Day 11: Richard finds civilization

I spoke to Richard early Tuesday evening and I immediately knew he had found “civilization” - I could hear voices in the background.

When I asked him where he was, he tried to deny that he was in a public place, insisting, “I’m in my tent”. I responded, “No you’re not, I hear voices in the background”. That was met with his response, “It’s my radio” - I quickly replied “You don’t have a radio with you!” I knew he was fibbing from the start. After a few minutes, he told me where he was - at a marina/gas station, eating pizza for dinner. What a life! He’s on a river trip, yet his dinner last night was better than mine!

When I asked for his update for the day, he commented that he’d slept in “Jurassic Park” the night before. He said that after nightfall, the blue herons in the area started squawking and didn’t stop until morning. He compared their squawking to the sound a Terodactyl might make if it still roamed the earth today. He said he wanted to take up “Terodactyl Hunting” after last night.

Early Tuesday morning, he broke camp and got onto the river around 9:00 AM. His first stop for the day was at Pruett’s Lakeside campground - located on Lake Weiss. He stopped and asked an employee who was mowing the grass if he could direct him to the manager. The employee pointed him to a nearby office and Richard went in, introduced himself and asked if he could use their shower facilities. The manager agreed to let him shower - he’s been lucky with finding showers on this trip! When he returned from his shower, he was surprised to meet Mr. C.H. Pruett - the owner of the campground.

Richard and C.H. talked for an hour or more and he found out that C.H. also knows Knox and Jaime - the two landowners he’d met the day before. What’s that saying about small towns? “Everyone knows everybody and everybody’s business” — well, I’m starting to see the truth in that statement.

Richard also learned the history of the campground from Mr. Pruett. The campground was once one large campground with some unique attractions - a restaurant and an oversized replica of an old paddleboat built on a concrete pad. The property went into foreclosure and that’s when Mr. Pruett bought the campground. Another individual bought the restaurant and yet another person purchased the old paddleboat. The paddleboat actually has 2 floors of hotel-type rooms and a small bistro. The new owner is planning to sell the rooms as condos on the lake. The restaurant has since re-opened and is doing well and Mr. Pruett is happy to own the campground.

After his visit with Mr. Pruett, Richard got back on the lake and began paddling. In the past, he had resisted suggestions from fellow kayakers on “feathering” his paddle. He insisted that paddling with the blades offset wasn’t necessary for him and he was used to paddling with his blades in line with one another.

For all of you non-paddlers out there, feathering your paddle means that one blade is offset from the other - usually at a 45-degree angle. Feathering the blades has a few benefits - one of which is that it cuts down on wind resistance when you find yourself paddling against the wind. When one blade is in the water and the opposite one is in the air and you have a good wind fighting against you, having the blade feathered so that it cuts into the wind instead of having to push the entire face of the blade into the wind makes paddling in windy conditions much more bearable. Back when I was learning to paddle, I also resisted suggestions from others on feathering my paddle. I just couldn’t get the “hang” of paddling with feathered blades. One day on a windy lake north of Atlanta changed my mind - and quickly! After a few minutes, I adjusted to paddling with my blades feathered and I’ve never looked back.

Well, Richard learned that lesson on Tuesday. He feathered his blades and was determined to keep at it until he was accustomed to paddling with his blades feathered. After about 10 minutes, he had adapted to the change and now he actually prefers the feathered blades. Who would have thought? Sometimes we can be so stubborn and insist on not changing when it’s actually a good thing. He commented to me how quiet his paddle is now that he’s feathered the blades. I’ve never really noticed a difference, but then again…I’m what I refer to as a “messy paddler” - I’m not concerned with being quiet or splashing myself with water. I am usually a bit wet after I’m done kayaking and that’s just fine with me.

After getting into the groove of the feathered paddle, he rounded a corner and saw a man building a boathouse. Richard being a carpenter, he just had to paddle up and check things out. After introductions were over, he ended up learning that this man - Jim Forest, lived in the Atlanta area and works in Buckhead. What a small world!

Soon after saying goodbye to Jim, he paddled into Cedar Bluff - a small town in Alabama located on Lake Weiss. I was out searching the web today and found the <a href=”http://www.cedarbluff-al.org/”>city’s website</a>, I found humor in their town motto “The Crappie Capital of the World” - that is Crappie as in the fish, not the adjective sometimes used to describe less than desirable items.

He paddled into a marina in Cedar Bluff a little after 5:30 after 19 miles of paddling - most of those miles on a flat lake. Not being the shy type, Richard immediately met the owner of the marina - “BJ” Culberson. The Culberson’s not only own the marina where he stopped, but they also own many other businesses in the area. BJ agreed to allow him to sleep on his property and gave him access to electrical outlets so he could recharge his phone and camera batteries.

After a day of paddling, he’d worked up an appetite. He ordered a pepperoni and jalapeno pizza with extra cheese and struck up a conversation with the person making his pizza - DL Franklin. He hung out at the marina and continued to meet locals as they came in to purchase supplies, catch up on the latest news, etc. Richard ended up meeting BJ’s uncle, who is a fishing guide on Lake Weiss and is a “hell of a fisherman” as Richard described. BJ and his uncle are off to a fishing tournament in Mississippi this weekend. BJ’s uncle has been known to win cash or prizes at this tournament for the past 6 years. I that makes him on hell of a fisherman!

In visiting with BJ, Richard learned that there are two dams on Lake Weiss. There is Weiss dam - no water actually goes through this dam and it pretty much leads to a dry riverbed. This surprised Richard because this was the dam he was planning to portage on Thursday. The other dam is near a power plant on a different area of the lake. Thank goodness he found out that information before he paddled in the wrong direction!

He is planning to arrive at the power plant sometime on Wednesday or Thursday and then make his way to the town of Centre, Alabama.