is against you. Going downstream when the hunger bug hits I will set my paddle down and make a
peanut butter and jelly sandwich or boil some water and cook macaroni and cheese or anything else that
can be cooked with boiling water. When it comes time for a break I grab a book a and relax for a few
minutes and going downstream your not losing any ground, in fact your actually gaining ground.
However when your going against a current if you want to make a sandwich or take a break you will
lose ground unless you tie up to something or hit the shore. Paddling upstream is demoralizing for the
reasons above. I don’t paddle any harder going upstream than I do going downstream, I just don’t make
as good of time.
The river north of Demopolis seems to open up into lakes which have many islands and offer many neat
places to explore. The pictures of the bluffs is an example of some of the beauty this section of the river
has to offer. On May, 2 when I lay down to go to sleep I had covered 28 miles. When I awoke
Wednesday May 3 my top priority was to find away to mount my 13 point buck rack to the front of my
canoe. Originally I thought it was 12 point, but it is indeed a 13 pointer. A bungee cord connected to the
tie downs on the canoe provided the perfect solution. I only paddled about 14 miles and felt the start of
a headache coming on. I very rarely get headaches at all and decided to stop and set up my tent and get
some rest. The headache never did materialize and I got a good nights rest. May, 4 I awoke feeling very
refreshed after the good night sleep in the tent. Sleeping in my tent almost always leaves me feeling
more refreshed that sleeping in my canoe. Around noon I reached the Howell Heflin lock and could not
find a chain to pull and alert the lockmaster of my presence so I hiked up through a drainage ditch and
stood outside of a chain fence and waited until the lockmaster seen me. We talked through the fence and
the lockmaster Mike Arendt asked me many questions and went back into the office and brought me a
map out showing all the Army core takeouts and campgrounds up the river. I had to wait behind the
break wall for a barge to lock down and Mike continued to ask me questions and offered safety tips
about barges and explains in detail places to stop. One place in particular he told me to stop was at the
visitor’s center right after the next lock which was about 40 miles upstream. Even while locking through
Mike continued to offer helpful information about the river ahead. As the lock chamber was filling up I
was reading a book. Mike informed me he just finished a book and wanted me to have it for something
to read along the way. The book is called Gettysburg and follows the history of the civil war right down
to a tee except for the fact the south ends up winning Gettysburg. The chamber had just finished filling
up and a woman hollered from a boat in the back of the lock and waved her hand. My first thought was
she was an irate boater yelling at the lockmaster to open the gate, but as it turned out she was signaling
me. The woman Claire Denny wanted to give me a very large piece of cake, which was a pleasant
surprise. I have locked through over 60 different locks and Mike was the most helpful lockmaster I have
ever met. I salvaged out 21 miles fighting a headwind and current.
Friday May 5 I was going to encounter something that in all the thousands of miles paddling I have
never seen before. I broke camp quickly and started paddling a few miles before stopping for breakfast.
Not even a quarter mile after getting back on the river I seen the largest piece of rotting flesh in the form
of the cow pictured above. It was O.K on the approach, but when I moved around to the front for a
picture the smell was so overwhelming just writing about it makes me feel like getting sick. Words can’
t describe the smell it is one of those you have to be there to know, and be happy the photos don’t come
with the smell. You just never know what your going see along the river. As soon as I paddled around
the bend a man paddling a canoe came into view on the far bank. Turns out the man was not paddling a
canoe but rather his boat had quit and he was using a small paddle. He had his back to me and I startled
him when I asked if he needed help. He turned around and looked very fatigued with spit coming out the
side of his mouth. The man who introduced himself as Hunter looked to be in his mid 70s. He asked if I
was going down to the boat ramp three miles downstream which of course I was not, but looking at the
man I was filled with so much compassion for his plight. He said he had been broke down all morning
and he looked like a wreck. He said if I towed him he would pay me, then he seen I was only paddling
he did not think I would be able to tow him. I tossed him my stern line and assured him I was very
strong peddler and then began to tow him and his boat. Hunter was impressed at how fast I could tow
him. He told me I would have an easier time on the far shore, but the cow was just around the bend and
the smell would be too much to stand again. Luckily a bass boat was zipping up the river and I was able
to hail them and turns out they were headed for the boat ramp and said they would tow him back. There
was not much time to socialize in the middle of the river because a barge was bearing down on us. I
was thankful the young men were going to tow Hunter back. I camped out just below the next lock and
set up my tent to ready myself for the rain that came in the night.
Saturday May turned out to be a great treat all the way around. After locking through the lock the
visitors center Mike suggested I stop at was immediately on the right bank. This turned out to be a great
stop. Inside the visitor center I was met by volunteers Mary and James Tucker who showed me around
the snag boat Montgomery. However before they showed me the boat Brenda Bobo who is part of the
staff, (not sure of her title) took a very big interest in my trip. She gave me a menu from a local
restaurant and told me to get a dinner and instated on paying for it. After my tour of the Montgomery she
was back with my catfish dinner which was very tasty. Anita Schodar another staff member gave me a
bag with crackers, M&Ms, rice crispeys treats, and other goodies. Brenda gave me new shirt that shows
the locks on the Tom Bigbee River. After talking more with Brenda it became more obvious why she
was so much into my trip because she herself was an adventurer who had traveled deep into Amazon
River and also traveled on the Nile River. I left the visitor center feeling very high in sprits, not to
mention much more educated on the waterways ahead. There is a small Marina just past the visitor
center which I was able to get a shower and continue on. The extended visit put me a bit behind and it
was obvious that I would not make Columbus by Saturday without heroic efforts. There was a 5K race
9:00a.m Saturday in Columbus that I was hoping to compete in, but even without the stop at the visitor’s
center it would have been tough to make it. Around sunset at the Nashville landing near mile marker 316
a voice from the campground asked how I was doing. This was a good opportunity to replenish on
water that I failed to get earlier in the day. The official name is Nashville ferry landing, there used to
be a ferry here years ago. The campers were Billy Jaynes, James and Sherry McGhee and the owner of
the campground Carl Froshour. Carl turned out to be a very interesting man. A few years ago he semi
retired and traveled all 48 states on his motorcycle stopping at national parks and monuments in each
state. We all shared conversation and fresh fish caught from the river. Carl let me camp out for free and
I took advantage of a fresh hot shower the second one of the day. Later in the day Billy drove me into
Columbus so I could get a signal on my telephone and check messages. I was able to do an interview
over the phone with the newspaper and make plans to meet for pictures on Monday at the Columbus
Marina. This was also a good opportunity to catch up on other phone calls. Billy suggested we go to the
main street market festivities which is Columbus’s biggest festival of the year. That turned out to be fun
and made for a nice break from life on the water. By the time we got back it was evening and Carl let
me camp out again for free which meant another hot shower. Carl also let me ride along as he set a trot
line. It rained during the night, but the tent my family bought me for Christmas kept me dry and
comfortable.
Sunday May 7 I was back on the water around 9:00a.m and before I was even out of sight of the
campground I seen a deer swimming across the river, but was unable to paddle close enough and ready
my camera for a picture. Before this is over I will have a close up picture of a deer swimming across
the river. The other surprise of the day came around mile marker 322, an alligator in the river! This was
the first alligator I had seen in over 130 river miles south. I was told that alligators were not above
Demopolis which is over 100 river miles south and having not seen any this was a surprise. As the day
was winding down I decided to see just how fast I could paddle and began sprinting up the river and
was able to maintain an extremely fast pace (80 strokes a minute) for an hour which kept my speed at
almost 5mph against the current with over 150 pounds of gear in my 65 pound Kevlar canoe! Before the
trip I would not have been able to keep that pace up for 5 min. I set up camp about a mile below the
Columbus lock and the Marina is less than a half mile from the lock. At some point during the night I
awoke with a sharp pain in my left wrist and it did not go away when morning came. I was not able to
even roll up my sleeping bag because of the pain. I took an Aleve and began packing my gear up. The
level of pain was the same as when I broke my wrist several years ago bull riding. On the water my
normal paddling stroke had to be adjusted just so I could paddle. I wondered if the hardest paddling of
my life the day before caused the injury or if I somehow injured my wrist while sleeping. Either way I
was very concerned. Luckily I only had a little over a mile to go before the marina and arrived by 8:30a.
m. The photographer for the newspaper showed up at 11:00a.m as scheduled and I discovered while
paddling out for the picture that my wrist felt much better and that feeling of relief was equivalent to the
relief I felt when finally setting foot on the coast guard boat after needing rescued from the Atlantic
Ocean. Of course this is not a matter of life or death, but the trip would have had to been postponed had
my wrist not recovered. This entire trip comes down to my ability to physically perform to a certain
level for the next three years and if I can’t physically perform then I can not raise awareness for MS.
Around 1:30p.m WCBI T.V came down and did an interview and this gave me another chance to
reaffirm that my wrist is getting better, I only experienced very minor discomfort, however I am still
going to take it easy and not push real hard the next few days. Later on in the day Phil and Kathy Spier
drove me and some other boaters into town to see some of the old homes and a really neat graveyard
which is home to the first memorial day celebration. Phil gave me his card and told me to call him
when I get to pickwick lake which will be in about a week.
phone call from the Deanne who is the features writer for the Choctaw county newspaper. Turns out
Lynne Ernest who I had met a few days earlier went down to the newspaper with some pictures she
took of me and my canoe and shared my story. I remember Lynne telling me she was going to submit the
pictures and inform the newspaper, but so many times people say things and never follow through, but it
was nice surprises to find out Lynne did.
After leaving Demopolis I was a day behind schedule because of the bad weather Sunday.
Paddling upstream is way different than paddling downstream besides the obvious fact that the current
is against you. Going downstream when the hunger bug hits I will set my paddle down and make a
peanut butter and jelly sandwich or boil some water and cook macaroni and cheese or anything else that
can be cooked with boiling water. When it comes time for a break I grab a book a and relax for a few
minutes and going downstream your not losing any ground, in fact your actually gaining ground.
However when your going against a current if you want to make a sandwich or take a break you will
lose ground unless you tie up to something or hit the shore. Paddling upstream is demoralizing for the
reasons above. I don’t paddle any harder going upstream than I do going downstream, I just don’t make
as good of time.
The river north of Demopolis seems to open up into lakes which have many islands and offer many neat
places to explore. The pictures of the bluffs is an example of some of the beauty this section of the river
has to offer. On May, 2 when I lay down to go to sleep I had covered 28 miles. When I awoke
Wednesday May 3 my top priority was to find away to mount my 13 point buck rack to the front of my
canoe. Originally I thought it was 12 point, but it is indeed a 13 pointer. A bungee cord connected to the
tie downs on the canoe provided the perfect solution. I only paddled about 14 miles and felt the start of
a headache coming on. I very rarely get headaches at all and decided to stop and set up my tent and get
some rest. The headache never did materialize and I got a good nights rest. May, 4 I awoke feeling very
refreshed after the good night sleep in the tent. Sleeping in my tent almost always leaves me feeling
more refreshed that sleeping in my canoe. Around noon I reached the Howell Heflin lock and could not
find a chain to pull and alert the lockmaster of my presence so I hiked up through a drainage ditch and
stood outside of a chain fence and waited until the lockmaster seen me. We talked through the fence and
the lockmaster Mike Arendt asked me many questions and went back into the office and brought me a
map out showing all the Army core takeouts and campgrounds up the river. I had to wait behind the
break wall for a barge to lock down and Mike continued to ask me questions and offered safety tips
about barges and explains in detail places to stop. One place in particular he told me to stop was at the
visitor’s center right after the next lock which was about 40 miles upstream. Even while locking through
Mike continued to offer helpful information about the river ahead. As the lock chamber was filling up I
was reading a book. Mike informed me he just finished a book and wanted me to have it for something
to read along the way. The book is called Gettysburg and follows the history of the civil war right down
to a tee except for the fact the south ends up winning Gettysburg. The chamber had just finished filling
up and a woman hollered from a boat in the back of the lock and waved her hand. My first thought was
she was an irate boater yelling at the lockmaster to open the gate, but as it turned out she was signaling
me. The woman Claire Denny wanted to give me a very large piece of cake, which was a pleasant
surprise. I have locked through over 60 different locks and Mike was the most helpful lockmaster I have
ever met. I salvaged out 21 miles fighting a headwind and current.
Friday May 5 I was going to encounter something that in all the thousands of miles paddling I have
never seen before. I broke camp quickly and started paddling a few miles before stopping for breakfast.
Not even a quarter mile after getting back on the river I seen the largest piece of rotting flesh in the form
of the cow pictured above. It was O.K on the approach, but when I moved around to the front for a
picture the smell was so overwhelming just writing about it makes me feel like getting sick. Words can’
t describe the smell it is one of those you have to be there to know, and be happy the photos don’t come
with the smell. You just never know what your going see along the river. As soon as I paddled around
the bend a man paddling a canoe came into view on the far bank. Turns out the man was not paddling a
canoe but rather his boat had quit and he was using a small paddle. He had his back to me and I startled
him when I asked if he needed help. He turned around and looked very fatigued with spit coming out the
side of his mouth. The man who introduced himself as Hunter looked to be in his mid 70s. He asked if I
was going down to the boat ramp three miles downstream which of course I was not, but looking at the
man I was filled with so much compassion for his plight. He said he had been broke down all morning
and he looked like a wreck. He said if I towed him he would pay me, then he seen I was only paddling
he did not think I would be able to tow him. I tossed him my stern line and assured him I was very
strong peddler and then began to tow him and his boat. Hunter was impressed at how fast I could tow
him. He told me I would have an easier time on the far shore, but the cow was just around the bend and
the smell would be too much to stand again. Luckily a bass boat was zipping up the river and I was able
to hail them and turns out they were headed for the boat ramp and said they would tow him back. There
was not much time to socialize in the middle of the river because a barge was bearing down on us. I
was thankful the young men were going to tow Hunter back. I camped out just below the next lock and
set up my tent to ready myself for the rain that came in the night.
Saturday May turned out to be a great treat all the way around. After locking through the lock the
visitors center Mike suggested I stop at was immediately on the right bank. This turned out to be a great
stop. Inside the visitor center I was met by volunteers Mary and James Tucker who showed me around
the snag boat Montgomery. However before they showed me the boat Brenda Bobo who is part of the
staff, (not sure of her title) took a very big interest in my trip. She gave me a menu from a local
restaurant and told me to get a dinner and instated on paying for it. After my tour of the Montgomery she
was back with my catfish dinner which was very tasty. Anita Schodar another staff member gave me a
bag with crackers, M&Ms, rice crispeys treats, and other goodies. Brenda gave me new shirt that shows
the locks on the Tom Bigbee River. After talking more with Brenda it became more obvious why she
was so much into my trip because she herself was an adventurer who had traveled deep into Amazon
River and also traveled on the Nile River. I left the visitor center feeling very high in sprits, not to
mention much more educated on the waterways ahead. There is a small Marina just past the visitor
center which I was able to get a shower and continue on. The extended visit put me a bit behind and it
was obvious that I would not make Columbus by Saturday without heroic efforts. There was a 5K race
9:00a.m Saturday in Columbus that I was hoping to compete in, but even without the stop at the visitor’s
center it would have been tough to make it. Around sunset at the Nashville landing near mile marker 316
a voice from the campground asked how I was doing. This was a good opportunity to replenish on
water that I failed to get earlier in the day. The official name is Nashville ferry landing, there used to
be a ferry here years ago. The campers were Billy Jaynes, James and Sherry McGhee and the owner of
the campground Carl Froshour. Carl turned out to be a very interesting man. A few years ago he semi
retired and traveled all 48 states on his motorcycle stopping at national parks and monuments in each
state. We all shared conversation and fresh fish caught from the river. Carl let me camp out for free and
I took advantage of a fresh hot shower the second one of the day. Later in the day Billy drove me into
Columbus so I could get a signal on my telephone and check messages. I was able to do an interview
over the phone with the newspaper and make plans to meet for pictures on Monday at the Columbus
Marina. This was also a good opportunity to catch up on other phone calls. Billy suggested we go to the
main street market festivities which is Columbus’s biggest festival of the year. That turned out to be fun
and made for a nice break from life on the water. By the time we got back it was evening and Carl let
me camp out again for free which meant another hot shower. Carl also let me ride along as he set a trot
line. It rained during the night, but the tent my family bought me for Christmas kept me dry and
comfortable.
Sunday May 7 I was back on the water around 9:00a.m and before I was even out of sight of the
campground I seen a deer swimming across the river, but was unable to paddle close enough and ready
my camera for a picture. Before this is over I will have a close up picture of a deer swimming across
the river. The other surprise of the day came around mile marker 322, an alligator in the river! This was
the first alligator I had seen in over 130 river miles south. I was told that alligators were not above
Demopolis which is over 100 river miles south and having not seen any this was a surprise. As the day
was winding down I decided to see just how fast I could paddle and began sprinting up the river and
was able to maintain an extremely fast pace (80 strokes a minute) for an hour which kept my speed at
almost 5mph against the current with over 150 pounds of gear in my 65 pound Kevlar canoe! Before the
trip I would not have been able to keep that pace up for 5 min. I set up camp about a mile below the
Columbus lock and the Marina is less than a half mile from the lock. At some point during the night I
awoke with a sharp pain in my left wrist and it did not go away when morning came. I was not able to
even roll up my sleeping bag because of the pain. I took an Aleve and began packing my gear up. The
level of pain was the same as when I broke my wrist several years ago bull riding. On the water my
normal paddling stroke had to be adjusted just so I could paddle. I wondered if the hardest paddling of
my life the day before caused the injury or if I somehow injured my wrist while sleeping. Either way I
was very concerned. Luckily I only had a little over a mile to go before the marina and arrived by 8:30a.
m. The photographer for the newspaper showed up at 11:00a.m as scheduled and I discovered while
paddling out for the picture that my wrist felt much better and that feeling of relief was equivalent to the
relief I felt when finally setting foot on the coast guard boat after needing rescued from the Atlantic
Ocean. Of course this is not a matter of life or death, but the trip would have had to been postponed had
my wrist not recovered. This entire trip comes down to my ability to physically perform to a certain
level for the next three years and if I can’t physically perform then I can not raise awareness for MS.
Around 1:30p.m WCBI T.V came down and did an interview and this gave me another chance to
reaffirm that my wrist is getting better, I only experienced very minor discomfort, however I am still
going to take it easy and not push real hard the next few days. Later on in the day Phil and Kathy Spier
drove me and some other boaters into town to see some of the old homes and a really neat graveyard
which is home to the first memorial day celebration. Phil gave me his card and told me to call him
when I get to pickwick lake which will be in about a week.
| The scenic bluffs |
Deer mounted on the
canoe
canoe
| The dead cow |
The Montgomery snag
boat and friendly
people of the Tom
Bevill visitor center
boat and friendly
people of the Tom
Bevill visitor center