Welcome to Alabama

Goal to New Orleans: 1865 miles
Paddled since last blog: 95 miles
Total paddled: 420 miles
To go: 1445 miles
Current location: In Alabama on the Tennessee River
Granola bars consumed since last blog: 8
Total: 52
Fun Size Snickers: 4 more bars
Total: 27
Days of paddling: 18

Its been about 2 weeks since our last blog and boy has a lot happened! We had an awesome Thanksgiving with Team Shannon. Kara got to shoot a real gun for the first time. Then we went to Florence (Alabama not Italy) and had a visit with Grandma Hruby. Then on Wednesday we returned to the Chickamauga Dam to resume paddling.

Turns out, it had rained a lot in the Chattanooga area, some reports 5-7 inches, causing water to spill over the dam and creating waves at our put in. We attracted a crowd of on lookers while launching. First the police man who asked "Are you sure you can handle that water?" Then the Chattanooga Fire Department who were less doubtful and more curious. With a push from Katherine Becksvoort, we were on the quick moving water. The current was noteworthy, it only took us two hours to paddle 15 miles through Chattanooga to Wilson Island.

Highlights of the last several days:

-International Tortilla Awareness Day was December 1. We are very aware that we left our 30 tortillas in Liddell's car.

-Alabama Duck Season Awareness Day was today, December 3rd. We again are very aware as it is hard not to be with all the gun shots.

The question that we seem to be answering the most is about camping. We have generally had very good campsites. We aim to be on public land every night. Usually we're on islands but sometimes wildlife refuges or preserves. We have camped on private property due to lack of options and in that circumstance we choose ones that are well hidden from the property and don't seem to be frequented by the owners.

We have finished reading Huck Finn. In the words of Huck, "We said there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't." (Liddell says this applies to a winter kayaking trip also.) Now we are reading Deep Water by Jacques Leslie. It's about the effects of dams on people and the environment.