40 Days and 40 Nights

I spoke to Aaron yesterday afternoon.  He and Jake were enjoying an hour break as they do most afternoons.  Normally they try to find a town to check out or at least pull off the river to stretch their legs.  On this day however, they were just floating down the river because the area is so remote.  At 2:30 when I spoke to Aaron they had covered only 25 miles and he was concerned that they hadn't traveled further by that time of the day.  He said this part of the river is really getting to be a grind.  There are fewer new things to see every day.  The scenery looks the same day after day, the temperature is hot and humid day after day, the only excitement is the occasional rain which is welcome because it cools them off.  It has been 40 days now on the river (that is not counting the days off they took in Dubuque, St. Louis and Wickliffe).  That means 40 times the guys have had to set up a tent, tear down a tent, cook rice or dehydrated noodles for dinner. The only thing that keeps pushing them is that the end is in sight.

I got a text at 7:30 p.m. Aaron and Jake paddled another 38 miles for a total of 63 miles to mile marker 460.

Posted by Aaron's dad