Getting re-settled

On Tuesday afternoon I embarked on another unbelievably long airborne journey.  The the total trip took around 28 hours, but thanks to flying westward across seven time zones I arrived in Atlanta in the mid-morning on Wednesday.  I rode a MARTA train from the airport to my cousin's neighborhood, and my cousin picked me up and very kindly let me crash at her house the rest of the day.  I drove back to Memphis Thursday, moving westward yet another time zone and arriving home around 3:30 PM Central Time.  I spent the next few hours unpacking and making some supper while my body, thinking it was after midnight, wanted to collapse into a deep sleep.  I finally gave it its wish around 8 o'clock local time.

Since then I've been slowly getting readjusted to the rhythms of middle America.  I still can't stay awake much past 8:30 PM or so, and I'm still wanting to wake up around 4 o'clock in the morning.  With the return of Daylight Savings Time just three weeks away, I might as well try to keep myself on a slightly early sleep schedule so I won't have to make another adjustment then.

I'm missing that South African summer.  On Friday the temperature peaked in the mid 30s Fahrenheit.  It's been warmer since then, but not tee-shirt-and-shorts warm.  When I got down to the river yesterday morning it was warming up into the low 40s--not cold enough for the heavy clothing, but cold enough for pogies.

I quickly realized I would have to re-learn some balance.  The boat I keep down at the dock is an old V12 surfski, and it felt awfully tippy after the much more stable ski I'd paddled in South Africa.  I managed to keep it upright for the entire 60-minute session, during which I did three 8-stroke sprints and otherwise paddled a mostly-steady pace.

I paddled for another 60 minutes this morning, cruising across the Mississippi and back.  The river is quite high right now due to recent heavy rains across the Tennessee and Ohio drainages: it's forecast to crest at about 35 feet on the Memphis gauge late this week.  For most of the 25 years or so that I've been paddling out on the big river, levels over 30 feet have been a once-per-couple-of-years sort of phenomenon, usually happening in May or June.  But the river exceeded 30 and even 35 feet for quite a few months last year, and it's now getting an early start toward doing so again this year.  Maybe this is just the new normal.

Whatever the case, I'm glad to be home.  No matter how awesome and exciting my travels may be, and no matter how beautiful the places I go, it always feels good to be back on my home water.


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