Stats Monday 10/28/19: Total days - 48, Travel days - 27, Miles today - 133, Total miles - 1636
Feels like it has been forever since I have done a post, but I guess it has only been a few days. Feels a lot longer to us. We ended up staying at Kingfisher Marina on Saturday as well as it was predicted to be a rain out day. It pretty much was, only clearing up late in the afternoon. Friends, Gregg and Rhonda had a rental car arranged as they are driving home later in the week. After breakfast on Saturday, we went with them to do a semi needed Walmart trip. On the way back we stopped at Sonic for lunch. Can say that is the first time that I have been to Sonic. Foot long cheese coney was not as good as Skyline, but hit the spot. After lunch we did some chores on the boat as it was raining anyway.
The big question of the day was, is the river going to be good enough to travel on. At 5:00 there was a group meeting with most all the Looper boats to discuss the river conditions. After hearing from the locals, it was a mixed decision. Of the 20 boats, 10 had said that they were going to travel. River is near flood stage and a lot of debris. We figured, "Oh just like home". Mike from Carousel had arrange to call the lock and the plan was to depart at 1st light, around 6:45. Bad new in the morning was that the lock had a pump down and they were waiting for a needed 2nd person. Also there was a tow fueling and he needed to go down also. We would not be able to lock through until around 9:00. With the river up, our plan to anchor was not going to happen, which meant that we would need to go all the way to Bobby's Fish Camp, 98 miles. Not locking through until 9:00 would not make that possible with the current river conditions. At 7:00, the lock called and said if we came now we could get through. Seven boats untied and headed out. River was full of debris, but manageable as we were only going about 12-13 mph. Long day, but we got to Bobby's around 3:30. Now Bobby's it just a 150' dock in the river, tied tot he bank. there was a broke down sailboat that was at the dock, so only 2 other boats could tie off to the dock. The other boats had to raft off to them. We were the 3rd boat rafted off. The restaurant was open, so we all went up and had catfish for dinner. Whole catfish on the bone, fried. Such a long day it did not matter. I ended up having a stiff bourbon and a cigar. We went to bed, but could not get to sleep. Since we were the farthest boat out, the amount of debris hitting the boat was incredible. Some of the bigger logs felt and sounded like they were coming through the boat. Neither Marcia nor I slept much that night.
Carousel called our LAST lock in the morning and we headed out. Had to clean the debris out, and get everyone untied but all went smooth. Our original plan was to anchor out and the head down the Mobile the next day. With the river high and more rain predicted, we did not feel safe doing that, so we decided to go the whole way to Mobile, Dog River Marina. 133 miles, 1 lock and 2 lift bridges. R&R and Carousel had the same plan. River was full of debris, but we ended up running most of the afternoon to try and get to Dog River before they closed at 5:00. R&R ran with us. Entering Mobile Bay was really cool. Passed the war ships and headed into salt water. We saw a dolphin off the bow within the 1st 10 minutes. We got tied up and just cooked up some burger for dinner and ate with R&R. Carousel came in later, but had hit something and damaged a prop. They are going to try and pulled tomorrow and get the props pulled and repaired. As much as we want to head over to Orange Beach tomorrow, they are calling for more rain, so we decided to not travel. We need a break and some sleep after the last 2 days. Basically, instead of traveling 4 days to get from Kingfisher to Mobile, we did it 2. We may try to go on Wednesday, but they are predicting rain for, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We are hoping we get a break on Wednesday to make it happen. Wind is up so it might be a little choppy, 3 footers, but should be on the bow.
Sorry so long winded, but it has been a long couple of days. Enjoy the pictures. Not much of the Tenn-Tom as it was almost all flooded and just trees. Good news it that there was not many fishing boats out to slow down for. Nobody shot at us as we slowed down for the ones that we encountered and the camps.
Demopolis Lock
Congrats! Sounds like a rough last few days! The Gulf will be nice!
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