Day 14: Arriving in Gadsden

Thursday night, Richard slept on a dock along the river to the sounds of jumping fish and beavers slapping their tails on the water.

He woke up early on Friday morning, took a quick bath in the river and continued his adventure - his sights set on Gadsden. His appointment with Trevia Wilson, the Gadsden Times reporter was a 9:00 AM, so he paddled swiftly in order to make it to Gadsden - 8 miles away.

On his way down to Gadsden, he stopped to visit with Riley Whitaker who was out along the river, watering the abundant flowers in the yard of his guesthouse. The guesthouse is right along the river and Richard described his yard as “full of flowers”

A few more miles down river, he passed an Alabama power plant. It was not a hydro-electric plant, but it was near the river. He also noted that there was a Goodyear plant just beside the power plant. That’s when he met two fishermen - Thomas Rodgers and Harold Robertson fishing in a boat and enjoying the beautiful weather. When Richard asked them what they were fishing for and they replied, “We’re fishing for anything, just to get out of the house.”

Right after making that comment, Thomas pulled in a bass. I am starting to think that Richard is bringing these fishermen good luck - it seems as though every time he stops to talk to one of them, they catch a fish. Maybe he can start charging for his services?

As he approached Gadsden, he came to a county park along the river that is now closed. There he met two brothers - Kelly and Russell Stephens who were standing on a dock near the river. Kelly immediately commented, “Hey, I read about you a few weeks ago in the AJC!”- Richard was surprised to learn that Kelly lives in the Atlanta area. Richard commented at how surprised he is at the number of people who know about his trip when he meeting them along the river. He estimates that about 50% of the people he meets have read about his story before he meets them in person.

As he approached Gadsden, he paddled past a boat ramp along river left, looking for Trevia. A few men out on the boat ramp asked if he was looking for a woman in a kayak - Richard replied that he was. They told him that he could find her down river, near a boat ramp on river right. Trevia had borrowed a sit on top kayak from a friend so that she could join Richard on the river to conduct the interview for the paper. She had never been kayaking before though she did enjoy it. Richard loaned her his paddle, which was lighter than the one she was currently using - she immediately noticed the difference.

Richard and Trevia paddled around for more than 2 hours in the area near where the met up. The river is wide there - about 1/4 mile wide - and there is little current, so it was easy to paddled upstream and downstream. When they were done with their visit, she called her friend to come and pick up the kayak. Soon after arriving at the park, Trevia’s sister came to visit with her baby Trevia’s mother and father even stopped in to meet Richard.

The photographer from the paper was not able to make it at the same time as Trevia - he had some other business to attend to. He called Richard on his way down to the river and they decided on a place to meet up along the river. Marc Golden was the photographer for the paper; he took some pictures of Richard paddling down river. Richard was amused at this and took some pictures of Marc taking pictures of him.

After meeting up with Marc, he continued his paddle down river. He stopped for the day at a park on the outskirts of town. The park is a county park for day use. There are covered pavilions with electricity, so he is able to recharge his phone and camera batteries. Marc had recommended this park along the river as a possible campsite for Richard for the night. As he approached the park where he set up camp, the bridge going over the river was only about 10 feet above the water. As he paddled, many motorists honked their horns when they saw him approaching. He found this to be motivating and was happy to see people showing their support.

Just after settling in at the park, he met a couple that had traveled all the way from Massachusetts for the NASCAR Race at Talladega this weekend. Bill and Candy King live in Kingston, MA - about 20 minutes from Plymouth. They stopped at the park to look around and met Richard. The next town that he is planning to approach is Birmingham. The river runs about 20 miles outside of the city limits. However, he has to paddle Neeley Henry Lake prior to arriving in Birmingham - it is not as big as Lake Weiss, but there is a sizeable dam there that must be portaged. I gave him some phone numbers of people who may be able to assist him with his portage around this dam - hopefully it is not as difficult as his portage around Weiss dam.

In all, he paddled 20 miles for the day and he was on the river from 7:20 AM until 6:30 PM. He plans to take a few easy days this weekend so that he can arrive in Birmingham sometime next weekend. He noted that he is not getting tired even after paddling at full speed all day . It must be that new, lighter paddle!