Like every time I start after not paddling a full daytime a struggle. I started cursing myself for not pushing on yesterday. After I decided to get over my pitty party things got better briefly. That is until that hot Deep South Mississippi Sun came back to visit. There is no hiding from it and the constant cycle of sweating came back full force. It starts dripping down my face, fogs my glasses, I have to remove my glasses and starts burning my eyes. All my clothes are soaked so I have nothing to wipe my eyes with. I ended up paddling for about 5 miles with one eye closed or both closed until I found a shady spot on the shore to take a break. After an hour break I paddled another mile till I had to find shade again. Finally after repeating that 3 times the heat broke and I paddled the final 15 or so miles in peace. While I was looking for a campsite I noted something hung on a sandy beach near the water. I couldn't quite make it out. When I got closer I could t lol it was a flock of birds but they didn't look like anything I had seen so far. When I paddled over and got close enough I knew what they were. 5 Pelicans. That's when it hit me that I'm less that 500 miles from the gulf. I'm still seeing one or two build eagles but the wildlife will begin to change quickly the closer I get to the Gulf. And by that I mean possible alligators!