Regardless if you want to believe it or not, it's happened. We're entering our last full week which means this will be the final complete weekly recap. In addition, this will likely be the last post for a little while. Once we get into New Orleans we plan to live like kings! Fear not though, for after I’ve stuffed myself with more beignets than any one human should have I'll be back with a few recap posts. But enough about the future, let's talk about the past and everything that happened from 08/21-08/27.

Weekly Miles: 204
Total Miles: 2093
Remaining Miles: 126.4

Day 63- 40 Miles: Palmyra Creek to right between the towns of St. Joseph and Waterproof (both in Louisiana). If you haven't had time to read my Asian Carp post yet I encourage you to do so. That about sums up the day. The other item of note, we completely missed this so called massive eclipse. Things never really got dark for us, and during the time of the eclipse the sun was behind a bunch of clouds (and yes I can confirm they were clouds and not the moon).
Day 64- 20 Miles: Waterproof to Natchez, Mississippi. If Clark doesn't make it back to New England it's because he's moved to good old Natchez. Here we once again met our hero of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Randy. Our new southern friend let us wash our clothes at his laundromat, and even drove us to a truck stop to get in a quick shower. You're the man Randy! We indulged in 50 cent oysters, and half priced drinks that evening. It was a rare occasion where drinking too much turned out to be a good thing. It kept me sound asleep when wild boars (I kid you not) walked by our tent that night.

(Looking good next to Randy)

Day 65- 45 Miles: Natchez to near Old River Lake (someone needs to go back and rename all of this). It was time to leave a life of luxury behind, and get our butts back on the river! That evening we smoked victory cigars as we camped out in Mississippi for the final time.
Day 66- 42 Miles: Old River Lake to Morganza. Thunderstorms cut our day short, but we didn't care; when we pulled the canoe onto land we were solely in Louisiana. Also, for the first time in a long time it was difficult finding a good campsite.
Day 67- 38 Miles: Morganza to Port Allen. I was awoken to the sound of a critter scurrying underneath my tent. I immediately grabbed my hatchet, and prepared to do battle with a venomous snake. However, this snake must have been well versed in the dark arts, as it turned into a toad by the time I lifted up my tent. That night we camped out on a high embankment to avoid the effects of Hurricane Harvey. Thankfully, we were spared the hurricane’s wrath.
Day 68- 11 Miles: Port Allen to Baton Rouge. We avoided a parade of barges, and a dredging pipeline to boot as we paddled into town! This included a pleasant conversation with a tugboat captain who helped escort us through the mess. Once on land we checked out the LSU campus, got a tour of Cane Land Distillery, and yours truly walked away $65 richer (hey big spender) thanks to a few lucky blackjack hands.

(LSU loves themselves their giant Shaw statue)

Day 69- 8 Miles: Baton Rouge to around the corner of Baton Rouge. We got on the river, and then off of it almost as quickly. Stupid thunderstorms. The barges are starting to get a lot bigger, and today we saw one from Hong Kong. We’ll likely be getting soaked the next few days so on Sunday we took the bull by the horns, and set up camp before the rain came.

A Look Ahead: Again, just as a reminder the site will be quiet for the next few weeks. But don't leave us just yet! Before I release you as my audience I'll publish a series of posts recapping the trip. Before that though we’ll be living it up in New Orleans until we run out of money (calm your horses I'm not talking about the donations here). Until then paddle on!

(The Capital building)