Sally's New Skill

September 17-19, 2013

After leaving Joe Wheeler State Park Marina, where we will stay for a week in mid-October during the America's Great Loop Cruising Assn. Fall Rendezvous of folks who have completed the Loop, those doing the Loop (like us), and wanna be Loopers, we cruised a leisurely 25 miles to Riverwalk Marina.  Riverwalk is located on a fill island across the TN River from Decatur AL, on a VERY BUSY highway--no way to get to the City of Decatur by foot or bicycle!

We had a great dinner at the "open air" Hard Dock Cafe bar/grill located at the Marina.  You could tell were were getting further South--hush puppies, gumbo, oysters on the half-shell, etc.  I got a half dozen oysters and a fish taco--Sal, a more healthy black beans and rice plus a grilled chicken salad.  The food was very good although Sal did a double-take and reached for the water when she took her first bite of rice covered with black beans and hot sausage chunks.  Fortunately, she had a BIG glass of water.

As we were leaving Riverwalk Marina Wednesday morning, Sally took the trash to a nearby dumpster to deposit it.  As she tossed the bag in using her right hand, her splint got caught and was pulled off into the dumpster.  Sal, with my help, honed her new skill--dumpster diving!  The splint was successfully retrieved with the help of a boat hook with duct tape on the end to pick up the splint...may have been the highlight of the day!

Sally's Dumpster Diving Skills

We went back downriver a couple miles to a sturdy, new, protected bass boat launching area with 3-400 feet of floating docks lining each side which is located in a great park.  This site used to be an Ingalls shipbuilding location and now hosts the Pickwick Belle, a paddlewheel excursion boat.  We chatted at length with the boat's captain and got a tour of the interior.  We then got the bikes, vintage pre-1969, down from the deck, and struck out to explore Decatur.

We hit Bank Street, the location of an historic 1830's state bank, which has a lot of shops.  We ate lunch at TimBuck2, a cute deli.  We continued our bike trek through the historic and arts district, a 2.5+ mile one-way trip.  Sal thought the bikes were OK, but a bit funky!  Clay is re-learning how to ride with fold-up pedals.

Sally and her bike in front of the "Mellow Mushroom" restaurant

We spent a quiet night here and had a great crock pot chuck roast dinner. Thursday, we're off for Ditto Landing Marina in Huntsville, AL.