Recently we have had several days when we could not paddle, mostly due to high winds. The wind tends to pick up roughly between 8 and 9 am. To avoid the wind today and to make up for lost time, we got up extra early. We started canoeing about an hour before the sun came up. This meant that we got to watch the sun rise while we paddled in the cool morning air. We got further today than we have in several days and we made it to a small side channel by the time the worst of the wind was blowing. However, it was difficult to get up so early. Several members of the team were tired and crabby. Plus, we started in the dark. We have to be extra cautious when paddling in the dark. The prevailing wind, or wind direction, is from the east. We happen to be paddling toward the east, which means we are almost always paddling into the wind. This will continue to be a challenge for us. What should we do in the future? Explain your reason. Answer to yesterday's dilemma: Most students would like us to camp, so we plan to camp most of the time. However some students are interested in learning more about the people and think we should stay in towns, so we will try to stay in towns a few times so that we can learn more about the people living along the river.