Days 55 & 56

Day 55

We woke up this morning knowing that there was a good chance we would get some rain.  Despite this we went about our morning as we would any other day.  Morning chores we along smoothly and by 8am or so we were on the water paddling along with fairly smooth waters and heavy clouds overhead.  The past couple days Dave has been going on about wanting to catch up with the group of students from Augsburg College, especially after being told in Hannibal that they were only a day ahead of us.  "I feel like at any moment we will round a corner and there they will be," he kept saying.  As we approached Louisiana, Mo Dave noticed several Canoes and a person waving at us from the other side of the river.  We instantly recognized who it was and paddled over.  When we got out they offered us Coffee and we introduced ourselves to most of their 16 student group.  They were great and we bought a sticker from them that read, "I LOVE THE MISSISSIPPI."  This group of students are doing a semester on the Mississippi River!  What a cool experience.  We also learned that one of the enormous voyager style canoes they were paddling would be retired in some museum although which one exactly I can't recall.  Anyway after we said our good byes we shoved off.  Within minutes it was sprinkling and then raining and even almost pouring.  At this point the wind also picked up.  Amanda was getting cold, poor little Reggie was shivering and I wasn't exactly dry.  Although it was only about 1pm we pulled off at the first available spot and instantly went about  changing into dry clothes and attempting to dry our wet ones, which we were fairly successful at.  Amanda made her delicious ramen and we hung out in the tent for a bit before going to sleep.  

 Day 56
Woke up late today as a result of early morning rains and a strong desire to stay dry.  By about 9am we were on the water and although it was cool and overcast the day was beautiful.  The Miles fell away effortlessly.  We somehow, despite our late start still put down 33 miles, took Reggie for 4 walks and went through 2 locks!  I'd say we are getting back to our groove.  Anyway dinner was great and Amanda made a delicious chicken pesto, it was wonderful.  Once we wrangled the tent to spot not under a dead fall in 40mph gusts the night settled and we found out that our friend Amber had her baby!  Very cute!