Tuesday, May 22, 2012

We pulled up a muddy anchor again this morning out of Old Lock #1 at seven o'clock.  A baby alligator waved good bye to us as we exited.  By ten o'clock we were through Coffeeville Lock with the upper gauge reading normal pool.  Twenty minutes later we docked at Bobby's Fish Camp to take on 50 gallons of gas, 25 gallons in each tank.  That is the amount Ray thinks he will be comfortable with having enough to make it to Demopolis.  By eleven o'clock we were back underway.  It was an unusually quiet day on the river with the only tow seen or heard from was heading south and we passed "Honest Bob" before we even got to Coffeeville Lock.  We continued for a longer day than originally planned, but we wanted to get as many miles done today that we could to make a shorter day tomorrow for arrival in Demopolis.  At the same time, Ray's brother Daryll has picked up our new engines and generator from Pensacola to bring them to Demopolis for us.  So we ended up anchoring at 5:30 p.m. inside the red buoys at Statute Mile 162.3.  We immediately grilled shrimp from Ft. Walton Beach and potatoes for dinner.  We were playing a few hands of Rummy to pass the time before dark, when we planned on going to bed early for an early start tomorrow.  Then came a bunch of raucous from over on shore.  We were entertained listening to kids and adults with southern accents, watching them try to get four wheelers up hills, and playing guitar.  It was a beautiful dark night with just a sliver of a moon, lots of stars, and your voice echoing in the distance.  The music was actually quite good, so we sat out on the bow of the boat to listen.  In our chatter back and forth we learned that Jess got dropped off there for a few days to camp out, be by himself with just a four wheeler and the nearest gas station 20 miles away.  By the time he threatened to swim over to the boat to meet us, we decided we better dinghy over to shore instead.  He did not have a flashlight, so we helped him find everything he needed for the night and built him a fire to see by.  We were back on the boat by 11:00 p.m. when we heard him on shore hollering because he tipped the four wheeler over.  We confirmed that he was okay and went to bed for a surprisingly quiet night with not one single tow going by since nightfall.

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