End of First Week - Oppressive Heat

Well, I’m just over 32 miles into my journey. The weather has been really oppressive with temperatures in the high 90’s and equal the humidity.

I had a rude awakening at the end of my first day. It seems that when I jumped off the paddleboat Cajun Queen, I lost my pouch containing my travel funds. So now I’m at the beginning of a long journey and find myself with no money. I see no other option: I will have to work my way up river. So now I have to seek out odd jobs along the way during the weekdays and save the bulk of my walking for the weekends. This will slow me down considerably but will not thwart my goal of reaching Minnesota and the head of the Mississippi River.

Yesterday I was able to put in just over 11 miles before succumbing to the heat. The walk left me with a slight headache and sore legs. I’ll need to start carrying more water with me.


After my walk yesterday, I stepped into a bait shop to get water and saw on the wall, next to a bunch of pictures of fishermen with their prized catches of tarpons, blue marlins and sharks, a photo of a couple of boats sitting on LA 23 right after Hurricane Katrina passed through. Unbelievable!!! I just walked over that bridge shown in the picture after passing through Empire, LA.





**** Reality Check ****

Yesterday I walked in the jungle near my home and saw the biggest pack of monkeys to date. Must have been over 50. There were even a couple of new-born monkeys clinging to their mother. I doubt they were more than a couple of weeks old. I also saw a cobra on the trail and scared it off before getting closer. I learned my lessons about approaching snakes. On one walk I found what I thought was a small dead snake and was going to pick it up. Turns out it wasn’t dead. Also, as I later learned, it was a Krait, more deadly than a cobra. Overall, I had a great walk, but the heat proved to be too much and finished it with a slight headache and sore legs.

Brian