Day 31 - 2013

I started on the river at about 6:15. The wind was strong all night and the river was already choppy, so I put on the bottom of my rain suit.




Although where I slept was two miles from this US 45 bridge, I could hear it through the night. This is because it has a steel grid for a roadbed.




You can see the bottom of a car as it drives over me on the steel grid.




Right after I passed the bridge, the Queen of the Mississippi was coming toward me. It looked like they passed close to Fort Massac up ahead and were crossing the river to stop at Paducah.




I crossed the river to the Illinois side and stopped at Fort Massac. This was the first state park in Illinois. I was able to fill my empty water bottle and use the restroom at their visitor center.










Several views inside the visitor center.


I looked toward the entrance of the park and could see there was a business area. Only a block away was a Big John grocery store. I bought a couple stale donuts and chocolate milk to eat while I waited for the rain to pass.










Back at the park I took several photo of the reconstructed fort. It was fenced off due to damage from the 2011 flood.




Arriving at Metropolis, I first saw the Harrahs riverboat casino.




The sign on the front of Harrah's was obviously better than the one on the boat facing the river.




It was cool outside all day today. The bank sigh indicates that at 11:00 it was only 66 degrees.







You can't go to Metropolis without seeing this fifteen foot statue of Superman right in front of the Massac County courthouse.




This is the Superman gift shop and museum.







Metropolis has lots of features related to super heros and other TV/movie icons.







Metropolis has lots of murals painted on the side of buildings.







Before leaving Metropolis, I stopped at a place called The Grill. I recommend the quesadillaburger.




Back at the river, I encounter hundreds of mayflies filling the air.




Do you see the raccoon on tree over the water? I saw many raccoons along the river today.




You can't tell from the photo, but two of the large birds above me are bald eagles. I've been seeing bald eagles about every other day.




The wind was so strong I had to beach the kayak for two and a half hours. As wide as the river is here, it wasn't safe to be fighting the waves and avoid the wind at the same time. Normally I would go ahead, but it was too cold to be all wet. I ended up at mile marker 959 which happens to be the widest unrestricted part of the whole river. You can barely see the tow boat and barges passing me on the opposite side of the river. With the river being so wide, it has historically also been shallow. In earlier days people could walk across the river or use horses to pull wagons across during low levels. With today's system of locks and dams, the whole river averages about twenty-four feet deep. But in this section the Army Corps of Engineers had to dredge a channel for commercial shipping. The channel happens to be on the Illinois side. So tonight, I'll be able to see the barges pass, but not hear them as well as my previous nights.