Friday we traveled to Demopolis, the end of the Tenn-Tom.
6 looper couples enjoyed dinner and companionship at the marina restaurant. We planned an early departure Saturday, but fog intervened. We all finally left about 8 am and 9 boats locked through Demopolis Lock together. Once through the lock, we sorted by speed (Our 3 plus a 77 footer out in front, a catamaran next, trawlers and sailboats trailing behind) and started downriver. This is Rockchalk and we will end the day being rafted off him at Bobby's.
The trip today followed a lot of the natural Black Warrior River and was very pretty, with lots of curves, some switchbacks-at one point we traveled 2 miles to go 100 yards-and beautiful scenery, ranging from bluffs to sand beaches to hills and even some Spanish moss
We passed the site of the old Rooster Bridge where, in 1979, the tug Cahaba was swept down and under the bridge during a flood. If you haven't seen the photos, just do an internet search. There is a happy, miraculous ending.
We experienced passing a tow on a curve, he stayed as close to his starboard bank as he could and we stayed as close to our starboard bank as we could and all went well. Almost all of the tows we've encountered on this part of our journey have had friendly captains who greet us, recommend whether we should pass or overtake "On the one" or "On the two" (One is our port to him, 2 is our starboard side to him) and wish us a good journey.
One of the "classic" parts of the loop is stopping at Bobby's Fish Camp. Bobby died a few years ago, and his daughter runs the place now. There is only one straight 150 foot dock right on the river. They added electricity this year but we're rafted third boat from the dock, so John decided to not run the electricity 150 feet because of the drop in voltage we would encounter, so we are not plugged in. If it gets too cold, we'll run the generator for a short time before we go to bed, add the double fleece Amber and Sara made for us, and cuddle.
How do you put 500 feet of boat on a 150 foot dock?
Rafted (tied next to) Docker's Inn is Rockchalk, then Mary Frances:
Good company, then goodnight for another early start tomorrow (5 am instead of 6, as the time changes tonight so daybreak will be earlier).
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