Better & Worse

Okay. Conditions have improved greatly for our ragged dream team. Wind is at our back. Naturally it no longer blows 25 mph which would propel us forward as fast as it did backward. More like 6. We have current. The threatening skies yield less rain than we expected. Granted, it is 47 degrees F and I look like a neon snowman with all my fleece and thermals and "orange alert" life vest. But all is relatively well. So why am I miserable?

Geese by the dozen blabber amongst themselves on a sandbar. Eagles soar overhead. And today in particular a hundred or so tiny jays seem constantly a-spin around and over us, like the cartoons birds one sees when bonked over the head. They don't appear to be feeding from bugs off the water, so what are they doing with us? Which begs the question what am I doing with us?

I'm in constant pain in my shoulder and every hundred strokes or so it spasms, sending sharp daggers up my arm and rendering the arm useless for a minute until the muscle calms down. I've kept it quiet from Frank. I mean, what's the point to pragmatist him? Either it works or it doesn't. I'm worried, however, lest I'm causing irrepairable damage to the shoulder by pushiing it.

Tomorrow we reach the Twin Cities. I will visit an ER there and see what they say. I already know what I say. I'm miserable, even now on one of our better days, our 20th day on the river, our 16th day without rest. - RSM

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