Day 20 started like our average day on the lower section of the river, we took down our tents, cleaned up the boat and went searching for gas. We carried a couple cans each and walked to the nearest gas station, about a mile away. Our plan was to travel 140 miles to Greenville, Mississippi, so we needed to be at our full fuel capacity (approximately 144 miles). After refueling we began the return trip, carrying significantly more weight. Thankfully, yet another kind stranger took pity on us. A man pulled up beside us in his pick-up and offered us a lift back to the boat. Nick, Clement, and I (Bennett) jumped in the back with the gas cans while piers hopped in the cab of the truck. The man was one legged and was on a donut run for his church when he saw us on the side of the road (the back seat of his truck was full of donuts). When pulling up to the sea wall separating the launch from the town of Helena, the man said, "I'm gonna show you something weird" and slowed the truck.
"Which direction is that train going?" (referring to a mural on the sea wall) he said.
"It's coming towards us", Piers replied.
"How about now?" the man asked after pulling his truck past the mural.
"Woah, it's going the other way now, what's going on there?" said Piers in surprise.
"I don't know, man," said the man.
The day had started off great, but we would soon face an onslaught of all five elements currently known to man: Fire, Wind, Earth, Chef Boyardee's Beef Ravioli with tomato and meat sauce, and of course, darkness. It all began with a period of above average speed and gas consumption by the notorious hot rod, Gromiter. We realized that we weren't going to make it to Greenville (location of next marina and gas station) on the gas we had left, so we started desperately googling potential gas stations that we could reach. Finding nothing, we turned to our last resort, the old, dirty fuel tank that we had never removed from the boat when we bought a new one. Crimper and I went through the painstaking process of drilling many holes through the thick plastic and cutting between them with a knife, as we don't have a saw. We revealed about 7 gallons of yellow-brown fuel and some sediment sitting in the bottom of the tank. We fashioned a scooper out of our oil measure and a filter out of a dish towel, and began the scooping and pouring process. After about an hour we were covered in sweat and smelled strongly of gasoline, but we had enough fuel to reach our destination. This was the element of fire because we got out our fire extinguisher as we feared we would catch on fire. Soon we were again making our merry way down the river.
An hour or two later I was just about to be in debt a full steak dinner to Clement after a couple of tough losses and 'double or nothings' in chess when the board suddenly flew at Piers's face as he drove (phew). A storm had quickly approached us from the south west and before we knew it we were in the middle of it (element of wind).
Hearing thunder and seeing lightning through sheets of rain, we steered the boat to a nearby island to wait out the storm. We covered everything we could with tarps and enjoyed a can of Sriracha corn as we watched the storm make its way up river.
Blue sky was soon visible, and we pushed the boat off the sandy beach, feeling soaked but slightly cleaner and tried to start up the motor. Every time it rains some wiring on the controls get wet and the starter doesn't work, so we weren't optimistic. Sure enough we were forced to jump the solenoid with wire while the boat dried out. About twenty minutes after we got her started, the element of earth also crept up on us, but this time from below. The high water levels on the river have submerged much of the land along the river, making it difficult to gauge depth in areas without channel markers. The boat suddenly slowed and skidded to a stop. Gromiter, who was standing, was thrown off balance but was able to maintain his dignity. We soon realized our error, tilted the engine up, and walked Cat Sass, in knee depth water, away from the submerged island. Luckily the propeller and engine were not damaged after having hit sand pretty hard. As we pushed the boat into deeper waters Crimper noticed some rust on the engine and thought, "Cat Sass is just an old woman and will probably die soon." After losing several hours funneling gas and waiting for the storm to pass, we realized we would be getting into Greenville later than planned. This meant cooking dinner on the boat (the element of Chef Boyardee's Beef Ravioli with tomato and meat sauce) and about two hours of navigation after sunset (the element of darkness). We broke out the rusting cans of warm red slop and navigation lights to confront our new challenges. Much like everything we do the wiring for the navigation lights were installed right at the time when we desperately needed them. Fortunately there is not much to mention regarding these two elements other than some mushiness and a barge passing. Also, a fortuitous appearance was made by Michael Allen (River Frog), who hung out for a while, raising spirits all around. Michael Allen is the frog that has been on Cat Sass since joining us at Hoppie's. We were exhausted by the time we reached the Greenville Marina and quickly pitched our tents and fell asleep.
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