Sunsets, Birds, Arcus Cloud, Heat Wave and a Baptism?

So-long upper Mississippi River, rafting past the last mile marker: 0.8 we’ve joined up with the large Ohio River. The confluence has tons of commercial traffic and industrial areas as this fork in the river connects 15 States. Discovering that the Ohio River accounts for 75% of the rivers’ water outflow, we assumed this would increase our speed. This has yet to be seen as we are 200 miles from this point now. The outflow has increased the river width from an average of 1/4 mile to 3/4 mile, and we’ve been told the depth can get to 40-100 feet deep.

The Baptism of Keith Darling.

A propellor on Keith is larger than the person washing, likely 7-10 feet in diameter.

New barge coming out of a factory. We were hoping for a huge push into the river, sending it down with a splash. Shoot, it moved slower than homemade barrel raft drifting in the current.

Sorry, one last thing about barges and tugboats. Barrel Raft Boys refer to this as a Rooster Tail, the whitewater wake following the tugboat. This is the most important element we’ve found to pay attention to when dealing with wake and swells. The number of whitecaps trailing the tug equates to the size and length of the waves we will have to overtake. This rooster is tossing a set of 10 three to four foot waves. Usually 8+ whitecaps on a rooster tail foretells a bad wake experience, where we decide to seek refuge between the wing-dikes and sometimes even having to anchor on shore.

Bald eagle watching us pass from his little sand perch; then taking off, giving us a brillant demonstration of his skills.

Great blue heron are good indicators for fishing, they feed off bait fish on the sandbars.

Geese already making the migration south.

This hawk had a different approach to us floating by.

Sunsets need no description.

This heat wave has drenched us with sweat and keeps us seeking shade. A little to no breeze 93+ degrees the last couple of days and more to come. Purchasing a fan today, we got 30 seconds of relief until this cheap self-assembled fan quit working. Poor skoolly.

This cloud formation is known as an Arcus Cloud, specifically a shelf cloud. This fast moving cold air causes the hotter air to rise quickly. This front blew past in twenty minutes and never dropped any rain.

We are at the Mud Island Marina in Memphis. Our college friend, Bryan Pelich, came out to visit us and checkout the sweet raft. Beale Street in downtown Memphis is lined with tons of live music and bars. Catching up with Bryan and chowing on pub food, this night was a great experience. Cold brews, energetic people and cheerful live music, we recommend Beale Street to anyone who visits.