Demopolis

Or Everybody Needs To Be Somewhere.




It is high time that I fired up my fingers and let everyone know what the heck has happened to us.  It isn't that we are having any more bad luck; it is simply that I haven't taken the time to up-date the blog. We are currently taking another "break" from our Florida to Tennessee cruise and enjoying a little R&R back in our hometown of Kingsport, TN.

Here is an aerial photo of Demopolis

After leaving Bobby's Fish Camp, we headed for Demopolis, AL, about 100 miles up the Tombigbee River.  Our engines perked along smoothly.  It seems that all the troubles we have encountered thus far have added up to a great education.   We now know more about this boat that we ever would have dreamed. While I can't recommend "reckless abandon" as a method of doing things, I can recommend "Get Er Done", to coin a phrase.  You simply can't allow yourself to become paralyzed and try to figure out every little thing that might go wrong.  It might be a different scenario if the cruising we are doing was off shore or into foreign waters, but that hasn't been the case.  It is also a scenario that  wouldn't have suited my wife. She simply finds no pleasure in things not going smoothly.  Yet another reason for having sailed the boat home as opposed to shipping it is being able to have a self assured look on my face when she steps on board to take her first ride.  This has been a guy trip/thing.  I read a book about a fellow who bought an ocean crosser.  When it surveyed, it had three thousand things wrong with it.  He and three other very capable men, sailed it to Europe.  By the time they got there, they had two thousand of the items fixed.  A busy cruise to say the least!

Another plus is that each time we take a break and come home, I return with a car load of "stuff" to make life better on the boat.  And these things come about because of life's observations and conversation/brainstorming with Wayne or the other crew members. This series of shakedown cruises has been trouble shooting at its finest!

As we are approaching Demopolis, I am reading to Wayne out of our guide book.  It says here that they have large airport (runway length).  So I am thinking that there is the distinct possibility of also having rental cars.  Says they also have bus service so we could hop a Greyhound.  You see, Wayne is the reason for once again taking a hiatus from the boat trip.  He has a grandson graduating from college and the grad party/ slash fish-fry is going to be at Wayne's barn. And, of course, good grandpas for sure want to attend their grand kid's celebrations.

So we pulled into the gas dock and asked about leaving the boat in their marina for a month (a month being the magic number for cheaper docking).  They fixed us right up, and in no time at all, we were registered and tied up in our new home.  Then the other shoe dropped.

Here's the marina where the boat is parked. Notice the big tow boats fueling next to the bar. 

It seems that Demopolis does have a big long runway.  However we don't know why.  Because NO commercial traffic comes into their airport. Hence no rental cars.  They do, however, have a single loaner car for visiting general aviation pilots.  No help to the Sea Me Smile crew.

So let's see... plan "B" was Greyhound.  You guessed it, no Greyhound service in Demopolis.  I asked don't they even stop at Burger King and pick up the odd passenger?  No.  And do you know why?  Because they don't even have a Burger King, at least not that we saw.

At that point, there wasn't a plan "C"...  So we slept on it and bright 'n early the next morning, while having my morning coffee, I started brain storming.  I called my son, Sean, (yeah, you've read about him in one of my earlier meanderings) and I asked if he could get away from work for a couple of days and come pick us up.  He got back to me in about an hour and said he could swing it.  So we solved the problem.

But here's a foot note for you.  I have always considered myself a good networker. I like to work out a problem and I always look to the locals to recommend solutions.  Well, we tried networking in the wrong place, the bar.  It was filled with young people and mostly not boaters.  Our first clue should have been when they started putting sound board in the windows before the band started.  And later that evening we were glad they had!

So the true networking started the next evening when "the boat crowd" gathered at the river.  Not really, they gather up by the laundry room.  Chairs, a deck shade and with a little luck, a breeze.  The cocktails start to flow and now there is information to be had.  
Many of these people are live a-boards.  One lady was talking about her van and I asked how do you manage to have a vehicle and move about on your boat, while calling home nowhere in particular except the boat.  "Oh", she says,  "When we move to a place and intend on staying there awhile, we try to buy a used vehicle.  We use it while there and then sell it just before we depart.  In fact if I had known that you needed to get to Greyhound, for the price of gas and lunch, I would have driven you the 38 miles to Mississippi to catch the bus or rent a car." ( Oh, where were you, Honey, when I needed you?!)    So the moral to the story is you have to network in the right place.  You see, they knew how to get there and what towns you had to go to to make arrangements.

Since my return home, I have spent time in Manassas, Virginia, the sight of one of the first big battles of the Civil War where folks from Washington D.C. came out in their carriages and with picnic baskets for a day of entertainment and then ended up fleeing when they realized this was really going to be a war and not a spectator sport.

Next, I headed down to Savannah, Georgia for a couple of days.  Checked out the water front and old Savannah.  Now I'm home again trying to get our Lake House whipped into shape for the summer activities.  We'll return to the boat right after the end of the month, Memorial Day, festivities and bring her up a few more miles toward Knoxville.  These two week stints seem to be working well for us.  We just need to slow down and enjoy it a little more.  I think that because of all the break downs and hold ups, we have it in our heads that we have to hurry and make up that lost time.  But it would be a shame to rush a trip like this.... there's too much to see and enjoy along the way, even if it's just a little more cat fishing.

Bobby's Fish Camp

 The Trailer Park Aunt Lucy Lived In.

We left Dog River Marina, which is in a rich suburb at the mouth of Mobile Bay, on Friday. There seem to be about a million sail boats who call this Dog River area "home".  The marina wasn't fancy but they were great to deal with and let us stay for free because we had filled up the boat with diesel fuel...  a fact that I really don't even want to think about right now.  It was sort of like the gods got wind of the fact that Bob was going to move his boat and thought, "Boy, wouldn't this be a great time to run the price of diesel right out of sight?" We left Dog River at 6:18 a.m. (you like the precise time?  Wayne started keeping a Captain's Log to record such stats.) and headed up the bay toward the Mobile River. This took us through the ship yards at Mobile.  Very interesting stuff and even more interesting maneuvering around ships and barges from all over the world, going in all sorts of directions.

We finally accomplished that and got into the river where all the navigational aids that we had learned so far changed on us.  Now we had river numbers, like mile markers, which are kind of cool because it gives you a sense of 'how far"...  provided you know what river, stream, bayou etc. your supposed to be on! The engines seem to be giving us a break, at least for the time being, which is enough to put a smile on my face.  I advise all that speak of this subject to have their fingers, legs and anything else crossed when you mention or even think anything about them.

Coffeeville lock and dam... this was Ronnie's first "locking through".

We had an interesting experience while headed up river.  Mitchell was driving and a boat was coming toward us.  We started slowing and I told Mitchell to steer away from the boat.  However, the boat changed his course and crossed in front of us.  So we slowed some more.  But apparently not fast enough and not slow enough for this guy because he picked up a rifle off the floor of his Jon boat and started pumping it up and down like a wild Indian.  He then pulled to the back of our boat about fifty yards away and again brandished the rifle in the air.  I was quite sure that all this was about the wake; I just wasn't sure I approved of  his tactics. So I sent Ronnie downstairs to my cabin to retrieve my backpack in the event I needed the pistol within.  When he saw Ronnie jump downstairs, he turned and headed, post haste, down stream not to be seen again, though I hung out on the back deck for an hour or so, just to make sure he didn't indulge in some liquid courage and decide to return.          

So we continued up river toward Bobby Dahlberg's Fish Camp, near Bladon Springs, AL. This was a grueling tug for us at 130 miles, our longest day ever. However, we chugged right along. Just before Bobby's, we came to the Coffeeville Dam and Lock.  This was Ronnie's first "locking through" experience.  But Mitchell is an old veteran at these locks by now and swung into action.  It's sort of cool for the little guy to have it up on the older guy once in awhile.  Although I must make a note that Ronnie has been the best and very helpful often without having to be asked.  As a parent, it's moments like this which make you think that the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train coming straight for you.  Meanwhile, Marci is stuck at home with very teen aged, Jazzy, definitely a train headed for you at this juncture of our lives.  Enough whining... on with the story.  

This is the Place. You can see the dock in the background

 After the lock, it was just two or three miles upstream to Bobby's.  A second quick look at my guidebook, and OMG, they don't have anything other than fuel.  But it gets better.  On the way in, I told Wayne,  "OK, they have a small gas dock and a restaurant and a trailer park".  We start by this beautiful state park/campground and Wayne says,  "There's a trailer park!"  I just laughed.  A little later when we had docked and were walking up to ask for the fuel attendant (turns out, we were him) I turned to Wayne and said,  "THIS, is a trailer park!"  he laughed and said, in his finest country drawl, "You're right, this is about as country as it gets!"

We were not disappointed with the fare at Bobby's.  They had all sorts of good food, but for Wayne, Mitchell and me, they couldn't have done any better.  They had fresh caught cat fish cooked like you want 'em and all you could eat.  We stuffed ourselves with great gusto and decided that it was nearly as good or  right up there with the Greek food we had in Tarpon Springs, our best dining experience thus far.

It's not to look at but the food is great

We had heard that Bobby's was famous for the high percentage of snakes in the water around the area.  When we asked about the snakes, they told us not to worry... the alligators ate 'em all.  Works for me.

And hanging in the dining room there is an Alligator Gar

What with 130 miles of river travel, gun toting river men, snake eating alligators, alligator gar's, a trailer park to roost in and a belly full of cat fish, it's no wonder I thought I heard banjo music as I listened to the river and drifted off to sleep.  You gotta' love the south!

Can't Shake The Bad Luck

Or when are we going to catch a break?

Our newest mechanic

  Well, we're down for the count again.  After having an engine heat up on us, we limped into port and are now getting our cracked head replaced.  Man, they don't give these things away and it has to come from Memphis,TN. 

Just a shot of our Ensign

 Don't know if I have ever included the ensign from the "Loopers Group"  in any of the blogs so I thought I would throw in a picture of it. 

Mitchell in his new rain gear

 Here's Mitchell in his rain gear that he brought with him even though it was about 80 degrees out and we were covered by the Bimini top.  But a guy has to try out this gear when he has a chance, after all.

 

Following Randall & Beth

 Ronnie snapped this picture of Randall's boat "Fly - By".  We followed him all the way from Apalachicola, FL to Orange Beach, Alabama.  The first day we went over one hundred miles.  And the second day about sixty miles.  But it was nice not having to work over the charts as we were traveling along.   Randall is a freight broker by trade who lives and works on his boat.  He was headed to Orange Beach for a gathering of people who own Main Ships, a make of trawler.

Home sweet home

These young pelicans are obviously all from the same nest which was either on this post or one nearby.  They still have some pin feathers and are fighting for position. 



Our present location is The Wharf Marina which has all the amenities that a person could ask for including a small water park for the boys to play in and cool off.  The passage for this is free as we are staying in the marina which is part of the commercial complex.  It's a retirement community, I think, that has condos, shopping, restaurants, morning coffee shops and the like. It's really pretty cool



We have large fuel barges going past our marina.  It must truly be an art to move these babies up and down the Intracoastal Waterway.  The up side is:  If they can do that with two hundred feet, we should be able to move 43 feet with ease. If we could only get this vessel ship shape!