Texas!!!

“Your living our dream oh you on top. Thats how it happens living life by the drop.” (Dallas’ own)-Stevie Ray Vaughan

Sunday, October 26th

A better day. I am resigned to finishing the trip when I finish.  One bend at a time. It was a bit cooler today and I made it to Garland City, AR. I had hoped to arrive in the early afternoon, buy a few items and continue upstream.  I arrived around 4:00 and decided to call it a day.  Just before I landed in Garland City I heard gunfire reverberating across the river.  I wasn’t sure if locals were shooting across the river or a gun range was in close proximity.  I yelled “Don’t shoot, canoeist coming through.”  The marksmen came to the bank of the river and immediately knew who I was…”Hey, your the guy canoing upstream on The Red.”  “Yep, please don’t shoot me.”  We enjoyed a brief exchange from the river as I canoed past.

I walked into Garland City (after crossing through yards) only to discover that the convenience store and restaurant were closed.  I was crestfallen.  There was a vending machine outside the liquor store, I bought an ice cold drink and sat down on the ground. As I was sucking it down, Mr. Gardner drove up and asked me where I was from.  I explained my trip and he recognized me from the news.  He happened to own the grocery store (G&G) and offered to open it up for me. My lucky day.  I bought a few items and he suggested I come back for breakfast in the morning.  This cemented the idea I was done for the day.   He drove me back to the river and I transported my goods across the river for the evening.

Fulton, AR is the next “big” destination-the place where the river turns west.

Monday, October 27th

I enjoyed my early breakfast at G&G’s and made a run for Fulton, AR.  I came up short.

I paddled past the Garland City bridge, there was an island full of Pelicans (yes Pelicans).  I almost didn’t want to disturb them but I had to keep canoeing.  It was a really cool site seeing them all fly away.  Thankfully, they flew away from me as I didn’t want to be hit by their “number 2’s.”

I paddled all day hoping to make it to Fulton, it simply wasn’t in the cards despite making great time.  I had the wind at my back so I thought I had an outside shot of getting to Fulton. It will be a significant event when I arrive tomorrow, I have spent hours reviewing maps in preparation (and during) for the voyage and I really spent alot of time on Fulton.  I thought “How cool will it be to make the bend west.”  I desparately wanted to get to Fulton since it is suppose to rain tomorrow.  I figured it would be better to arrive in the evening and head into town and wait out the rain.  I canoed past dark, not the best of ideas.  In fact, it is a “fools game” to canoe in the dark on The Red because there are so many trees and sawyers in the river.  I practically ran into a sandbar and called it a night.

 

Tuesday, October 28th

I made it to Fulton today, as I stashed my boat on river right, the skies opened up.  I walked about a mile to the Red River Cafe and waited out the rains.  I enjoyed a nice conversation with the waitress-upon learning of my story she expressed “The Red is nothing to mess with.”  “They have found 5 bodies out here in the past year.”  I thought she had mistaken The Red for The Trinity…but apparently not.  There was a couple drownings and shootings.  This made me feel good about getting back out there.

The rain relented and I walked back to my boat and made the turn west.  It’s hard to belive I am now heading back west with Texas is in my sights.  The remainder of the day was dark and gray, very dreary.

Texas tomorrow. Hopefully.

 

Wednesday, October 29th

Memorable day on many fronts.  I made it to TEXAS!!!!  It wasn’t easy.  Everything was going great as I approached Texarkana, I seemed to be moving at a decent speed until about 2 miles from the border.  As I approached the bend that leads to the Lone Star State, I saw white water.  I thought “no way.”  “All this canoeing is getting to me, not possible.”  Possible. I had to drag my canoe through the rapids on the shore.  It took about an hour and a half and not without some hairy moments. It wasn’t like real “white water”, but enough that I had to get out of my canoe and figure out the best route around the rapids. I did eventually succeed but tried to get cute and cut across the middle on the second series of rapids (there were 3 series).  Mistake. The current was too swift, I had to back up, move my boat to shore and drag it across a sandbar.  I knew it wouldn’t be easy to get to TX, but never thought there would be any rapids.  In fact, I have thought on many occasions how unique The Red is simply because there are almost no rocks on the bed-it’s all red sand.

I made a questionable decision to try to stash my boat on river right, cut across a ranch and head into Texarkana. I was crossing the main highway when I really though about the decision.  I didn’t want to come back across the highway and cut through the ranch at night so I decided to walk back to my boat and canoe past the bridge and find a better location on the Texas side.  I did so but it was late.  I started to walk back to Texarkana but I simply wasn’t feelin’ it.  I did start to walk back to Texarkana and made it as far as the Arkansas Welcome Center before heading back to my boat and settling for a nice canned dinner (Chunky Soup).  The area was kinda creepy around the bridges.  Texarkana was a failure, but hey, I made it to Texas.

Also, I had another very touching moment today.  Howard’s grandson, Joshua, drew a photo of me on The Red.  My wife and I do not have children, but I suspect this is how it feels when a child brings home a drawing.  I was moved.

Let’s canoe-Texas style.