David brought us back to our boats and it was pouring rain. We could barely see 10 feet ahead of us. We decided to wait it out a bit at the grain bin. We chatted with Alan, the operator, and then made a break for it when the weather appeared it was going to lighten up. Despite dumping our boats out when we got there, they were again full of water. It was a straight downpour.
Last night we told Aleks and Josh we were going to separate from them. They were O.K. with that decision and understood the reasoning. It just didn't feel like our trip anymore. Separating turned out to be harder than we thought, however, due to the weather. Our boat couldn't cut through the waves thrown up by the wind as well as theirs and so we were slowly drifting further back from them. They pulled off to the side to wait out the weather and we did as well to reassess the situation. They were going to wait awhile. We decided to keep going, but to stay near shore where the waves weren't nearly as rambunctious.
It was tough, cold paddling and it continued like that on and off until about 4:30. We paddled until 7:00, only making 55 miles. While we were setting up camp our tent blew away. We chased after it, had a laugh, and staked it down.
Despite separating early in the day, we figured we were only about one mile downriver from Josh and Aleks after exchanging some texts.
Anders has been talking about a century day (100 miles) since Minneapolis. Aleks and Josh did it near the confluence of the Ohio. We decided to wake up early tomorrow, 4:30, to try and accomplish it.
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