#32 One More Lock!!

Just a quick update: Planet water. This living on a boat is a lot like living on another planet, for sure.  It’s all about the weather and where to get fuel next, and how many hours do we want to run today, and tugs, and logs in the river and spectacular sunsets and frost on the deck.  We are getting settled in to it I believe, now that we’re underway again. Did I tell you that we pulled a boat off a sandbar this week? Was kinda glad to see that I’m not the only one capable of that. Today was about a five hour run, which is about 100 miles.  The boat is running well, it’s smoother at speed and faster, accelerates up to plane quickly and will top out the tachs at max revs in nothing flat.  Fun when you need to dodge a barge or make it to a lock.  Not leaking anything, not burning any oil, the engines are running clean.  Yesterday we were at a nice marina in Demopolis Al, where we borrowed a loaner car to run into town.  This town came about because French loyalists under Napoleon fled here when he lost, settled, then got swindled and a minor war took place.  All in the history books and a John Wayne movie.  (The Fighting Kentuckian) Hope to be in Pensacola by this weekend if all goes well, then Panama City, Carrabelle, and soon across the Gulf to Clearwater.  At that point I’ll feel like we’re caught up and slow down a bit.  Cheryl likes shorter days and longer stays, which is good, but I want to GET TO FLORIDA!  This short daylight hours thing is killing us, the sun goes down here at 4 PM so we can’t travel too many hours a day. 

Side thought: Our home marina had spiders all over, webs up in the roof like some spider nightmare.  The marina spends a lot of money every year having them cleaned and spiders sprayed, but it’s futile.  So we noticed that some of the marinas along the way are clean.  No spiders, no webs under the roof. I then noticed that the clean ones do not have (unnecessary) bright flood lights in the roof that stay on all night, providing warmth for the spiders and endless meals of flying insects attracted to the lights, instead the clean ones have low voltage dock lights along the docks.  Those do sometimes have spider webs on them, but they are way easier to clean and spray than a metal roof 40 feet up.  So how come I’m the only guy to notice this? 

Today (Tuesday) we are at Bobby’s Fish Camp. This is where the ghost stories start.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_T._Staples

We are tied up not 100 yards from where the Big Jim went down. If you know me, you know I am fascinated by the story and the history of Demopolis, Bladon Springs and Bobby’s Fish Camp. The whole story, should you need some amusement, is in blog post #8.

I have to say, one of the best things about this kind of adventure is the teamwork and partnership Cheryl and I have going. She navigates like an old time sailor, always knows what mile marker we’re on and what is coming up and when, reminds me to stay in the center of the channel, AND keeps us well-fed. In fact, I think she could find her way across an ocean, but I sure am not going to run that one by as an idea! She whips the dock lines around like a rodeo cowboy and handles the locks like a pro. Seriously, it’s a great feeling working together like this. Thanks Cheryl!

Tonight we are sitting about two miles from our last lock, and we both will be happy to be through it and done with the river. It’s a cool trip, but having done it a few times now, I think I’ve had my fill. Time for some extended time in Florida and on the east coast and WARM! We had frost on the boat this morning in Demopolis. Yuck!