Cold November Rain

“‘Cause nothin’ lasts forever. Even Cold November Rain.”-GNR

Monday, November 3rd

A good day. I felt refreshed and made decent progress, I am almost to the 259 bridge and should pass it early tomorrow.  I understand it may rain on Tuesday and possibly Wednesday so the bridge may be my future home.  I actually saw a fisherman on the river today and the timing couldn’t have been better.  I was canoeing past another one of these crazy Red River bends and saw a white van parked right by the river.  I discovered that I needed to drag my boat across another series of rocks.  A fisherman, Douglas, was casting a net trying to catch bass or catfish while standing on the rocks.  He assisted with getting around the rocks and spent some time discussing the Red with me.  He insisted on giving me a homemade machate and an adult beverage.  Yes, a little 10:00am Keystone LIght to really get the day going-nice.  I almost wanted to give him a hug since he was the only “river man” I’ve seen since Shreveport.

I moved ahead into a sometimes cloudy, sometimes sunny afternoon. I am relieved that I have almost successfully negotiated the crazy Red River bends gauntlet.  The river will straighten out shortly.  I called it an evening and found another nice sandbar.  I hope I can make the bridge before the rains come tomorrow.

Did the Pats win yesterday?

Morning Time

Reflections on the Red

rock portage

Thank you for the Machate Douglas

beard and glasses

beard and cap

Evening Time

Tuesday, November 4th

Yep, it rained.  It started around 10:00am and didn’t stop.  It was heavy at times but very steady.  I did make it to the 259 bridge just as the rain started. I felt fortunate to make the bridge, my intentions were to wait out the rain under the bridge since it would provide cover.  The 259 bridge is not ideal for waiting out a storm, in fact, I wouldn’t consider it groovy under any circumstance this side of a tornado.

I arrived under the bridge and my intelligence indicated the rain would continue all day and possibly all tomorrow.  I enjoyed lunch, initally felt good about my decision to stay under the bridge, my canoe was staying dry.  Upon closer inspection, the road is busy, noisy, empty liquor bottles were around and the area simply didn’t have a “good feel.”  I decided to contine on canoeing.  I made it about an hour.  The rain started coming down harder and I decided to call it a day on an island an wait it out there.  It really isn’t ideal setting up your camp in the rain, by the time my camp was established everything (including me) was pretty much wet.   I’m glad it wasn’t windy.

I spent the remainder of the afternoon in my tent resting…really not much else to do.  I can’t complain too much about the rain since it has been dry for the past month.  Hopefully, it relents tomorrow although it isn’t looking promising.

rain is a comin’

259 Bridge

home?

nah, this is better

Wednesday, November 5th

It rained. All day.  Zero day today.  I stayed at the sandbar island all day and all night.  I rested, got out of the tent long enough to get wet and would return.  Good times.  Actually, it was nice to nap, relax and reflect.  I don’t often reflect on the trip since I am focused on the day to day paddling.  I have had significant down time the past couple days and thought about the trip.  It is hard to belive that I have canoed from Montana to Texas but thought I would be closer to home.  I have enjoyed the Red River but it has been a challenge paddling upstream for a month now, it is bizarre that I am looking forward to paddling a lake (Texoma) to avoid paddling agains the current.  These are the types of thoughts I have I when I am in a reflective mood. I also think about all the people I have encountered along the way.

I didn’t paddle today but I almost did.  I actually rolled up my sleeping bag, and started to prepare to canoe in the rain.  As I was preparing to depart, the rain intensified.  I could have soldiered on but the reality is reestablishing camp would have been a bloody, wet mess.  I thought better of it and decided to hang tight….memories of Fort Peck came back to me.  I was reasonably dry and my tent held up…I think I made the right decision.  By the end of the day, I was getting antsy about moving on.  No rain in the forcast in the immediate future.

view from tent

2 days of this

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