The Lower Black Warrior-TomBigbee Waterway

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).

Exactly what IS a snagboat?

Wednesday, November 2

In Columbus, Mississippi, we  piled into the marina courtesy van (no warning lights!) with Francine, Wayne, Carol, and Rich and visited Waverly Mansion:

Built in 1852 by Colonel George Hampton Young, it stayed in the family until the 1960's, but no one lived in it or took care of it after Young's sons died in the early 1900's.  Amazingly, it wasn't vandalized, even three original large mirrors still hung unbroken when the Snow family from Philadelphia purchased it in 1962.  According to the Snow's daughter, Melanie, "It had no plumbing or electricity and was infested with squirrels, possums, birds, and insects.  The attic was home to thousands of bats."  (Mississippi Farm Country, July/August).  Mr. Snow still lives in the house, as does his daughter and a grandson.  They have furnished it with period pieces and continue to work to restore and maintain it, but what a chore.  Much work needs to be done.

We all went to Columbus Air Force Base, a training base for air force pilots.  There are almost as many take-off and landings as there are at Chicago and Atlanta, the 2 busiest commercial airports. We visited the commissary and the Package Store (air force terminology for party store), and drove along the flight line.  We ate dinner out in Columbus, then headed back to our first covered slip:

When we awoke Thursday morning, it was pouring and we were glad to be undercover.  When the rain let up some, we left Columbus and headed south.

Can they pump enough air to raise this sunken barge?

What?!

Pirate's Marina Cove-are those banjos I hear?

We all piled into the courtesy car again (airbag and windshield solvent lights on) and went to see the snagboat Montgomery:

The U.S. Snagboat Montgomery was the last steam-powered sternwheeler in the southern inland waterways.  She worked for almost 6 decades to keep rivers navigable. Snagboats removed debris (trees, logs) from the waterways.  Specs:  178 feet long, 34 foot beam, draft 4 feet, Derrick capacity 45 tons, 12-14 man crew.  (Corp of Engineers).  The Greek Revival style building in the background is a Tenn-Tom visitor center.

Inside the visitor center:

We next visited the Aliceville museum.  Aliceville, Alabama, was the site of a German POW camp from 1942-1945.  There is an amazing display about the camp, including artwork the prisoners created during their stay.  The introductory video has interviews with some of those who were interred as well as some civilian employees and American troops who were stationed there.  There is also a display commemorating US veterans from Pickens County and assembly line equipment from the 1948 Coca-Cola Bottling plant, which was the building that now houses the museum.

We went into "downtown" Pickensville and had catfish and barbecue at Down Yonder:

Did you drop your screwdriver?

Another foggy morning:

The first of 3 locks today:

Do you think some bad words may have been said when this screwdriver was dropped as the lock was being built?

We were lucky with our timing.  This Corps of Engineers boat and dive boat were being lowered with us.  This was the last lockdown before maintenance closed the lock for a couple of hours.  As we were entering the lock, we heard Joe (Glory Days) calling the lockmaster to ask him to wait half an hour.  As the workboat was ready to go, Glory Days was out of luck.

Getting into Aberdeen Marina was quite an adventure:

You REALLY want to stay in the channel!  This is Salt 'n Sand skirting logs:

My Way disappears as Salt 'n Sand follows:

Tricky maneuvering:

Really?!

There goes Salt 'n Sand.  Hope we can follow:

Looking back at our path into Aberdeen Marina:

And Benjamin thinks his Dad can't parallel park!

Finally, the Tenn-Tom

We traveled in Alabama and Mississippi waters on Saturday, October 29.  The day was chilly but the sun was shining.

A different view of the Natchez Trace:

We are at Grand Harbor, a fairly new marina at the start of the Tennessee-TomBigbee Waterway.   The idea for the waterway was conceived by French explorers as far back as the late 1700's (maybe earlier, but there are no records).  Surveys through the years always showed the cost to be prohibitive until 1971 (evidently 2 billion was considered reasonable), when the first shovelful of dirt was dug. More dirt was moved to build the Tenn-Tom than ...  the Panama Canal (The Tenn-Tom Nitty Gritty, Fred Myers, 2005).  It opened in June, 1985.  Although designed to move commercial traffic more efficiently, pleasure boaters soon discovered it and today, here we are.

This marina has 3 courtesy cars.  The one we borrowed has only about 4,000 miles on it, so no warning lights were on.  We are in Mississippi, but if we go ashore, we're in Tennessee.

As we came into the marina, we saw what we thought was a duck blind, but it was moving:

A young couple built a raft, have added to it as materials come their way, and plan to travel to Moblie Bay.  They started in Pennsylvania.  They picked up 2 hens somewhere along the way, so have fresh eggs for breakfast.  The hens running along the docks provided another unexpected experience. The raft was gone when we got up Monday, but we passed it not far downriver.  

Waiting for the fog to clear in the morning will become a regular part of the plan:

Since locks are fairly close to each other, pleasure craft that start this section together stay together and all lock through each lock at the same time.  5 of us traveled downriver together at about 8 knots. The waterway is very narrow in places and there are many requested no-wake zones.  We are, however looking forward to traveling on plane once in a while, as Rich and Carol on Salt 'n Sand, a 540 Sea Ray, and Wayne and Francine on My Way, a 41 foot Cruisers,  have invited us to travel with them.  

It's a pretty, if slow, ride:

Here we are at Bay Springs Marina:

This is our walk to shore:

Mary and Bill on Harbour Reach invited loopers at the marina to gather for snacks and dinner. Mary made lasagna and key lime pie.  Yum!  

Tuesday morning, 9 boats gathered outside the Fulton Lock waiting for the lockmaster to fill the chamber, after a downbound tow had locked through:

Locking through:

After 3 locks, Mary Frances at Midway Marina:

Bill and Mary told us there was a Corp of Engineers campground close to this marina, so we took a nice walk, then climbed aboard Salt 'n Sand for snacks, drinks, and good company.

Back on the water

There's a little more color on that hill than there was when we arrived at Joe Wheeler State Park almost a month ago.

The speakers at the rendesvous gave us lots of information about the next leg of our journey, plus there was lots of food, wine, and good company.  For a couple of meals we sat with the couple who received recognition for having traveled the furthest to do the loop-Mike and Gail from Queensland, Australia.  Thursday evening, after the rendesvous ended and many boats had gone, we enjoyed drinks and good conversation with them aboard their boat, Happy Hour V.

A lifeboat demonstration at the rendesvous-hard to believe this little bundle will grow to accommodate 4 people:

Many boats left early Thursday morning:

We left Friday, but not early, as this was how the day greeted us:

Two locks and a cold (high 40's) ride down the river and we were back in Florence.  There was frost on the pumpkins this morning, so we waited until 11 to take a walk.  It's noon now and we're getting ready to move to the gas dock, then back on the water.  We plan to be on the Tenn-Tom when we stop for the night.

On the Boat Again...

Why is the temperature in Alabama the same as in Michigan?!  We filled the back seats and the cargo area of the rental Mazda 5 and, as happened with all the "necessities" we brought all spring and summer, Mary Frances IV had room to stow it all.  Dreary weather the whole trip, good thing the company (Nevada Barr on cd, as well as our 35 year-old best friendship) was inspiring.

Thursday we drove back to Huntsville to Redstone Arsenal to check out the exchange and commissary.  Mary's father worked on the Saturn 5 moon vehicle project back in the 60's and spent some time here before being transferred to New Orleans.  We always buy more than we plan at the commissary but, once again, Mary Frances IV has room for all of it.  We ate lunch at the Officer and Civilian Club (the army no longer practices the elitism of officers' clubs) and had Schnitzel with sauerkraut and sweet and sour red cabbage that tasted just like the cabbage Mary's Grandma Gracik used to make.  The rental car goes back to Florence today, so no more gallivanting.  We'll be here at least through Wednesday, October 26th for the looper rendesvous.  Other boats are arriving as it begins Sunday:

Our new mascot, Happy Hippo beanie baby.

Mary and John on Passport from Mackinaw City arrived Friday.  We hadn't seen them since Mackinaw City.  We made up for it by having dinner together and visiting until "last call".  Not last call as you're imagining-we're in a dry county.  We talked until the restaurant staff was clearing up to close. It's fun during introductions to be "John and Mary from Mackinaw City" and "John and Mary from Mackinaw City".

We no longer have the "furthest-traveled" Mackinaw City Yacht Club burgee, as John ad Mary have theirs with them, also.

Home, Sweet Home-Can't wait to get back to the boat!

WE INTENDED TO TAKE PICTURES EVERY TIME WE MET WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS WHILE WE'RE HOME, BUT ARE SIMPLY NOT USED TO TAKING THE CAMERA WITH US!!!  WE REMEMBERED ONCE-WITH MIKE AND KATHY.

John picked up the mail Tuesday-Jo had made her usual weekly trip to the post office on Monday but they had the nerve to be closed for Columbus Day.  We received a delightful book about traveling the rivers from Sarah and Benjamin, but the rest of the mail...   Wednesday Mary took a few items to the consignment shop then met John at Michigan National Guard Headquarters in Lansing to replace her expired military i.d.  John then went home to blow leaves and go on-line to figure out why Mary's Kindle wouldn't power up and Mary went to St. Johns for some girl time to make cards with people she had worked with. She then traveled to Tawas for a loving overnight visit with her parents.  They gave her a cute swimsuit cover-up.

Thursday John had his eye exam and we met Kathy and Mike in Midland for dinner:

Friday we drove back to Midland for flu shots at Dow medical then on to Lansing for Mary's 6 month hip check-up.  Everything's exactly as it should be, although it is a bit disconcerting to see the threads and the point of the stabilizing screw in the x-ray.  We met Jackie and Paul for dinner in Mt. Pleasant (they delivered the beanie baby hippo Janice had bought for Mary back in April) and came home to find an early Christmas gift from Matthew and Christine leaning against the garage door.  A spray bottle of natural spider repellant may not seem very sentimental, but boaters know that anything that may reduce the spider population is welcome!

Saturday we enjoyed the best unexpected bonus of this trip home-because the weather has been so conducive to travel, we arrived at Joe Wheeler State Park earlier than expected and changed Mary's hip appointment and came home a week earlier than planned.  Our Sarah was here from Boston to celebrate her mother's birthday!  She came to our house and we surprised her by celebrating her birthday early, as we will be back on the rivers when it actually occurs:

Sarah took us out to lunch at the new restaurant at the golf course in Shepherd and we immensely enjoyed our time with her.  

Sunday we met Jo for brunch in Shepherd.  She told us she was meeting with her estate planning lawyer, Sarah, the next week.  We had a great visit and discussed many things, but the lawyer comment became relevant when a woman turned when leaving the restaurant to greet Jo.  She then glanced at us and stopped short as we all realized that the Sarah who is Jo's estate lawyer is the same Sarah who was Matthew's girlfriend for a few years back in and right after high school.  Her dad was with her and we caught up on families and we got to meet her husband Eric when he came back into Jenny's Diner to see what was keeping her.

After lunch we delivered birthday and Christmas gifts to our great-nephews Luke, Nick, and Noah-Jo's grandsons. We had hoped to see the youngest great-nephew on the Leatherman side, but gave Camden's Christmas and birthday gifts to Jo to give to his grandma, John's sister Janice.  Mary drove to Bay City to meet her sister, Sue, and exchange hugs with Sue and her daughters, Amber and Sara. Mary had already given Sue and Amber their birthday and Christmas gifts, but sang "Happy Birthday" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" as Sara opened her gifts.  They presented Mary with a birthday gift-2 bottles of Michigan wine and some dipping pretzels and dip, also Michigan products.  We are loving meeting people on our trip, but we do miss those back home.

We can go on a color tour in our own yard:

Monday John drove to Midland to buy oil for the boat and, hopefully, a light bulb.  We used our spare back at Joe Wheeler.  Mary went to the eye doctor to have new lenses trimmed and installed.  This will be the third set of lenses in these year-old glasses.  We will not buy anti-glare again.  At least they've all been covered under warranty.  Spoke to others who have the same problem with the lenses scratching or filming and even those who haven't had that issue don't see that the anti-glare makes much difference.  Mary can see the laptop screen better on deck (John doesn't have anti-glare), but that seems to be the only advantage.  We don't use the laptop for navigation, so that sure isn't worth the aggravation.  Not to mention Mary has to wear her "lined" bifocals, as her last pair of glasses is on the boat and we only have an older pair at home.

We'll pick up a few groceries and some vinegar to dump in the toilets tomorrow, then go to bed early tonight as we plan to be back on the road in the mornng.  We borrowed Nevada Barr's 2 books (on cd) set on the Natchez Trace to listen to as we travel.  If you like mysteries and national parks, give her a try.  She actually is a national park ranger.  Oh, yeah, John did manage to reset the Kindle using "help" at Amazon, but he had to "live chat" to get the 3G network working again.