Day 10: Crossing over into Alabama

His day began early Monday morning when he woke up to sounds of construction equipment. It was then that he met his first friend for the day.

Bill Lupo was among one of the employees working for a contractor that was hired by Georgia Power to clear the road of ash near a catch basin on the property of the power plant. The road needs to be cleared a few times per week and Bill is the person who has that responsibility. Richard noted that in his opinion, Georgia Power is a good steward to the Coosa River in this area, however the river is not a good steward to the Georgia Power. He feels this way because of the great amount of trash in the river; the grate of the water intake for the power plant is crowded with garbage.

Richard noted that the water going back into the river from the plant is “very clear - almost clean enough to drink” He also made a point to mention that the water is at an ambient temperature. He went on to explain that this is important because if the water is too hot when it is discharged back into the river, it could kill the fish and other animals that live in the river. Georgia Power actually witnessed this very thing when it happened to them at one of their plants along the Chattahoochee River a few years ago. The water that was discharged back into the river was too hot and the fish in the area died because of the rapid temperature change. After this incident, they realized the importance of the temperature of the water they were discharging back into the river and they spent $80 M dollars to build a special cooling tower to cool the water off before it is discharged into the river.

After meeting Bill at the Georgia Power plant, Richard broke camp and packed up his kayak and started off for the day. He was on the river by 9:00 AM and stopped around 5:30 PM - his total mileage for the day was 17 miles. A few miles down the river, he noticed a big area of flat land, but he couldn’t see what was on the lank. Keeping with his promise to not leave a question unanswered while on his trip, he got out of his kayak and walked up the bank to see what was surprise awaited him at the top of the riverbank. What he found was a huge field of cotton. He took a picture and went back down to his kayak. Shortly after getting back on the river, the river took a sharp curve and formed a “horseshoe-like” bend. He got out of his kayak again just as a truck was approaching the riverbank where he was standing. The farmer that owned the land got out and introduced himself - his name was Jamie Jordan and this was his farm. He grows cotton, beans and corn. This year’s crop has been impacted greatly by the drought. Jamie even told Richard that this was the worst year ever in his farming experience. It didn’t take long for Richard and Jamie to hit it off as friends. In their conversation, Richard learned that Jamie owns over 1200 acres and he fertilizes his fields in his own crop duster. Richard refers to him as “One of Georgia’s Perfect Gentlemen” - he was voted “Farmer of the Year” in 1998 and the property where his farm is located has been in his family since the 1800’s. They became such good friends in their short visit that Jamie even invited Richard back to his farm to come and learn about farming once he finishes his river trip.

After visiting with Jamie for a while, Richard got back onto the river and continued paddling. The river is slow - it was only moving at about 0.5 miles per hour. However, Richard’s new paddle should more than make up for the slow current of the river. He told me that he is thrilled with his new Aquabound paddle. He liked his old, aluminum shaft, yellow bladed “Manta Ray” paddle so much that it took me a while to talk him into trying the new carbon shaft, white blade, “Sting Ray” paddle. The Sting Ray is a much lighter paddle with sleeker blades, perfect for touring and long trips. I too, own the Sting Ray and have converted from the same aluminum shaft “Manta Ray” paddle and I know the difference in the two paddles that I experienced when I switched to the lighter Sting Ray paddle. Once he tried out the Sting Ray paddle on Saturday, he exclaimed, “Man, this paddle is AWESOME!” within a few minutes - that’s all it took to get him hooked. Now he claims to know my secret to my speedy paddling — it’s my paddle. He caught himself paddling 4 - 5 miles per hour today without even realizing it - something that was much harder to attain with his old paddle.

A few more miles down the river, he spotted a piece of land with a bunch of mobile homes parked on the property - most of them with docks on the river, some also have pontoon boats tied to their dock. He looked around for a few minutes, and spotted a cut-through. He paddled through the cut-through and found that it led to a beautiful lake. It didn’t take him long to notice a man fishing in the lake on a dock. Richard paddled up to him and introduced himself - he soon found out that the fisherman’s name was Knox Wilson. Knox is the assistant principal at Armuchee High School in Rome. He is the owner of the property where the mobile homes are parked. The sites are available to rent on a yearly basis, he owns 300 acres in all and he is the 3rd generation family member to own this property. Knox was taking the day off to fish and he was planning to take his 3 sons quail hunting on Tuesday. After meeting Knox, he paddled back out to the river and found a place to set up camp. He had a can of “Beanie Weenies” for dinner and settled into his tent to begin planning Tuesday’s journey.

Richard estimates that he will portage the dam at Lake Weiss on Thursday, but he is still waiting to hear from Alabama Power if someone will be there to assist him with the portage. He posed the question “Will it be an Alabama Power employee or a ‘Good Samaritan’ that helps me portage the dam on Thursday?”. Well, we’ll surely find out! I’ll keep y’all posted on what happens on Thursday. If this trip is similar to his last two journeys, he will probably run into a ‘Good Samaritan’ just when he needs assistance. It’s strange how it always works out that way!

Today’s trip left him sun burnt - he doesn’t believe in wearing sunscreen, so that didn’t surprise me. As far as nature goes, he saw a few deer and a white crane while he was paddling today. He happily finished off his gallon-sized bag of popcorn after munching on it all through the night last night. He took a picture of the empty bag so he can send a thank you to the Rome library staff for giving him the popcorn on Saturday after his presentation there.

He also commented that he absolutely loves his new clothesline that my husband rigged up for him this past weekend. Joel rigged a clothesline in his tent so that he could hang his clothes out to dry overnight. I found some clothespins in our camper and gave him 4 of them to use on his new clothesline. He is thrilled to have the clothespins - he told me that he uses them to pin his map to the side of his tent so that he can plan the next day’s journey once he settles in for the night. It amazes me that the smallest things can make the biggest difference when you’re living the simple life!