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11 July: Days-34, Total-35, Miles-62, Total-1273 – Chuck

Last night, I had two visitors. No, not the teddy bears having a picnic. About 10pm, a barge came chugging slowly up river. It was the MV Ramona, it had a couple of pieces of heavy equipment and some crates and barrels; it seemed to be a light load. The skipper stayed close to the shore because the current is not so strong. As he came within a hundred feet, I waved out my tent door, he tooted the boat's whistle. We had heard that barges used to re-supply the villages along the river since none of them have roads to the outside world. This is the first we've seen.

Just after dozing off again, I heard someone calling my name. It was Bill. Great! He had the same wind problems and, that morning, decided to rest until the winds eased. He planned to paddle until about 3am. I would either catch up to him or meet him in Ruby, the next town.

The weather today is great, no wind, and flat water with scattered clouds in a beautiful sky. I was on the water about 6:30 and reached Bill's camp by 11am. He was just about done loading his canoe. I floated on, and worked on the journal, some how we missed each other in a maze of islands. We had poor radio reception but Bill did give his location and he was in front of me. I kept paddling but missed him; he probably stopped somewhere for the evening. When I arrived in Ruby at 7:30pm his canoe was not along the landing. Tomorrow, I will wait here until he arrives.

All the commercial buildings were closed when I got here. Harold who works with the local air service, invited me into his home to use his personal telephone. As I was leaving, I asked about a local shower facility. He said there is one at the laundromat but it is closed for the evening. However, a neighbor of his has a bunk and shower in his basement that he sometimes lets "drifters" use. He called Carlson and it all worked out. I just had a hot shower, Carlson tossed a set of clean sheets on the bunk, said I could use the phone if I had a calling card and told me coffee would be ready at 6:30AM. I like this little fishing village of Ruby, so far anyway.