Hot River

Hey, everyone. It has been some time since I've updated. Battery life and service are scarce again. We are on the stretch of river between Louisville, KY. and Evansville, IN. This a beautiful stretch, perhaps the nicest we have witnessed so far on the Ohio. It's beginning to seem as if we picked a rough summer to do this trip. The lack of rain and excessive heat is not making it easy. However, it will not deter us from reaching our goal of hitting salt water. According to CNN, this is the second worst drought in U.S. history; second only to the summer of 1934 (Dust Bowl Era). In Memphis, the Mississippi River is a mere three feet from record low, and the Army Corps of Engineers are looking to spend $7 million on dredging to keep the barge industry afloat (pardon the pun). It is amazing how much the Miss has fluctuated in the past year or so. Just last May, the river was 55 feet higher, and within just a foot of record high crest. The river was three miles wide in some spots where they had blown levees to save Cairo, IL. While on the subject of floods, the flood of the Ohio River in 1937 is worth mentioning. As we've passed through most of these river towns since Pittsburgh, we've seen flood marks with dates written beside them on old buildings, poles, bridges, rocks, etc.; 1937 being the highest. There others marked all along but didn't come close to the '37 mark.

The heat deserves a mention, as well. According o the Weather Channel on my phone it is 104 degrees right now but "feels like" 117. While we have actually gotten used to paddling in these temperatures, there has been little relief at night making sleeping extremely uncomfortable. Temps have been around 80 at night. This excessive heat is breaking records, as well. It has been the U.S.A.'s hottest recorded first half of a year. And if you go back to July of last year to now, it would be the warmest year on record. Good thing for us, we are surrounded by water. We are able to jump overboard whenever we feel it necessary. We can also choose how much clothing to wear during the day. Most of the deckhand working on the barges are wearing jeans, boots, hard hats, and life jackets over top of a shirt. This is most likely mandatory, and they cannot dive in the river as they please. The heat advisory is in effect until tomorrow night, for now.

We've talked with a fella who is a deckhand on a barge and he assured us we would be pleasantly surprised with the increase in current once we hit the Miss, even with the low waters. He also warned us that the scenery is awful down the Miss so we should take it in while we can. We've taken his advice. There have been a couple of good camp spots, as you can see from the pictures; Anderson Island being close to the best in this river. It is the picture of the red sky. I don't have a lot of pictures to share because the river has been uneventful lately. There are some pictures of a storm we endured from a pavilion just off the bank. Another picture shows a massive Asian Carp we found freshly killed by something, most likely a propellor. More to come soon. Enjoy!