Here is the river plan.

We're going to float the section from Tennessee 161 down to Hwy. 41 in Adams, Tennessee.   Here's the aerial photo (we will be traveling right to left):

Our goal is to be on the river by noon Friday the 11th and we will paddle 6.5 miles to mouth of Buzzard Creek, which is shown on the photo above as the first red dot.   We have canoed the Red dozens of times on day trips, but never for overnights.  However, we have copious notes over the years preparing for just this moment.  Based on those and the satellite photos, Buzzard Creek should be a great first campsite.  Here's the close up:

Saturday will be 8.0 miles (four hours of paddling if you try as hard you can to slow down) to a nice bend with islands about 1/2 mile above the Bell Witch Cave (far-left red dot above, and close-up below):

Sunday paddle is about two miles.  Seventeen total miles Friday to Sunday.
  
Note:   this is not going to be a jon boat trip.  So if you cooks intend to be carrying any large mammal carcasses you'll need to hack them up ahead of time.    Also, the put-in is definitely 4x4 only.   It's only a short distance to under the bridge so people in cars can walk, but gear needs to be in the big trucks or the trailer.

_______________________________________

Letter from Pete F. Feldman:

Alas, it is no dice that I'll attend the Spring campaign down the Cerulean River. In fact, I might not even be able to attend the French Quarter Fest as I could very well be getting a$$raped that weekend at a new job I took at a more upscale restaurant than where I last saw you that beautiful New Orleans November day. Real top down management, daily humiliations are meted out generously to everyone, the chef is a funhouse mirror of the father we eternally disappoint.  And if that isn't enough, I got summoned for jury duty on April 11th - never mind that I'm not even registered to vote down here. Though not from apathy, I tried twice online, but neither a New York license nor a US passport are considered sufficient identification.

 Anyway, hope you men have great weather and an awesome trip 2 weeks hence. God willing, I'll make the Fall trip, which hopefully doesn't conflict with the Breeders' Cup, run on the first Saturday of November.

 

The pigs head is prized at the new job...

 

 

 

 

Preparations Are Being Made

Tim is going to be proud paddler with the new gunwales he's installed in the Wenonah:

Josh is stepping in for Jim Myers who will miss the Spring trip to rest a bad case of Rotisserie Elbow.  To ease the transition from last year's amazing all-day pig roast, Josh and Rob will be slow cooking venison bourguignon which is French for "it all looks the same on the other side."

Also, we're not encouraging this, but if anyone is going to miss the trip because they have a Saturday night conflict, we can work it out to drop you at a bridge Saturday like Josh did in his tuxedo at Totty's Bend.

The Not-So-Red River

We did some bridge scouting today and the river looked good.  Really good.  From now on it shall be called the Cerulean River.

Click them:

 

 

 

Borderline

Daylight Savings hit the RRCC hard this year.   We set our clocks forward and overslept by two months.  So now it's almost time for the Spring trip.  We'll be leaving Friday morning, April 11 and returning Sunday the 13th. 

The cooks are way ahead of us and are already asking for a head count.   So far the following are confirmed:

Skip
Rob
Tim
Josh
Phil
Ian
Mullogna

We need to hear from the rest of you.  We know Pete F. Feldman has a choice to make between the French Quarter Fest and canoeing.  And Vernon has a fraternity reunion he is thinking about.   Hopefully they'll both be on the gravel bar with us and Pete can tell Vernon what the difference is between frat boys and river men.

As far as destinations, about once every third year or so we start thinking about the Red River.  So there's a good chance we're going to try for that next month (and then probably end up on the Duck).   The Red is on the Tennessee/Kentucky border between Clarkville and Springfield:

In fact, the most likely section we would do includes a stretch where we will be paddling across the state line three times in less than three miles:

So plan to keep a bottle of Kentucky bourbon on the starboard side and Tennessee whiskey to the port, because you'll have to change drinks four times in about an hour.