A few tows went by during the night, but very quiet otherwise. Until 2:30 a.m. I heard what I thought was the snubber line squeaking on the rub rail as it does when we are swinging. I wondered why we were swinging so much if there was no wind. Then it sounded like something was rubbing up against the port stern. My first thought was that we had drug anchor and were rubbing up against "Conched Out Too" behind us. I walked up the steps far enough to see that their anchor light was still far away. Then I wondered if a fisherman or police were pulled up alongside the boat. I debated for a second about whether to grab the shotgun or the flashlight. I don't know why I opted for the flashlight, but as soon as I turned it on to look down at the stern I saw a tree branch float away. I guess it was just scraping up against the boat. Whew!
We were up early, but with the cool air temperature and warm water temperature, there was fog on the river. Might as well make breakfast as to stare at the fog. After breakfast and some book reading, we got to pull up anchor at 7:25 a.m. "The Bar-B" and "Priorities" went on ahead at a faster speed that way they could get through Demopolis Lock and to the Yacht Basin to fuel up and pump out so as to not be in our way when we arrived later. The fuel dock is barely large enough for three of our boats. "Priorities" ended up not stopping at Demopolis as fuel was surprisingly cheaper at Columbus Marina, which is their temporary destination. During travel however, "The Bar-B"s auto pilot quit working.
"Hattitude" overtook us at one point. We told them the other two boats were up ahead. We figured they would catch them. We passed only one tow all day. Three miles prior to our arrival at Demopolis Lock I hailed the lock master on the VHF radio. He informed me that "Hattitude" was going up (they never did catch the other two), and then a tow would be coming down. Then it would be our turn. We arrived at 4:00 p.m. and the lock master hailed us to instruct us to hover around the pocket of water near the boat ramp to wait our turn and be out of the way of the exiting tow. A half our later we were in the lock.
Upon entering the lock I noticed the river gauge showed that the Coffeeville pool was four feet higher than normal. When we exited 15 minutes later I noticed the upper gauge indicated that Demopolis pool was two feet higher than normal. I got up some speed with the current decreasing for the whole three miles to Demopolis Yacht Basin. I pulled into the forward pump and "Conched Out Too" pulled up to the pump behind me. The pump I was at would not work, so I had to wait for them to finish fueling, pay, then pull back where they were. They were nice enough to skip pumping out since we were informed that the pump out at Kingfisher Bay (the new marina at Demopolis Yacht Basin) was working.
An hour and a half later I was finally sterning into slip B3 with everyone watching and waiting to grab lines. All went perfectly well except Bob's yelling. I had to inform him of the rule against that. The reason being for exactly what happened. Nothing. No reason to yell.
I was exhausted after these three long travel days. It will be nice to sit still for a couple of days, although there are plenty of chores to get done. Bill is concerned about a vibration on port side and Bob's auto pilot might negate us to stay through Monday for them to get repairs.
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