In contrast to Saturday, today was possibly the easiest day yet, at least in terms of paddling. I shortened the length slightly, to go from the bridge where I took out on Saturday down to Middle Island (instead of paddling all the way to our campground near Bartibog Bridge). I figured that there was no need to repeat the part below Middle Island, especially since the tide would be turning around that time and the campground was high above the water. The area near the start has a lot of historic significance, with The Enclosure being a starting point for Scottish Presbyterian settlement in the region and Beaubear’s Island having served as a point of deportation for many of the region’s Acadians. As I left Beaubear’s Island behind, the outgoing tidal current strengthened, giving me a nice ride past Newcastle. Of course, in this largest city of the PrayerPaddle, it was impossible for me to always pray for individual households and I generally ended up focusing on neighborhoods or groups of homes. It was also sobering to go past the closed pulp mills and think of the thousands of jobs that have been lost over the last several years in the area.
The most aggravating part of the day was my messed up plans for meeting up with my family. I had thought that I could meet up with them at French Fort Cove park, but discovered that it was quite inaccessible by kayak. Since my wife did not have a cell phone, I was pretty limited in what I could do to fix the situation. As I approached the huge bridge at Chatham, I got word that a reporter from a regional newspaper wanted to meet with me. I told him that I should be at Middle Island around 12:30 or so. In the mean time, the head wind picked up and had a brief rainshower, but I still had the current going with me. Arriving on Middle Island at 12:32, I quickly met up with the reporter and then with the Vances.
Once the reporter seemed satisfied that he had enough information, we headed off to try to find my wife and get some lunch. Meanwhile I had also been blessed by the donation of a new spare paddle. What was left of the afternoon was mostly spent catching up on email and blog posts at the Chatham library. Along the way, Kevin just happened to run into the sister of the president of the local Gideons camp. And some more New Testaments were handed out. After the library closed down for the day, we went out for a visit to the Heckbert family in Forrest Corner. It was amazing to hear of the numerous “bike trips for Bibles” and other Kingdom exploits of Mr. Heckbert.
In general, we had much better weather today. And the forecast is for clear skies the remainder of the week. On the other hand, the nights are expected to be chilly, dipping down into the 40s.
Partner churches: Sovereign Community Church
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