Day 100

Well, it's day 100 and it has been just like any other beautiful day on the river; other than the fact that we're now sharing the river with full sized ships! We are around 60 miles south of Baton Rouge, camped across from what looks like an old plantation on top of the opposing levee wall.

Roughly four days after leaving Vicksburg we arrived in Natchez; our last stop in MS. This was a really neat town with awesome architecture. Spanish and French inspired buildings were everywhere- much like New Orleans. The town is located on top of a huge bluff. Down below, near the river is another smaller bluff where all the partying happened. We stopped in at the Under The Hill bar, which we were told is the oldest bar on the Mississippi. With a brothel upstairs and all the riverboat men stopping in constantly, "they used to make whiskey in bath tubs, they drank so much."

We met Stevie and Camden here. We also ran into Jerry and Jake again. We met them on the bank in Vicksburg. All six of us camped In Natchez and drank and talked into the night.

Jerry and Jake are the real deal. They're both from Indiana but they met in Memphis where Jake asked Jerry to come along for a paddle. They're doing the Great Loop and are moving at whatever pace they feel like- day by day. This isn't Jerry's first rodeo, though. This dude has been ON the river for the last 12 years. The two guys in the homemade canoe (Stevie and Camden) pushed on ahead of us. However, we have been traveling with Jerry and Jake up until yesterday. We were in Baton Rouge and they stayed a little longer.

We did a mini tourist tour in Baton Rouge. The main attraction was the observation deck on the 34-story Capitol building which gave a great view of the river. We began to see ships on Baton Rouge's docks as we approached. We were told that ships would be able to go further up river if it weren't for the Huey P. Long bridge. Huey was a former Louisiana governor. Supposedly, he purposefully had the bridge built that low so all the ship traffic stopped in the city.

If you were to talk to me two weeks before we left, you may have heard me mention a 2.5 month trip. My calculations were based on consistent river conditions- there is no such thing. As of right now, I could do another 100 days though. It is, however, a beautiful night which makes that easy to say. The nights make the rough days worth every paddle.

More to come soon.

Check out Jerry's award winning documentary at www.nobodythefilm.com