Relaxing

Thursday morning Bill and Patty immediately said they understood why this was my favorite anchorage now that they had a comfortable night here.  I realized we should probably get Bill's lines out of the way in case any of the locals did show up, even though there is barely enough room left for maybe three other small boats, compared to a time when you could probably fit twenty.  I threw his port stern line up on the rock at the tree it was tied to so he could attach it back to the boat in the evening.

Mom and I headed out in "Dear Abbie" to collect more fire wood while they got their dinghy down. After a couple loads we all went on up to the next cove for another load.  After that we all jumped in Bill and Patty's dinghy and went across the river to check out Panther Creek.  It was pretty and typical of most coves on Pickwick Lake.

Three of us attempted to walk to the top of the waterfall, but four wheelers and run off made it practically impossible for these old timers, though we did make it to the peak with a beautiful view of the Tennessee River below.  Dinner on Thursday night was Conecuh Sausage and sauerkraut in the pie iron.  We covered everything with a tarp, especially the firewood we worked so hard to collect before retiring for the night as Friday was supposed to be a rainy day.

It didn't turn out that bad.  By 2:00 p.m. we were back out on the peninsula enjoying the rest of the day.

Another campfire, all of these lit from the original on Thursday.  We had s'mores first as Patty made a

Mexican chicken dinner in the Crock Pot in case it was raining at dinner time.  We gathered everything up from shore.  Bill even went without tying or anchoring the stern on our last night.

It was nice to have a couple relaxing days after traveling so much.  Today was to be a short travel day, so we didn't get going very early.  Bill and I carried the bow anchors back towards their respective boats as the First Mate's reeled them in.  Then he had to get his dinghy put away.  I put mine away Thursday night before the rain.  That gave us a departure shortly after eight o'clock.  Fifteen minutes later we were in Alabama.  We encountered one down bound tow near Eastport without incident.  Two hours after that we were going under Natchez Trace for our second time heading up river.

There was little else to mention about our five hour trip today.  Plenty of bass boats, and river gages show Pickwick just a little low.  I presume they might have dropped the lake a little bit in anticipation of the originally predicted one to two inches of rain for Friday.

After 32 miles of travel, I pulled into Little Bear Creek, a place we had only anchored for the first time on the way south.  I pointed out to Bill that we anchored in front of the first house in the cove, but that I would continue in as far as I felt comfortable in enough water.  I didn't get much past that first house and it went from nine feet to nothing quick.  I hit something that killed the starboard engine.  I cranked it up again and tried to back out.  I was on the bottom, stirring up mud, but barely making progress until I hit presumably the same thing and could not move.  I turned around as tight as I could and got out.  No noticeable damage.  I am now anchored in front of the first house and Bill is closer to the river.

They took us in their dinghy and we rode all the way up to the end of the creek going under the railroad and Lee Highway bridges for our afternoon entertainment.