Since our last post, Maldague has paddled through Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. He noted that after the Ohio River merged in, the Mississippi became much larger and contained much bigger barges, oil tankers and sea-going vessels.

He crossed paths again with adventurer Tyler Wood, whom we mentioned in a previous update as a man who is using only human power from his Indiana riverside backyard to the tip of South America and around. The two of them traveled together again for a portion of this section of the lower Mississippi.

Once in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the weather turned very foggy and potentially dangerous with a lot of large ships hiding in the mist.

After reaching the Gulf of Mexico and with his trip nearly complete, he was forced to evade inclement weather in this delta region. This caused him to seek an evening refuge with fishermen on one night and camp in a swamp on another. Maldague commented that these conditions, the cold fog and inordinate amount of ships on the river made his last 10 days on the river his most intense. It's "as if the river wasn't ready to let me go", he said.

He is now back in New Orleans preparing for the next part of his trip: cycling to Mexico and Belize.