HOW TO KEEP COOL IN NINETY FIVE DEGREE HEAT ON THE FOURTH OF JULY: 1997
Friday we started paddling on Red Creek at the highway 49 bridge in Mississippi. It was hot, it was humid, it was sweltering. After about twenty minutes--swim break. The water was cool and clear except for a little reddish tint from tannin in the water.
Then someone said: "Hey why don't we just let the canoes float with the current and we can float behind them?" This we did for about the next hour and then the stream narrowed and there were fallen trees so we paddled again. When it heated up too much we would just jump in and float in the cool water for a while.
We camped on a beautiful sand beach and I picked up a lot of good drift wood. Saturday, with the help of a nice little rain shower, was a lot cooler. We watched four Swallow Tailed Kites sailing on the breeze as they circled over us for about a half hour.
About 2:30 we stopped at a beautiful, large beach with a lot of river birch and maple trees. We pulled out our little camping chairs, talked and snacked and enjoyed the scenery.
The plan was to end the trip Saturday but the scene was so pleasant and peaceful and serene that we thought why not stay another night. We took food inventory, decided we had enough to survive and set up tents.
Another great trip.
Hulin Robert