Mississippi River Day 80 (Mile #907, 1420.5 miles)

Today started off extremely calm. I noticed a thick layer of ice in some of the spots where puddles collect in my canoe. Definitely colder. However, by 11 it was windy again, so much that I had to stop. I decided to try something new. I had two ropes tied to either end of the canoe, and tried pulling it along the shore. This worked pretty well, until I hit a patch of thick mud, where I was sinking in to my knees. Not fun, especially as it was getting colder near evening. I ended up crawling out of the mud on my hands and knees, so I had more surface area, and then let the canoe float on the wind back a bit upstream to somewhere that I could camp. I made a nice big fire so I could wash off the mud from my shoes and pants, and then dry out.