2JUNE2012 near Wilson, AR -

At 1300 I was lunching at the Memphis Yacht Club outdoor dining area.  I may spend the night at Memphis.  Doing so will assure that I will not arrive in Helena on  Sunday.  It is 74 miles from here to the Bridge below Helena ... even were I to leave here this afternoon I very probably would not reach Helena on Sunday either.  Stay tuned for muy decision.

I'm going.  I should get 20 or more miles today and tomorrow's wind is less ... though thunder/lightning is slightly in the picture.  Here goes!  I'm into completion mode.  Leaving Memphis was problematic in a river treacherous sort of way.  The first of three problem areas is the downstream bridge which is actually three bridges side by side by side.  A lot of water funnels into the passage causing high, choppy standing waves.  These things come at you from any/many direcytions and are taller than the canoe.  Add to this that the facewind also funnels under the bridges and so is more inytense, and that adds it's amplification to the waves.  All in all I was very pleased to make it through and toward the left bank.  I was still facing the wind but everything else was OK.  Proceeding on I was experiencing thiose slightly off-pleasant odors of an industrial zone, then turned south at West vMemphis.  I passed a riverside trailer court and slowly approached the second treacherous area.  On the right bank is a barge loading/offloading structure and right before it is more choppy water, swirling water and, still, the headwind.  Once again I am slowly making my way through when a motorboat roars up from behind, slices through the waves about 50 feet away.  Both boat people look at me continually, yet do not alter course or slow down.  So add a side wake from their motorboating to the mess I am facing ... not fun at all.  Once through that I realize the channel is to the left, so I make my way over there and continue along the shore of Presidents Island when the third problem comes up.  Memphis's sewage is shooting out into the river at such force that one must paddle out from the shore.  The wind is still coming at me as is a barge amalgam.  Behind me is a barge going downriver; this forces the upstream barge closer to my side, so the wave generating effects are closer.  Then - I cannot make these things up - a motorboat is following the upstream barge doing zips into and out of the extreme waves that follow all large boats.  That is simply too much, so I pull over and let the barges clear through before I deal with the sewage and wind.  After all that I just said "Let me just get out of sight from Memphis and find a camping spot".  That did indeed happen and after several more miles the hubbub was behind me and sand bars with excellent camping sites were everywhere.      
On one of these sand bars was an individual evidently setting up camp.  I considered paddling over and joining him, but I am in  completion frame of mind and paddled on several more miles.  Draw the Mississippi and Tennesse border west across the Mississippi river and you will pinpoint my camp site.  The bank is covered with concrete blankets  and poured concrete.  At the top is 40 feet of trees and then a soybean field.  So, flat, dry and sandy ... looks good for me.  Before dark I was tucked in, having bathed one last time in the Mississippi.  My swimming suit was the shorts that I had worn down ... and will soon discard.  Leaving it spread out on the concrete, as I entered the tent I looked back and saw a big fuzzy animal inspecting it.  Too  big for an opossum, I'm guessing it is a raccoon. 
The moon is almost full.  Should it be necessary to paddle into the night tomorrow I should be able to see.  Today I travelled from river mile 767 to river mile 715, a distance of 52 miles.