I started out early again, and got on the water just as it was bright enough to see. I noticed there were more houses today, many with boats. Strange though, that on a Sunday, no one was out on their boat. As usual, there was a fog on the river. The water is a fair bit warmer than the air in the morning, so it can make it pretty thick sometimes.
It was more and more miles of the same. It’s the same monotony that you find on long backpacking trails at times. It gives you a chance to quiet the mind and just paddle.
All day of paddling, and still, no one out in their boats. Why have them? There were quite a few houses along the water in this stretch. They almost all had a random chair sitting by the river. I’ve never seen anyone at one of these chairs, and they honestly look uninviting to sit on. I’m starting to wonder if they just come with the house and no one ever removes them. Perhaps they are leftover from some bygone era before people had the internet or interesting things on tv. There is no doubt that some of the chairs were older than me.
I decided to stay at the Army Corp Campground. Of course, the sites right next to the river are not the tent sites. Oh no, those are on the opposite end.
The first order of business is always getting stuff charged up. The whole day had been hazy from the wildfire smoke, so the solar panel didn’t get the battery full.
Next order of business is food. It’s a bummer when there are restaurants that are just outside of how far I’m willing to walk. I had plenty to make, but it’s not the same. Oh well. I’ll get some food when I make Aitken in a few days.
I also used my vinyl repair kit to patch up one of my dry bags. The one with a few clothing layers had some seam tape ripping up. Hopefully that will fix it. I also reapplied some to previous leaks on my air mattress. Maybe this will fix my slow leak problem.
The final step before bed was to make use of the showers. Certainly different from the rain showers the day before. They were nice and hot. It wasn’t even Shower Tuesday yet, so this was a bonus shower. I washed away the layers of dirt, deet, and sunscreen. I wasn’t sure I wanted to get out, but I figured I need to sleep at some point. Maybe I’ll take another in the morning…
Mileage: 35.1
Total Mileage: 236.1 (past 10%, yay!)
Today’s Audio: Foo Fighters – Everlong (Acoustic)
Day 13
https://youtu.be/O-0SFWPLaII
I’m a little late putting this in. The above is a short little video on leeches from PBS. I went down a rabbit hole looking up info on leeches because I knew they were used in medicine, but couldn’t remember the particulars. Most important thing….if you find a leech attached, DO NOT squeeze it trying to pull off. Instead, take the tip of knife or fingernail to break the attachment where the leech has put its suction cup mouth on your skin and peel it off by breaking its hold. The reason you do not want to squeeze is that the contents of its stomach will be injected into the wound and a good chance of infection with the bacteria in its gut. These little critters (Latin family name hirudinea), cousins to earthworms come in a number of variations. The ones used in medicine have been given the name Hirudo medicinalis, a European species, and raised on leech farms. Where these animals shine is helping with removing blood from poorly perfused (blood circulated) tissues after surgeries such as limb attachments, post surgical reconstruction from cancer or trauma and helping diabetics with poor circulation, especially in the feet. Plastic surgeons are the most common discipline using them. They attach with the suction cup mouth, and open a Y shaped wound from its 3 set of teeth. The leech’s saliva has anticoagulant properties to keep the blood flowing and not clot during feeding. This explains why the entry point may weep a small amount of blood for awhile. The saliva also has mild analgesic properties that allow it to stay attached for the 20 minutes it needs and not be noticed by the host. The medical leeches are euthanized in alcohol after this, so new leeches are used each time. In ancient times, Egyptians, Greeks and other societies used leeches regularly for all kinds of conditions. In the late nineteenth century as modern medicine was born, leech therapy was abandoned in Western countries. They made a small niche comeback only in the last few decades. Maybe I’ll do a little blurb on the use of fly maggots for keeping significant wounds clean such as seen with burns. Anyway, sorry this was long. I had fun looking on NIH site for articles as well as others locations.
Nick, keep up the good work. Love your entries!
So sad…..my long post on leeches used in medicine was taken down….must have been too graphic???? 😤
Love your posts. Safe travels and good weather. Take care.
Bingo Auntie B
Yikes, it’s up again 🧐huh?
Ahh… It the Spam filter on the comments puts some stuff in moderation to cut down on junk. Usually once a person has one comment approved it will keep approving their stuff. My guess is that the link caused the filter to be more sensitive, since most spam has links in it.