6:47 Pulling away from Shepherd Island Park.  Motor seems to be running fine so far.  The sun is just coming up.  Everything is running copasetic.  It's a beautiful morning with a little fog on the river.  It's a gorgeous day with a clear sky.  A beautiful day already.

6:52 Milemarker 65.0
 I have about 50 miles to go from here.  I would very much like to make it all today.  If the motor will run, I will just keep chugging along all the way in one day.  I am passing a red nun and notice that I have a pretty good current flowing which will help to carry me on downstream.
 I am really anxious about this motor.  It still doesn't seem to be running just right.  It may cut out on me like it usually does after 10 or 15 minutes.  At any rate, I have a good safety net for the next 10 or 15 miles with several good places to stop.

6:55 The sun is coming up a big golden ball.  Beautiful.  I mean that is a great sunrise.  It is not far to Trulock Park.  It's already on the chart.

6:59  That makes me sick!  The motor died!  I can't believe it.  Oh well....  It's just not running good.  I can't tell if it is getting too much gas or not enough gas.  Oh, man!

7:00 Milemarker 64.3
 I got the motor running again, but it's not running right.  I'll try not to fiddle too much with it and see if it will settle down.  Now it has died again.

7:01 I got it started again.  It seems like it is just getting too much fuel.

7:04 It died again.  It's going to be a long day.

The motor ran fitfully until the first stop.  I pulled it out of the water and worked over the carburetor.  When I put it back in the water, it ran perfectly.  Then it ran well all the way to the dam.

10:10 I pulled the chain on the dam.  The lockmaster is making a gate change so it will be 5 or 10 minutes.

10:22 I am in the lock and tied up.  He didn't have to fill the lock.  He just has to finish his little task and open up.  The lockmaster road out on the gate to start the change, but he looked down the river and saw somebody else coming.  So he is opening the gate again.
 My next stop is Bayou Meto Park which is 19 miles from here.  That will take me at least 3 hours making 6 mph.
 The lockmaster stopped to say:
  "How far down you going?"
  "Merisach"
  "Just Merisach.  Well, you have a good day."

10:35 The gates are opening.  I am on my way again.  As soon as I came out of the dam, the motor started failing again.  I am having problems with the motor again... which doesn't make a lick of sense since it was running great before the dam.  Now all of a sudden it's running pitifully.  At least it is running steady, but it just doesn't have much power.
 I'm not going to mess with it right now because I am in some hell-acious waves just below the dam.  There is no wind so it is the current that is causing all this turbulence.  It's really nasty.  I wish I had more power to push on through this.

10:52 Milemarker 48.9
 The motor is still running steady, but it has no power.  I am still making good time, but 3/4 of it is because of the current.  I cannot figure this silly motor out.

11:10 Milemarker 47.2
 The motor is still running, but not well.  It's hard to make myself stop and work on it when I am moving pretty good.  It is mostly the current, but I am making satisfactory time right now.

11:15 The motor is just about to die.  If it dies, I will take it apart and work on it.  I cannot understand why it will do right one time and wrong the next.  It does not make sense.

11:23 Milemarker 46.0
 Motor died.  I took out the little pin, put it back in, and it is running a little better, but not right.

11:40 Milemarker 44.3
 I am making 6 mph.  But the motor is still running fitfully.  I am passing a fisherman who was with me in the lock.  I wish it would keep running until I could get around the bend from him.  I don't want him coming over to offer help.

12:21 Cummins Daymark  Milemarker 40.6
 Motor is still running lousy, but still moving.  I am in a big debate with myself what to do.  If I could make it run right, I would enjoy the next few hours ride a lot more.  Perhaps it's worth stopping to clean up the carburetor one more time.  Maybe one of the jets has some trash in it.  That's about the only thing that can be wrong.  The float seems to be working.  The needle valve is right.  It just can't be doing what it is doing.

1:30 Milemarker 35.6
 Motor died.  Took it apart again.  Then the pull chord spring broke.  It wouldn't rewind the chord, but I managed to get one more pull out of it and start the motor.  It's barely running, but Lord, I'm happy that it is running.  I'll not stop it to tinker now.  I just hope it will keep running poorly now.

1:55 Milemarker 34.1
 Oaring!  The motor has given up the ghost.  I have about 4 miles to oar now.

4:10 I oared about 4 miles, then the wind came up and I sailed about 4 miles to Pendleton bridge.

6:30 Stopped at Pendleton Bridge.