Spirit in the sky

It was an uneventful day which is a good thing in boating.  The chilly morning kept us in bed a little longer than usual, but we also knew we didn't have far to go.  Departure happened at about eight o'clock with the wind helping to blow us off the dock.  We didn't realize quite how stiff that north wind was blowing in Guntersville's little harbor there.  Once we were out on the open lake it was a bit choppy.  That subsided the farther we traveled as the lake narrows down.  We traveled 31 miles today to anchor in Jones Creek.  We were originally concerned with how open this anchorage is, but it was not bad at all in here.  We did travel back a little farther than we usually do just to get a little more wind protection.
We spent just a little time exploring the cove in our dinghy.  It is still amazing to see exactly where the tornado went through here back in 2011 a few days before we anchored then.  It is good to see though that the Boy Scout Camp looks to be improving and expanding considering the damage it had.  When we turned around to head back to the boat though we realized that that end of the harbor was a bit choppy compared to where we anchored.  Love the wind protection of the mountains as we get closer to home.
It seems like almost every time we anchor we say it is one of our favorites.  This one is no exception.  It is so large you feel like you are on your own private lake because you can barely see the passing boats on the river, yet protected by the surrounding landscape.  It is a bit intimidating to come in the small marked channel so I guess that keeps a lot of boaters out of here.  I'm betting we won't have that luck the rest of this holiday weekend.

Sunset in Jones Creek

If it's free it's for me

The light and variable winds didn't last all night.  We woke up at about 4:40 a.m. to winds blowing right in the harbor slapping under our swim platform and aft stateroom.  Oh well, what do you want for free?  Had we known though, we would have docked the opposite direction.
We got moving at about 7:15 a.m. taking two attempts to get off the dock in the wind.  A little chilly today is quite a difference from what it has been and it's supposed to be even colder tonight.
At 2:25 p.m. we were in Guntersville Lock and out in 15 minutes.  By 4:15 p.m. we were tied to the free dock in Guntersville after a total of four attempts to dock against the wind.
We walked through downtown to a restaurant we read about on Active Captain called Rock House Eatery.  It was good, but not as good as some raved it to be.  It was a nice place though.  A bit of a cool walk back against this north wind.  Hopefully it makes for good sleeping.

Pie

A peaceful night's sleep in Carter Branch.  Up with the anchor at seven o'clock this morning.  An hour later we were in Wheeler Lock and out in 15 minutes.  A 34 mile travel day put us in Ingalls Harbor tied to the free dock in Decatur, Alabama by 12:30 p.m.  We decided to do a little work before we went to play.  We waxed on the boat for a little while, then rode our bikes downtown to the Mellow Mushroom.  We went ahead and got a large pizza so we would have some left over for lunch tomorrow.

Are you paying attention?

Happy Birthday Kevennie!
We left the transient dock at Aqua Yacht Harbor at quarter after seven this morning.  Twenty minutes later we were on the Tennessee River.  A half hour after that we were back in the state of Alabama.
We knew from checking the U.S. Coast Guard Notice to Mariners that Wilson Lock was under scheduled repairs and that the auxiliary lock would be used.  We did not know exactly what that would mean with wait time.  Around 1:00 p.m. before we even reached the city of Florence we saw a tow with 15 barges just sitting on the side of the river.  We knew this couldn't be good.  We went ahead and called the lock on the telephone to find out how long of a wait it would be, that way we would know if we should just pull into Florence Harbor.  The nice gentleman on the phone, Keenan, said that this might be my lucky day because they were just about to move things around and maybe we could get right in.  I knew I couldn't have that good of luck.  We were still an hour or so away from the lock, I was just calling to find out about the wait time.  He explained that once we were at the arrival point to call them again and we would be put on the list.  At that point they would have to get us in within three hours. 
So we kept on motoring, passing three more tows along the way, "Lexington", "Joseph M. Hamilton" and "Dixie Express".  We dropped the anchor at the arrival point at 2:15 p.m. and called Keenan back.  We were on the list, so we would be called into the lock no later than 5:15 p.m.  There was a better place for us to wait though.  We could tie off to the Army Corps of Engineers work barge or anchor right by it, so we moved up and anchored there instead.  This gave us a first hand look at both the construction on the main lock and the procedure in the auxiliary lock.
Wilson Lock is the tallest lock east of the Rockies.  It is normally about a 93 foot lift.  The main lock is 600 feet long by 110 feet wide.  The auxiliary lock is a flight of two locks in tandem that are 300 feet long and 60 feet wide each.  Barges are roughly 200 feet long and 35 feet wide.  If you're paying attention you can see that nine barges can fit in the main lock at one time, but only one barge can fit in the auxiliary lock.  Yes, we sat there for three hours watching a tow at the top of the lock push a barge in and a tow at the bottom pull the barge out at a rate of one hour per barge.
We got the call to come in at exactly 5:15 p.m.  Ten minutes later we were tied in the first chamber.  Once we were at the top of that lock, another lock master came out and talked to us.  He told us that in the auxiliary lock it took about 22 to 24 hours to lock the tows with 15 barges.  Again if you are paying attention, we were with "Joseph M. Hamilton" and "Dixie Express" two days ago.  They have been waiting for days here at the lock to get through.  Three hours didn't seem so bad.  We didn't get out of the second chamber until 6:10 p.m.  About an hour later we finally anchored for the night in Carter Branch, an anchorage we've never tried before, but it was too late and we were too tired and hungry to explore.

Here we go again

Ray got up at 3:30 a.m. and made a pot of coffee.  The winds started whipping again after a calm night's sleep up until this point.  The storm lasted only about 20 minutes, but by that time he was wired on caffeine.  He attempted going back to bed only to have it start raining again at about 5:30 a.m.  He just stayed up after we shut the windows again.  Our bimini top is still leaking so Ray was nice enough to put a tarp over top of it this morning to keep some rain out of the helm station.  It was quite a wet and buggy mess this morning.  Hopefully we can get more waterproofing on it soon and solve that problem.
Once it was light enough Ray could see that there was a tow on the mooring cells we can see from this anchorage.  We wondered why it would be sitting there all morning, then we remembered that when the last two pleasure boats exited Whitten Lock yesterday evening we heard the lockmaster say he lost power.  Maybe the power was out this whole time?
About the time we decided to leave at 8:00 a.m. the tow was finally moving toward the lock.  It rained some more on us for about 30 minutes.  Ray tried to catch up on some sleep.  About the only excitement today was seeing a turkey mingling with geese and goslings, an otter carrying it's baby to presumably a new home, and a couple of down bound tows to pass in the 300 foot wide ditch.
We docked at Aqua Yacht Harbor by early afternoon, went to the ships store, Ray washed off all the bugs while Linda went to the little grocery store down the road, then it was laundry time.  By time all of that was done we took the dinghy that Ray refueled over to the boat ramp to make a closer walk to dinner at Freddy T's.  We were initially excited to try the new restaurant here at the marina, but of course it is closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays for winter hours.  I'm sure they'll be open next Monday for the summer hours.

Was yesterday boring?

It didn't end up being!  I no more than got the blog written when I looked up and out the windows from where I was sitting.  The conversation went something like this; Ray asked "What is it?"  I casually replied "Just looking.  The wind has picked up and the anchor chain was making a noise."  He got up and looked out the hatch.  Next thing I hear is "We're sliding big time!  Come on!"
Let's back up for a minute here.  When we first anchored, Ray was setting it as usual.  He thought we were still moving but the anchor did not sound like we were dragging.  I thought we were still moving too, but he didn't hear that.  By the time I went to repeat it, we had stopped moving so I said that instead.  We sat up at the helm for a while and thought maybe we had moved just a little bit closer to a fishing jug than we originally were, but maybe it was just the way we were swung.
A while after we had gone below deck a pretty good rain squall was coming through.  So back to where we both ran up to the helm.  Ray started the engines right away and moved forward as we were very close to a spit of land at our stern.  I got to the helm seconds later and turned on the depth finder to see how deep of water we were in.  Looking back, Ray should never have put both engines in gear without knowing that, but of course this was panic mode.  So I took over the helm making sure we stayed in deep enough water but in reverse while Ray went out in the blinding rain and lightning to pull up the anchor.  Luckily he had his bathing suit on.  It was so hard to see where we were although it was not quite dark yet.  I couldn't tell if I was moving with the rain blowing sideways.  I turned on the GPS for reference of location and speed.  It was raining so hard and the enclosure was all closed up so hand signals were used which we are used to thankfully because we could not hear each other.  Finally Ray came back to the helm and said "We've pulled up a wrecked boat on the anchor!"  What? He said it was okay, it was just hanging on the anchor.  I asked if I could maneuver the boat forward with it on there because I was struggling with steering it in reverse into the wind.  Yes he said and went back out to the pulpit.  It didn't take long and he was back saying it was a pallet, not a boat now that the rain had subsided somewhat for better visibility.  He told me to get out in the channel and he would have to get it off of there.  I was scared to death.  He's hanging off the pulpit to try to knock it off and almost fell overboard.  I put it in neutral.  He came back to the helm and said he needed a hammer to break the pallet off.  I went below deck hollering "I put it in neutral when you scared me almost falling overboard!"  Back with the hammer Ray went hanging back over the pulpit again but got it off quickly.  We returned to where we were originally anchored, but just a little closer to shore.  We decided that we had to have dropped the anchor originally right on that pallet because it was caught in the top of it, not through where the forks would go if we had caught it while dragging.  Also why it didn't sound the same when we thought we were dragging originally.
Ray thought he would be sleeping at the helm after all of that, but by the time we were ready for bed it had stopped raining and the winds were back to light and variable like forecasted.
After all of that excitement last night we decided we would just sleep in because it was going to be a short day anyway.  Well, it ended up being short mileage wise, but it took a long time to do it.  We didn't get up until about 7:30 a.m.  About that time we heard a tow coming.  It was "Joseph M. Hamilton" up bound.  Well, we might as well wait until he gets ahead of us a good bit or we'll just be waiting for him at the lock anyway.  Then we heard on the radio that the next up bound tow, "Dixie Express" was coming up in Fulton Lock.  We decided to take our chances and get between the two tows and pulled up anchor at 7:45 a.m.
At 9:05 a.m. we put the anchor back down just before Rankin Lock to wait for "Joseph M. Hamilton" to get locked up.  I called the lock on the VHF radio and told the lockmaster that I was aware we were surrounded by commercial traffic, but wanted to get on the list for locking up.  He said he would hail "Dixie Express" to get their ETA and let me know.  Thankfully "Dixie Express" was nice enough to tell the lockmaster to go ahead and lock us up next and that would give his crew a little break.  So nice!  Thirty minutes later we lifted anchor and got in at 9:50 a.m. and out at 10:15 a.m.  I think maybe the lockmaster was just holding us in there so we wouldn't try to gain on "Joseph M. Hamilton" and try to get ahead of him for the next lock.  It's kind of fun to look like we can go fast!
It was the same routine for Montgomery Lock.  Anchor down at 11:20 a.m. to wait, in at 11:55 a.m. and out at 12:10 p.m.  Back behind "Dixie Express" we could hear two pleasure boats overtake the tow and state to the Montgomery Lockmaster that they wanted to lock next.  The lockmaster denied them saying that he had to lock commercial traffic first.  I laughed to myself thinking you could get more bees with honey than vinegar.
By the time we got to our last lock of the day and last lock on the Tombigbee we could hear more commercial traffic down bound and this lock was only five miles up from Montgomery Lock, so "Dixie Express" would probably be here soon too.  Again, same routine; told the lockmaster I knew we were surrounded by commercial traffic but wanted to get on the list.  Nicely enough, by the time all tows called the lock the order would be "Joseph M. Hamilton" up first, "Kristi P. Smith" down, "Second Noelle" up, "Mr. David" down, "Dixie Express" up, then a turn around on the lock for the last two pleasure craft.  We anchored to wait at 1:15 p.m., finally got in at 2:40 p.m. and out at 3:05 p.m.  "Mr. David" said he didn't care if I took him on the one or two whistle when I came out, so I told him I would take him on the one since we were going to be anchoring on that side anyway.
By 3:30 p.m. we had the anchor down near Cotton Springs.  We had talked for days of swimming in this Bay Springs Lake because it is so clear after being in creamed coffee looking water for so long.  I did mention that it might be cold.  We jumped in anyway.  Yes, it was cold.  That didn't last long.  So we just sat on deck enjoying the evening, listening to the traffic in the lock still.  It was after 6:00 p.m. and the pleasure craft had still not locked up.  Then a storm came through worse than the one last night.  We both sat at the helm to watch and make sure we didn't slide because it was blowing even harder than last night.  We couldn't even see the mooring cells in the channel, not a quarter of a mile away.  About that time was when the pleasure craft were finally due to lock up.  They requested to come into the lock in those conditions.  The lockmaster did not advise it, but he let them.  One tied on each side.  I said I would want to be tied in the lock rather than in that small rock faced ditch below the lock trying to see and keep it off the rocks.  Ray had the opposite opinion, but they made it.

The things you learn in a lock

Anchor was pulled out of Dewayne Hayes Recreation Area at 6:30 this morning.  A light rain fell for about the first hour of travel.  Nine fifteen put us in Aberdeen Lock where Ray was looking for the bow boat pole we usually use during locking.  No where to be found.  I guess somehow it did not get put away in the chain locker and disappeared off the boat.  The stern boat pole was used and we were out of there by 9:30 a.m.  I had one question for the lockmaster upon our departure though.  Why was the flag at half mast?  The lockmaster was not entirely sure other than as a memorial handed down "from the top" yesterday as he stated.  He played with the possibility of it being because B. B. King died yesterday and we were in Mississippi.  That gave me some information I thought I might be missing as I do not keep up with current events much at all.  He thanked me for reminding him though, as he was probably supposed to raise it back up today.
The second lock for the day was Amory about two hours later.  It's flag was at full mast but blowing to indicate a starboard tie in the lock instead of the port tie we have been doing.  Our first tie in Coffeeville Lock was a starboard tie, but we found that the dinghy sticks out farther on the starboard side on it's new apparatus.  Therefore we switched to port side after that.
Starboard tie worked both in Amory Lock and Wilkins Lock about an hour after that.  An hour and a half later we were through our fourth and final lock for the day, Fulton.  Just north of Fulton Lock we dropped anchor for the evening.  We weren't here long when it started raining just a little from a passing cloud.  A couple hours later and it has been a pretty constant downpour ever since.

Short Day

Just as I was about to take a picture of
 this pair of bald eagles, one took off.

Here is the other one left behind.

Only 33 miles of travel today made for a shorter day.  The alarm was set for 6:00 a.m., anchor was lifted by 7:00 a.m., and in the state of Mississippi by 8:00 a.m. Almost an hour later a tow passed to be the only encounter today which was down bound, named "Eva Kelly".  Two and a half hours after that it was a lift through Stennis Lock.  Travel was ended by resetting the anchor near Dewayne Hayes Recreation Area less than six hours after lifting it out of Pickensville Recreation Area.


This looked to be a young bald eagle.  Not yet
fully developed into the stark whiteness of an adult.

Ray spent the day compounding and waxing the boat while  underway which he has been doing for a few days now.  Once anchored Linda launched the dinghy by herself for the first time with the new davit system Ray engineered and had made.  It was off to the guard shack of the campground that Linda headed to get a couple bags of ice.  To cool off this afternoon a dinghy ride was taken around the area.  Linda got to drive it fast for the first time with the new 15
horsepower engine purchased last
summer.




Overcast Day

It was discussed last night whether we wanted to do a long day today or a short day of travel.  Ray was sick of the long days.  With that decided, we also opted to turn off the alarm and just wake up whenever.  I will blame it on the overcast skies.  I figured it was about 5:30 a.m. when I chose to look at the clock.  It was 7:30 a.m.!  Oh my!  Why were we such sleepy heads?  I guess it was just so peaceful and quiet.  About that time an up bound tow came by.  Well, that would probably hinder us, but might as well get up and get going anyway.  So by eight o'clock we were pulling up the anchor.
A couple hours in we were approached from behind by a large pleasure craft "Kaybird" in which the captain was very hard to understand but asked for permission to overtake me "On my two" were his exact words.  I looked back to make sure of his intentions.  I almost got back on the radio to explain to him that there was not "my two", but figured it was a waste of breath.  Maybe I should have though because soon after that he called the tow "Cecil" and requested to overtake him on "his two".  Well, he went on the wrong side, but I guess it all worked out.
A few hours into our trip we overtook the tow "Cecil".  Then we determined that we better travel a little bit faster to get farther ahead of this tow and not get us all messed up at the lock.  We heard "Kaybird" call Tom Bevill Lock and we heard the lockmaster ask him about "The Second Noelle".  These lockmasters are so nice and efficient in keeping track of where vessels are on the Tombigbee.

Today it was a pair of golden eagles.

About 1:00 p.m. I called Tom Bevill Lock on the VHF radio and told the lockmaster we had about a 30 minute ETA.  He told me to keep coming, then he called "Cecil" to find out how far back he was.  "Cecil" stated about an hour ETA.  Perfect!  That gave us time to get in and out in ten minutes and "Cecil" was next.
A half hour later we dropped anchor near Pickensville Recreation Area.  We have been here several times but have never explored the park.  Today we took our trash to shore as we have done but also took a nice walk through what come to find out is just a day use park with picnic tables, grills, pavilions, a boat ramp, a swimming area, restrooms, fishing docks and a nice screened in fish cleaning station.  I can see why that is with all of the flies that we have collected in the past couple of days.  Now I remember why I have fly strips on board.  I think I bought them last time for this area.

Bad Day Boating

Fortunately it wasn't for us.  Unfortunately it was for friends of friends.  That was actually yesterday.  Let me give you the full story.
After chores yesterday, Ray and I took a golf cart ride over to the parts department at Demopolis Yacht Basin.  Talking to Tranella, she wanted to know if we knew Roy and Eloise on "RoyEl".  I knew I had heard that name.  I immediately text Bill Livezey, and he said yes, they just left Panama City a few weeks ago.  Oh yeah!  Now I remember.  You told me to watch out for them.  Well, we were a day behind because they left Demopolis on the morning of the 12th but hit something in the river and their boat was taking on water so they ran it up on shore on purpose to keep it from sinking.  Some of the guys from the shop were up there helping them, along with "Moondancer" whom we traveled and anchored with the last couple of days.
After that sad news we returned to the boat and decided to go for a bicycle ride to the cemetery that we always pass on the river and talk about going there.  Now was finally the time.  I guess it was meant to be that on the backside of the cemetery, near the river I heard what I was trying to determine whether it was a cat or a cat bird, so I slowed down.  Turns out it was a kitten I would estimate to be about four weeks old popped out of a drainage pipe and ran right to me between my bicycle tires.  Could not hear any other kittens crying.  Did not see a mother looking for this crying baby.  The non-animal lover that Ray claims he is told me to put her down.  I did, but she came right back to me.  I couldn't leave her.  So I tucked her in my shirt and we headed back.  She sure was hungry.  The last thing we needed was another cat on this boat for Ray to claim to hate.  He already said as soon as it tore something up she was out of here.  Well, she's a kitten.  Of course she's going to tear stuff up.  So I stopped back at the parts department.  Tranella said we could call the Humane Society to come get her.  Not really what I wanted to hear, but better than leaving her at the cemetery I guess.  I needed to go get her something to eat though, she was starving.
By the time I got back Tranella had her in a box.  She was still crying away.  At the same time Tranella was helping a customer that was feeling sorry for this poor kitten.  She had the same concerns I did.  Would the adult male cat we already had kill it?  Would our husbands kill us?  She finally gave in saying "Well, if he didn't want me to come home with a kitten he should have picked up his own parts."  Perfect!  It seems it all worked out and I hope she is doing well.
After our sighs of relief in came Roy from "RoyEl".  I introduced myself and told him I didn't do a very good job watching out for them as Bill Livezey told me to do.  "Who?" Roy asked.  Bill Livezey from Chattanooga.  No recollection.  Bill and Rita.  "Oh yeah" Roy says and continues on about how they know each other.  Should have known Rita was the memorable one.  We asked him what happened.  He thought he hit a log, but stated that he was way over on the side of the river where he shouldn't have been.
Anyway, I didn't know what we could do, but offered our information if he thought of anything since we would be going right by the boat.  All he asked was to take pictures.
So 6:30 this morning we pulled out of our slip and headed up river.  We were being so extra cautious to watch for logs, stumps, trees, submerged buoys.  Who knows what could have caused the trouble with "RoyEl".  The first boat to overtake us was Matt and another guy from the shop headed up to try to salvage "RoyEl".  Next was a work boat with pumps on board.  Around ten o'clock we arrived at the location.
So scary and heartbreaking.  As you can see they tied it every which way they could secure it to shore.  Hopefully they were able to salvage it.


A pair of bald eagles.

Thankfully, the rest of our day was fairly uneventful.  Heflin Lock was doing some maintenance on the lock, but we were there and through in about a half hour.  A half hour after that we pulled into Sumter Recreation Area to anchor for the night.  We did not even bother to go to shore this time.

I thought I said no more pelicans

Again a peaceful anchorage despite the tows that passed at 12:30 and 5:30 a.m.  They were so quiet though we did not hear them until their wake splashed under the boat.  I guess our new departure time is 6:45 a.m. since that is what we seem to be doing lately.
Today was fairly uneventful.  Of course "Moondancer" overtook us again, along with another pleasure boat.  The only tow seen today was "The Black Belt" going down river.
About a mile before Demopolis Lock we hailed them on the VHF radio to request lockage up.  The lockmaster proceeded to tell us that we have been through that lock several times and should have known to call them about three miles before the lock and he would have had it ready for us and we would not have had to wait.  Well, this was quite a change, especially compared to the locks on the Tennessee River where the lockmasters always seem to tell you to call them when you get to the arrival point which is only a couple thousand feet before the lock.

They are kind of hard to see, but if you look closely, a lot of the white in this picture is white pelicans hanging out in the overflow area of Demopolis Lock.  There were hundreds of them.  Must be a good stop on their migration.

Well, I just took advantage of the time waiting for the lock to watch the white pelicans.  At 3:30 p.m. we were inside.  The lockmaster came over and proceeded to tell us that he has been a professional mariner for over 20 years so could he give us his opinion on what we should do differently in the lock.  We wanted to listen.  He gave a few pointers that we might try one of, but told him we were used to fighting to keep our boat against the wall in the lock because of the bad placement of our mid-ship cleat.
We were out of there in 15 minutes and pulled up to the fuel dock at Demopolis Yacht Basin a half hour later.  We had gone 679 miles since our last fuel stop in Madiera Beach, Florida.
Once we were docked in our slip we did a couple quick chores, then hopped on our bicycles to have some chicken wings at the sports bar in town.  This is way smaller than you are picturing, but to us it has been the best place to eat in town, which is not really saying much.  The long awaited chicken wings were quite disappointing this time.  Guess we will make something to eat on the boat for dinner tomorrow night.  We are going to stay here an extra day as usual to get some laundry and provisioning done although both of these are minimal since we have stopped at marinas a lot more than we normally do.

Chattanooga Special!

Happy Mother's Day!

Another peaceful anchorage except the three boats of fishermen that returned to the boat ramp at three o'clock this morning.  Thankfully the water did not drop overnight.  We departed Old Lock #1 at about 6:45 a.m. again.  It was just as scary watching the depth finder on the way out though.  Looks like we are going to need to find an alternative anchorage for the future unless the water level is high, but we don't plan on doing that again either.
We were a couple hours into our trip when we saw this coming at us:

We knew exactly what it was!  It was Casey's Barge.  The eyesore that has been on the waterfront of Chattanooga for years that everyone wanted gone.


It was almost as ugly from the back side.

We hailed them on the VHF radio as "Casey's Barge".  No answer.  We hailed them as down bound tow at the mile maker we were at.  No answer.  We stated "nothing heard" on the VHF.  A few minutes later the tow operator hailed us and requested a one whistle pass.  No problem.  As you can see on the picture below, it must have been quite a challenge for the tow operator to see through the second story of the structure.  Once he was passed we thanked him for getting it out of Chattanooga.  He said it has been a long, stressful trip.


Rest assured Chattanoogans, it is gone!

Shortly after that we heard an up bound tow hail him on the VHF radio stating where he thought might be a good place for them to pass safely on the river.  The Casey's Barger operator kind of puzzled the up bound tow operator because he stated that he did not know where he was on the river and they would just pass when they saw each other.  Hello!  Maybe the trip wouldn't be so stressful if you had a CHART?!  OMG!  Even these heavily licensed commercial captains don't know what they are doing?  We thought it was just some of the pleasure boaters!



Next was our first locking in about a year and a half.  Now let me catch you up.  On Thursday while we were still in Fairhope, Alabama, celebrating our last night there with some all you can eat crawfish and libations, Ray announced that he could not make a "Mikey face".  This is just basically blowing up your cheeks and pursing your lips like our friend Mike does on "Nauti Nell".  By the way, yes, we have lots of things named after people it makes us think of.  Anyway, I thought it was just too many libations.  However, on Friday while crossing Mobile Bay he announced that he could not feel the right side of his face.  I was immediately concerned and checked for stroke symptoms, although it was obviously too late now if that were it.  All other functions were cognitive and cleared him of probably having a stroke.  Through research and continued symptoms we decided he has Bell's Palsy.  This right sided facial paralysis has now affected his right eye in that it does not blink, which is drying out his eye and causing a good bit of irritation, so it was determined that he should not operate the boat in the lock with his vision somewhat impaired (more than usual).  Therefore, Linda is at the helm as she has been for most of the trip since Mobile Bay for this same reason.  We were in and out of Coffeeville Lock in about 20 minutes for an approximate 29 foot lift.  Twenty-nine feet above sea level!
Throughout the rest of the day we spotted two alligators, discovered the pretty and unusual black and white birds we saw on a couple occasions were Swallow Tailed Kites, passed the down bound tows "Thelma Parker" and "Capt. Earl Devall", and then again came upon the up bound tow "Wilsey Dupre" shortly before our intended anchorage.  We were just going to stay behind again when he hailed us on the VHF to come on around him.  Just as we got that accomplished we thanked him and told him we hoped we did not hold him up.  He was very gracious and said he didn't care, he had 20 more days on that tow.  At the same time we commented to him how "Moondancer", a pleasure boat that overtook us about mid-day, now looked to be anchored in a bad place, in a curve of the river.  Again the tow operator was courteous and did not say anything negative.  "Moondancer" however immediately got on the radio and asked the tow operators opinion.  We already knew from other conversations heard over the VHF that this captain had not been up the Tenn-Tom in a couple of years, so he did not have any specific knowledge of this river as it changes every time there is high flowing water like there just was.  He did explain that it was never safe to anchor in a curve, especially in the outside of a curve like he was because that is where tows slide to make their turns.  At that point we told "Moondancer" where we intended to anchor at the place we usually do in more of a straightaway inside of the red buoys.  He thanked everyone, said he would go there, lifted his anchor, and overtook us once again.
A few miles up the river, we found him at the mile marker we designated, but anchored on the opposite side of the river, right in the tows path again.  We hesitantly got back on the VHF to explain to him that he needed to be on the other side of the river when he was lifting his anchor and said he was going to move over inside the one red buoy that was still there because he needed to get the pups to shore anyway.  Good idea!  So on his way to shore via dinghy he thanked us for the information and proceeded to tell us how he has been up and down this river many times.  Well then how could you not know where it is safe to anchor, and you were also wrong as to which side to overtake a tow earlier today when the tow operator requested a two whistle pass.  See what I mean about some of the pleasure boaters not knowing what they are doing either?  How do these people live this long?
Once we were anchored, taking a half hour less to go the same amount of miles as yesterday, we awaited the passing of the tow "Mr. David" whom we heard behind us most of the day.  That never happened before we went to bed, so I'll assume it was him at about 10:00 p.m.


It's a Bug's Life

It was a peaceful night at anchor in David Lake.  It is Saturday though, so the fishermen were up early.  We lifted anchor about 15 minutes before our usual seven o'clock this morning.  We stuck with almost the same pattern as yesterday as far as the tows go.  We got most of them out of the way at the same time.  At some point the up bound tows, "Gordon A. Keenan" and "Wilsey Dupre" were waiting at a good spot in the river for the down bound tow "Keith Gelvin" to pass safely.  That's when we took our opportunity to overtake the up bound tows and then pass the down bound tow.  No problems.
It was almost the end of our long day when we caught up to "Richard Taylor", another up bound tow.  At that point we decided it was just easier to stay behind him and not get in his way just to pull into our anchorage at Old Lock #1.  We had heard that this anchorage was silting in.  That seemed to be true.  The depth gauge sure had us nervous, but sticking it showed about five feet of water.  Hopefully the water level will not drop much overnight.
After 62 miles in just over 11 hours, we were all ready for our ritual of making hobo pies and s'mores over a campfire.  It was so hot today though that we decided maybe we would just make a fire in the grills at the park.  We barely got our stuff set down on the picnic table when we decided there were just too many bugs.  It was not going to be fun.  So we gave our paper we saved for making a fire to the campers that looked miserable fighting the bugs and headed back to the boat.  We could just grill sandwiches on the stove top in the air conditioning.  S'mores in the microwave always work in a pinch too.

Goodbye Sea Life

We leave behind the dolphins and the pelicans.  We'll see you again in the fall.  Our landscape continually changed today.  Mobile Bay was smooth, hardly a ripple, probably the smoothest we have ever been across it.  We departed Eastern Shore Marina at about seven o'clock this morning, leaving "The Bar-B" behind at Saunders Yachtworks.  We waited for the river to go down, we waited for Barbara to return from her trip to Milwaukee, but we could no longer wait for more of their boat repairs to get done.  We actually rented a car and made a trip home to Murphy so that Ray could oversee the progress of a new and different style spec house Newcomb Construction is building.  Less than a week was not enough, he wants to get back up there and make management decisions with a first-hand visual perspective.  The photographs and phone calls are just not enough for this new endeavor.
Once we got into the ship channel of Mobile Bay it was constant chatter and movement of ships and tows.  It is quite a sight to be so close to seeing how freight is moved from country to country.  It is also amazing how quickly it turns from such a metropolis to a desolate swamp.  The high rises immediately give way to cypress trees, Spanish moss and cat tails with some palm trees and hardwood mixed in.  Not much to see for almost 25 miles of travel on a pretty straight river except two bald eagles, three alligators, a hawk, other water birds and several turtles.  That was until we finally caught up to "Greenwave", the first of two up bound tows, right where the river starts to get curvy, and by curvy I mean S curves and switch backs.  "Greenwave" with six barges first overtook "Joe Cain" with three barges.  So we followed suit and overtook "Joe Cain" with permission from the captain.  At this point we are between "Greenwave" and "Joe Cain" when the first down bound tow came by, "Mr. David" with three barges.  Next we overtook "Greenwave" with that captain's approval before the next down bound tow, "Safety Runner" came by.  It actually worked out perfect despite the twists and turns.
Another 15 miles or so and we were dropping anchor in David Lake for the night.  That put 57 miles under our keel today in a little over nine hours.  The river seems to be pretty much at normal stage right now.  We hope it stays that way as predicted.