Day 44: Richard learns of the legend of “Red Eagle”

Saturday night was just “as warm as hell” (in Richard’s words) and the moon was full. The sky was clear and Richard enjoyed the stars that were out in the sky. For dinner, he ate Beanie Weenies, Cheez-It crackers and applesauce from an MRE.

He sat out by the campfire for a long time last night thinking that this was his last Saturday night out on the river. He commented that “time is going so fast, I can’t even tell what it’s like anymore”. He admired the moon by commenting, “the moon was just full and beautiful”. He also remarked that he is “so in love with his blue and black Patagonia long-sleeve tops” – he joked that he’s going to kiss the two Patagonia girls on Paddle Georgia next year.

After sitting by the fire for a long time, he retired to his tent. He woke up many times throughout the night – at midnight, 2:00, 3:35 and 5:00 AM.  He’s not sleeping well even after paddling all day and exercising on the beach at night.

Sometime during the night, he thinks it was around 5:00 AM, he heard a noise behind his tent. He wondered what it was and tried to sneak out of his tent, but the sound of the zipper scared the animal away. He heard the animal run away and found deer tracks nearby the next morning. There were tracks of an adult aged deer as well as a smaller deer traveling together. He also noticed some sort of large cat tracks allover the beach in the area as well as plenty of raccoon tracks. He recognized the cat tracks as the same animal tracks he discovered along the Ocmulgee River trip last year. He thinks that it may be the tracks of a bobcat or a mountain lion. I’m not sure that mountain lions live in Alabama, but who knows? We’ll post pictures of the tracks when Richard returns – feel free to leave a comment if you think you know what animal may have left them along the river. The tracks are easily identified from the imprints they leave in the large sandbars found in every bend in the river.

After a long, sleepless night, Richard blinked his eyes and the next thing he knew, there was light outside. The sun had come up and the sky was full of clouds and the sun was hiding behind the clouds. His watch read 6:05 AM and this was the start of another day on the river for Richard.  He gathered up all of the wood he had stacked up for his fire and burned every last piece. He fixed his usual cup of coffee and worked on getting his things packed up. He also cleaned up his campsite and buried the ashes from his campfire with about 4 inches of gravel and sand. He took pictures of his campsite so he can document that he’s following the “Leave no Trace” ethics of camping. . The water level in the river dropped about a foot overnight and he found out from a local that the site where he found the black residue in the river is near a local paper mill.

The river that morning was calm and there was a slight breeze. He finally began paddling for the day around 8:10 AM. Around 11:00, the sun came out and all of the clouds were gone. Later that day, he met Dick Creel, a fisherman from Walker Springs, AL. Dick was out on the river fishing for catfish. He was the first fisherman that Richard met in the past 3 days on the river. Dick caught a 5.75 catfish that day during his fishing excursion on the Alabama River. As the day progressed, Dick and Richard passed each other twice as Richard paddled downstream and Dick moved from one fishing spot to another. Dick works as a land manager for a private company.

The next person that Richard met on the river was Larry Fralick – he was fishing for crappie and bass on the river. While they were talking, he caught a good-sized fish and Richard was able to get a picture of Larry’s catch. Larry also gave Richard a cold Diet Coke, which he really appreciated. Further down river, Richard scared a deer that was lying in the brush along the bank. He passed Larry on the river again and this time Larry told him of “Red Eagle” – a famous Indian that was chased to Choctaw bluff where he was boxed in. He rode off the bluff into the river. “Red Eagle” lived to a ripe old age and his buried in the area. Larry also gave the rest of his Cokes to Richard.

Later that day, Larry & Richard took a trip up to the cemetery – Richard found it to be a neat, peaceful place with large trees. Larry also took him to the store so he could buy some more supplies - mainly food and water. He has enough supplies to get him to Mobile now. He stopped for the night at 4:50 PM at “Dixie Landing” – the area has a boat ramp along the river and there are a bunch of fish camps located in the area. That night while walking in the area near the boat ramp, he met another local resident, Percy Cox.

Richard enjoyed a dinner of beef stew and some Zatarain’s stuffed olives. He bought the stuffed olives when Larry took him to the store earlier in the day. He topped of his dinner with his usual – saltine crackers.

His total mileage for the day came to 38 miles – a new record for his trip. He ended the day with the feeling that he is no more ready for this trip to end than the first day he began his journey up in North Georgia over a month ago. There was a full moon on Sunday night, the stars were out and Richard was enjoying the view. The night ended up being one of the best nights on his trip so far. The weather was cool, but not cold.

He was able to charge his phone and camera batteries near the boat landing where he was camping – there was electricity available in the area. He hopes to visit Fort Mims on Monday and he’s expecting to reach the confluence of the Tombigbee and Alabama Rivers on Monday as well. The Tombigbee and Alabama rivers meet to form the Mobile River, which will take him into the Gulf of Mexico.