We woke up this morning around 8:00am. I packed up while Matthew and Aaron slept in. I made some oatmeal for breakfast and we hit the river at 9:30am. Our island was 2 miles from the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. We decided we would stop at the monument at the confluence. We pulled our canoes off to the very tip of the Illinois bank. As soon as Aaron stepped onto land he sank into knee deep mud. I tied my canoe off to some rocks and we walked up the hill to the overlook of the two rivers. The very same spot we were at Lewis and Clark spent five days at teaching their men navigation skills. While we were at the overlook dad called me and said to try and get to the boat ramp across from Hickman, Kentucky. It was 29 miles away from us and it was already 10:30am. My family was driving up to pick Matthew and Aaron up. We left the confluence and made for Hickman. Matthew and Aaron were hoping for an easy last day, but we had to paddle. The kayaker who we saw a few days ago caught up with us. His name was Evan, he was an older gentleman. He started on the Kansas River, which flowed into the Missouri River. From there he followed the Missouri River into the Mississippi and was heading down to Louisiana. He said he has been on the river 26 days so far. We paddled together for a little bit and then we parted ways. Matthew, Aaron, and I kicked the paddling into high gear. We arrived at the shore a little above the boat ramp and I saw Johnathan, my older brother, trying to throw rocks at us from the shore. We pulled up and it was nice seeing my family again. It was the first time Johnathan has seen me because he was in training for the Army when I arrived at the Arch. We all secured the canoes and put on some fresh clothes and climbed into the car. Mom handed me a newspaper that I made the news in. My grandma and grandpa opened it up this morning and saw my picture in it and passed it on to mom and dad. We head to the ferry crossing from Missouri to Kentucky. The restaurant we were heading to was in Kentucky. We got on the ferry about 5:30pm and head across. For some reason no one bothered to ask when the last ferry back was. We get to the Kentucky side of the river and arrive at the restaurant. It was called Hubs and it was packed to the limit. It had cars all around it and the wait was about 45 minutes. I knew any restaurant with a wait like that must be good. When we arrived we realized we would miss the last ferry back at 6:15pm. That would mean we would have to drive all the way back up to Cairo, Illinois, to cross the bridge back into Missouri. Kentucky is the only state that does not have a bridge crossing the river. It makes the ferry one of the last remaining true ferries. We got seated and I ordered a stake, baked potato, and green beans! To drink I had pink lemonade and water. We got done eating and catching up with everything that has happened around 8:00pm. We then proceed to drive the long drive back to Missouri. We decided to get a hotel and load up Matthew and Aarons canoe tomorrow. Then we wouldnt have to load everything up in the dark and re-arrange things. Overall it has been a great day! I get to spend some extra time with my family. I also have a nice bed to sleep in and we did 31 miles today!
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 04:29:10 +0000
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