The Illinois River: Day 4
I got up early, drove to Walmart, and bought a new pair of river shoes. After paying all of twelve dollars for my new sandals, I paused in the entryway to shed my pink, gray-duct-taped flip-flop and don my new shoes. It felt wonderful to be walking on a pair of shoes that were of the same height. When I got back to the Super Inn, Jerry and I repacked our gear and called our river angel to let her know we were on our way to retrieve the rest of our stuff–if it was still on the gravel bar that we’d bailed off of in the night.
The Illinois River: Day 3
We got up early and ate some peanuts and cheese. Then we started packing up camp. The tent was wet, along with most of the rest of our gear; but we needed to get downriver. We hadn’t made many miles in our two very short days of paddling on the Illinois. So today had to be a day of moving at a good rate of speed for a lot of hours.
The Illinois River: Day 2
We awoke to a heavy fog and decided to sleep in a bit. When we finally crawled out of our tent, everything was soaked. I started a campfire with a bit of difficulty, and made a pot of coffee. Then we drank coffee and ate peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast while the fog slowly thinned and faded away.
The Illinois River: Day 1
For our fourth annual river trip, my good friend Jerry Craven and I decided to venture across the Red River into the state of Oklahoma. I lived in Oklahoma for two years back in the 1990s when I served as an English Instructor at Murray State College in Tishomingo (my first full-time job at a post-secondary institution). I did some canoeing in Oklahoma back then, but I never got around to doing the Illinois River. Jerry and I decided to right that wrong with this trip. Back when I lived in Oklahoma, I heard that the Illinois was a slow and lazy stream that was full of fish–and during the warm summer months, full of canoeists and kayakers as well. But as anyone who lives on the Illinois River knows (and as Jerry and I discovered on our trip there in May), during the rainy season in the spring, the Illinois can be a dangerous river indeed. The river rises quickly into flood stage during the spring thunderstorms. Trees fall into the river, blocking the sometimes-narrow channels and creating dangerous–and potentially deadly–sieves that can destroy boats and drown boaters. Those planning to canoe the Illinois during the spring months should exercise caution, keeping one eye on the river level and the other on the weather reports.
The Wateree River: Day 4
Last evening, Jerry and I had found an excellent campsite just in the nick of time. But we’d had no time to enjoy it. So we’ll pick things up with the two very refreshed travelers awakening to the sounds of birdsong and the whisper of the river just as the light was getting strong enough to see inside the tent.
The Wateree River: Day 3
Yesterday on the Wateree ended with Jerry feeling much better, which was an incredible relief. When you’re in the middle of nowhere, an illness or injury that might not be serious back in the comforts of civilization can be life-threatening. We’ll start our third day on the river a little before daybreak, at our lovely campsite on a bend in the Betty Neck Swamp.
The Wateree River: Day 2
We left Jerry and myself sleeping fitfully under the I-20 Bridge over the Wateree, hoping that the river didn’t wake us unexpectedly in the night. When we awoke, just before dawn, the tent was still mercifully free of riverwater. But it sounded as though every semi east of the Mississippi was crossing the bridge above our weary heads.
The Wateree River: Day 1
For our third annual river trip, my good friend Jerry Craven and I decided to expand our horizons beyond the borders of the Lone Star State. I lived in South Carolina back in the 1990s when I was getting my MFA, and I canoed many of the Palmetto State’s rivers then. One that I missed was the Wateree. So when Jerry and I made up our minds to do a South Carolina river, in honor of my move back to the Palmetto State, the Wateree seemed like a natural choice. For Jerry’s and my May 2009 trip, we canoed the fifty-mile stretch from the Lake Wateree Dam to the Highway 76/378 Bridge about halfway between Columbia and Sumter. We took four days to complete the trip, but could easily have done it in three. But the idea was to savor the river and the good company in my trusty Pelican Colorado canoe, rather than just to get from Point A to Point B.
The Brazos River: Day 4
We left Jerry and myself sitting beside a bonfire and sipping cool intoxicants beneath a carpet of bright stars. Jerry might even have been telling a fish story or two. We’ll pick up just after sunrise, with Jerry back on the riverbank starting our last day on the river by trying to catch the biggest bass in the Brazos.
