Always an adventure

It was a mostly peaceful anchorage last night.  Other than at about 1:30 a.m. there was a loud noise. In this particular spot the trains sound about the same as a tow.  Mom took the screen out of the port hole hatch, stood on the bed and popped her head out to make sure a tow was not coming.  It sounded like the train must have hooked up to the railroad cars at that same industrial building the tow hooked up to the empty barge last evening.
We knew it was going to be a short day so we didn't get in any hurry this morning.  I made western scrambled eggs with some of the left over pizza ingredients from last night.  After the engine room check and raising the dinghy, we were underway at eight o'clock.  From about 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. we were skirting back and forth over the Alabama and Mississippi state lines until finally staying in Mississippi.  By noon we were dropping anchor in the original river that runs along side Columbus, Mississippi.  The plan was to dinghy to shore and explore the town as we have never done that before except one time a few years ago when we had run out of beer and stopped here to get some.  It was nice and convenient with the floating dock.
This winter that floating dock got a lot of large debris lodged up against it and washed it up on shore. Bob thought it would be best if the guys unloaded the ladies onto the boat ramp while they tied the dinghies to the "floating dock".  I ended up taking my dinghy with mom, Bill and Patty aboard as it would be more indestructible.  It worked out fairly well unloading, although I dropped Bill off with the other ladies.  About the time we were getting everything situated as best we could under the circumstances, Art pulled up in a golf cart to inquire as to what we were trying to do.  He was nice enough to shuttle us into town in two loads.
Our first stop was Zachary's where we had a couple beers.  We decided to find what else there was in Columbus.  We were on the opposite side of the street and didn't notice until on our way back that people were sitting in front of the old theater drinking beer.  Come to find out some young man bought it back in 2010 and turned it into a bar/night club/pool hall.  The bartender was as friendly as she could be and even showed us the actual theater that they do open on Friday and Saturday nights. It was very interesting and nice to see such a historical building not just sit empty.
We had been watching the radar and decided we better get closer to the boats.  We made our way to Harveys for a good dinner.  About the time our food arrived it was pouring rain.  We just hoped it wasn't blowing too much.

Here is the boat ramp when it was dry.

Here is the "floating" dock that should be in the water.

When after dinner cocktails were finished along with the rain we headed back towards the dinghies.  I was hoping mine was still afloat. Thankfully yes, but getting back down the cockeyed "floating" dock was treacherous now that it and our shoes were slippery.  Bob, Barbara, Bill and I slid on our butts to get down there safely.  After some bailing we headed to the boat ramp to pick up mom and Patty.  The rain made it a muddy mess. Bob and Bill walked up to help the ladies down, but Patty ended up falling in the mud anyway. Somehow we did all manage to make it safely back to our boats, however muddy.
We had originally planned to stay here for two nights to explore the town, but this adventure has made us decide that Columbus obviously is not concerned with boaters accessing and spending their money in town.  We did our share.  As Art pointed out, it sure would have been easier and cheaper for the city to have just removed the logs/debris when it was against the dock as to the expense it will now be to fix it.