Day 17: A wonderful breakfast

On Monday morning, Richard woke up along the river, where he’d camped the night before on the Clark’s property. He took a quick bath in the river and finished up just in time to see a car approaching his campsite.

Lynn, the Clark’s daughter, along with her children were bringing breakfast to Richard. They brought him a plate of eggs, bacon and toast and a cold glass of milk. What a treat! He joked with Lynn that if she wasn’t married, he may just ask her to marry him and then he inquired, “Do you have a twin sister?” What a flirt!

After enjoying his unexpected and much appreciated breakfast, he settled in for an interview with Kelly Long from the St. Clair Times. Kelly met Richard down at the Clark property for the interview and even commented that it was ironic that he was interviewing Richard on the Clark’s property because he wanted to interview Lynn for a feature in the newspaper. He is interested in speaking with her so that he can interview her about her experience home schooling her children and write an article about home schooling in the St. Clair Times. Once Richard heard this, he just had one bit of advice for Kelly - “Plan the interview during breakfast time.” Kelly also shot some pictures of Richard for the article and then he made his way to Lynn’s house so he could get some quotes from her and her husband, Jeff about Richard’s visit with their family. The article will most likely run in this weekend’s edition of the paper in the “Lifestyle” section.

Once he was finished with The St. Clair times interview, Richard finally continued his journey down the river. He commented to me that the river is more similar to a lake in the area – it’s more a 49-mile lake than a river. There is hardly a current and it’s very calm and flat. Once he completed yesterday’s paddle, he is now technically on Lake Logan Martin, so I suppose that this is expected. There seems to be a good number of dams on this river over a very short distance.

Soon after beginning the day’s paddle, he paddled past “Lock & Dam #4″ - he is guessing that the Lock & Dam #1 was the one located in Rome - it is no longer in use today, as is the case with Lock & Dam #4. However, Lock & Dam #4 was completely destroyed whereas the lock in Rome still exists. There is a long deck along one side of the river where Lock & Dam #4 was located and it was there that he met Byron Perry who was fishing at the site of the old lock. Byron is a retired Virginia State Trooper – he once worked as a diver for the State Trooper’s office, so he and Richard had a lot to talk about. For those of you who do not know, Richard is an old “Navy guy” and he was a diver back in Vietnam. He also continues to dive for recreational purposes. I believe that it’s one of his passions in addition to kayaking. Maybe he’s just addicted to water or possibly he was some sort of sea creature in a past life (for those who believe in reincarnation). Hey, it may be possible that would explain his love for diving & kayaking!?!

Richard believes that these old lock & dams were destroyed when the new dams were built to generate power. However, he did find out that Logan Martin Lake is used for flood control. Because of this, the lake levels tend to fluctuate more than other lakes in the area. Richard also commented on how wide the “river” at the site where Lock and Dam #4 was located - he estimated that the river is 700-900 feet wide, which is significantly wider than the small 10-20 foot wide river he started in up near Dahlonega.
Richard described the day as hot and sunny. There were no clouds in the sky. His tan has now reached the “kick-ass” stage. He joked that he may be purple by the time he ends up in Mobile - let’s hope not!

His total mileage for the day was 15 miles. He was on the river/lake from 1:00 PM (what a slacker!) until 6:10 PM. After finding a marina along the shoreline of the lake, he pulled his kayak up and tied it to the dock. He was hoping to get access to electrical outlets to re-charge his phone and camera batteries. The marina no longer functional, but a pier and a bar still remain on the property. He walked into the bar and the bartender took one look at him and said “You’re either lost or you’re looking for a beer” - he replied “Neither” and ordered a coke.

After visiting for a few minutes with the bartender, Linda, he excused himself to go out to his kayak and retrieve his cell phone. It was then that he discovered that he’d made a mistake when he tied his kayak up to a pole that was not connected to the dock. The rope connecting his kayak to the pole slid down into the water and his kayak had floated away from the pier to the end of the line. Being the resourceful person that he is, he used his paddle to fish (no pun intended) around in the lake to retrieve the rope and pull it the surface. He was now able to pull his kayak in near the pier so he could retrieve his phone. Linda followed him out to his kayak to get a picture of him. As expected, he gets plenty of attention when people find out about his trip and his history of taking similar trips, not to mention his charming personality — there’s little doubt why everyone wants to meet him.

When they were walking back into the bar - “Bootlegger’s Lounge”, he asked Linda what was in the building next door. The building was nondescript and very plain, no signs advertising what type of business it was. She replied that it was a restaurant. As Richard is always looking for a good meal, he decided to eat dinner at the restaurant. He ordered the fried catfish and shrimp dinner and he was so full that he only was able to eat the “huge shrimp”, a few fries and the crust of a few of the “monster hushpuppies” (he told me that he only likes the crust of the hushpuppies, not the inside!?!). The waitress came back and saw that he hadn’t touched any of the catfish on his plate and offered him a to-go box. He said “No Thanks” – she kept offering until he finally replied, “I can’t take a to-go box, I’m in a kayak”. Well, that really threw her for a loop – she said “A what?” and then he had to tell her the whole story of his trip. He finally found out that the restaurant where he ate dinner is named “The Ark”. If you’re ever in the area of Lakeside, AL, Richard recommends eating there.

He planned to spend the night in the area of the old marina / bar where his kayak was tied up. He hoped to get access to electrical outlets to charge his phone and camera batteries. He also heard that there is a post office in the area, so he’s planning to make his way to the post office on Tuesday so he can mail me the card from his camera. Check back this weekend for updated pictures!