July 6th Journal Entry

On the 4th of July I was floating on the river again. This time in the inflatable that I got from sail boats to go. I was having difficulty rowing and simply could not find a way to sit that would let me use the too small oars. This was not the boats fault but my own as I'll relate in a bit. Anyway, I was having problems when Daddy decided to open up the sky and dump down buckets of new water.
Got to a muddy bank, pulled the boat ashore and started unloading in the rain. I stomped down a patch of stinging nettles, pitched my tent and carried everything inside of it. I even dragged the boat inside the tent and used it as my sleeping mattress.
For most of the day and far into the night the pyrotechnics Daddy put on kept other folk indoors. I woke at about 4am and used some inner hickory bark, a few paper towels and a great deal of puffing breathe to get a fire going. I stretched my fish stringer between trees and hung my clothes up to dry. I went down to the bank, laid broken branches across the oozing mud and walked to the water. I washed my socks and trail running shoes before hanging them up to dry.
I cooked up a meal of beans and nothing else and went looking for raspberries to eat. There were many and if I had needed to stay there I saw that the rabbits had made many trails through the brush. But I did not need to say. At 1pm I reloaded the boat and tied to find a better way to row. No luck at first.
I pulled up on a sand bank and pondered the problem. it finally occurred to me that I may not be  using enough inflation for the boat floor. I blew it up more and it worked much better as I could then use some of my equipment to sit up higher. still the oars were too short for my arm and especially for my less than perfect right shoulder.
Back on the water I moved downstream until I came to the Peppers Ferry bridge crossing. River traffic was forbidden at that point because the bridge was under construction. Two two lane bridges were being built to handle traffic for the Radford Military Arsenal. The river was to remain closed until the end of July. Stymied I rowed back upstream to the Radford Municipal Launch site and unpacked again.
I spent the afternoon and night reading and resting. I called Jammie to ask for a ride home. She came and got me with her mother the next evening.
So here I am back in Wytheville planning to get back on the river after my daughter, Liz has her wedding in August. It is a very good thing that I am in no hurry to complete this journey.