May 6th Journal Entry

I packed up my tent and gear, laying damp clothing on top of the stowed cargo. Then I ate two apples for breakfast and started. Just after untying i spoke with a gentleman who has been fishing this river since the sixties. That's fifty years on the same waters. He told me which tiny fish, bream, could be caught and then used for bait to catch the bigger catfish. He would be taking his fishing boat downstream to the Lowman Ferry Road bridge. He was going to fish in the shallow water next to the deep channels for blue catfish.
We wished each other your blessings and then I crossed the river on a bend to stay in the main currents. The river is slowing as it nears the body of the lake. I found a 25 foot long bamboo floating near the shore where a small creek entered the river. I paddled and cut away at the tiny branches until I had a long green pole. Maybe it can be a fishing pole?
Made good time until the wind began to blow in my face. I crossed under the Hiwassee railroad trestle, which is part of the New River Trail State Park. This is where the trail leaves the river and heads toward Pulaski.
By the time I could see the Lowman Ferry bridge, both white and rust dark, in the distance my arms were sore and my right shoulder ached. I slowed down and drifted by the largest house I had seen on the river. So much glass looked out across the water, I bet it is dazzling in the morning light. The man mowing the huge yard said a large thunder storm was coming. I double stroked with the kayak paddle until I came to the boat landing at the Shop-Ez store where State Road 672 crosses the New River. I tied up and went in to ask where I could camp.
I bought a hamburger and went to the back of the store where a dining area looks out over the river. Lo and behold, there was Jim, the eighty year old gentleman who had given me a much needed ride on Thursday. He and his friend, a Mr. Williams, who had grown up with him, were working out a scramble puzzle. Jim was trying to convince Mr. Williams that the answer was a pun using furlong instead of "for long."
I went back to the cash register to ask permission to camp there as Jim said there was no other place for more than two miles ahead. The young clerk, an eagle scout, gave me permission and so i set up camp just as it was darkening to night.
Jim came out of the store and sat in his pickup, talking a while before going to see his girlfriend. Every once in a while he would load the sling shot he had made from a maple branch with a sinker and try to shot a blackbird. He never came close to hitting it, not even close enough to frighten it.
I went up to the store at 9:30 to use the ladies' room and at 10pm the skies cracked open like they were draining your bathtub. I wind blew rain under the vent and it leaked right above this notebook lying on the floor. That's why the pages have curled over. Put on my Coaltown Dixie shirt and went to sleep.