What next?

Greg is approaching the final stage of his journey,with Louisiana on both sides of the river . He will be in Baton Rouge tonight, and has paddled 2000 miles. He now has 300 miles to go - in New Zealand terms this is the distance from our local boat ramp in Takapuna to Cape Reinga.
Recently we received an email from a fellow kayaker who told us he and his friends had some initial doubts as to Greg's chances of completing the trip down the river. Little did they know! A short time later they heard of "an older gentleman with a strange accent and a blue kayak" who was about a week ahead of them on the river. They met again just before Natchez as Greg has taken a number of rest days around St Louis. Although Greg has continued to paddle solo, these new friends left a message for him in the first bar beside the river in Natchez, so he was able to phone them and spend a night with them at a family member's house. This gave Greg a much-needed opportunity to resupply before returning to the river where he spent the next night sleeping on gravel! Apparently a life-jacket makes a very good mattress when all else fails.
Local people have continued to show great kindness , offering water and sometimes food or Coca cola.
At Angola Prison the ferry operator gave Greg three bottles of coke and a packet of chocolate biscuits.
Greg continues to keep in touch by phone. When asked last night what he's looking forward to once he gets off the river, Greg replied he's looking forward to getting cool.