Iuka, MS to Demopolis, AL

Friday, November 1, 2013:

Happy Halloween! We are currently cruising down the Black Warrior River toward Mobile, AL, having departed Demopolis this morning. We overnighted two nights at Demopolis and were visited last eve by a cute little spook and a couple other costumed little ones dressed up for the community event in Demopolis, AL. One of the boats tied at the Demopolis Yacht Basin with us was decorated for Halloween with a strand of lights, a graveyard and a mermaid 'hood ornament' draped in black. The only thing currently spooking us now is the approaching storm and when it will hit! It's predicted to be a nasty one! 

 Clay and I left Demopolis before dawn broke this morning at 6:30 a.m. and promptly locked through with two other southbound boats at the Demopolis Lock. With 95 miles ahead to reach Bobby's Fish Camp, we're battling what was predicted to be 20+ mph winds, but figured we'd rather battle those today and beat the storm, than battle the flooding to follow tomorrow and have to pick our way thru debris for those 95 miles.

We are certainly making memories. We've met numerous other Loopers, and we find occasion to meet up with various ones as we jockey for position down the waterways to the Gulf. We exchange stories over Docktails each eve, at the laundry and book exchanges, and while helping each other tie up and untie lines as well as pump out. 

Randy Schmitt and his friend Margaret and Sally and Clay

The highlight of our trip since last I wrote was a 3-day, 2-night stay with friends Randy Schmitt and Margaret Reid in Tuscaloosa.  They picked us up at Columbus Marina on Friday afternoon October 25, took us on a campus tour of the University of Alabama where we stocked the liquor cabinet for Saturday afternooon's game against Univ of TN, fed us a wonderful steak dinner in their home followed by an overnight and a leisurely Saturday morning before departing for the stadium. Clay and I were both decked out in Alabama crimson, and I must admit I felt a bit of a traitor to Mizzou during the game where I was rooting for Alabama (had to root for AL because hosts Randy and Margaret are die-hard fans!). We had end zone seats, but these were no end zone seats in the normal sense of the word! Atop the rows of seats was The Zone, an enclosed club arena with food galore...in fact various food stations set all around the spacious room with 4-tops available for seating, a few big-screen tv's for those wanting protection from the weather and lots of room for comraderie! The stadium was packed, and we watched #1 AL beat TN handily 45-10.

Site of Randy's college apartment demolished by the Tuscaloosa tornado

University of Alabama Stadium

Pre-game festivities

 

Suite where Randy dines before the game

"Walk of Champions" on game day

Randy stocking the liquor locker

Game time!

We headed back to the parking lot for post-game festivities and watched the first half of the Mizzou game on a big-screen tv at a friends' RV. Letting the crowd clear out gave us the go-ahead for the trip back to Randy's for the last half of the Mizzou game plus intermittent reports on the Cards World Series game. 

Randy and Margaret's "Outdoor Room" open on one side

Living and dining rooms + kitchen

Margaret in her kitchen

Sally, Helen Sue Parrish, and Clay

The next morning, after stops for provisions at both WMT and Publix, Clay and I were back at the boat by mid-afternoon for a boat washdown to welcome Helen Sue Parrish. Notably absent was Dr. Bill who had been taken to the hospital but was insistent that she come alone, tour the boat and take us to dinner. We so enjoyed her visit and dinner at their favorite restaurant Harvey's...but missed him. 

This shows the depth of the Ten-Tom man made "cut"

Creek entering the Ten-Tom

We've had a number of experiences which I can briefly relate to you in the stretch of waterway from Iuka, MS to Demopolis. We had follow-up work done at Lee Spry Marine in Iuka and left Wednesday morning down the Tenn-Tom Waterway (also known as the Tom Bigbee Waterway), a man-made 'river'/canal connecting the TN River to the Black Warrior River which eventually becomes the Mobile River and empties into Mobile Bay. Wedneday eve found us at Smithville Marina; my first thought, "This place has character." My second thought, "What's a nice girl like me doing in a place like this?" But, again an experience and an adventure. I did a load of laundry in their laundry room which in no way resembles mine except for the one working washer and one working dryer. Oh my! I made sure to keep the clean clothes off the floor as I transfered them from point a to b to c! The dryer had no working latch with a hand-made handle fabricated from a plastic wire tie; but it worked! And my clothes came out clean (with added effort on my part!) There were boaters living on their boats in various slips along the 200+' narrow wooden pier; most were lonely old men who greeted us upon arrival, eager for conversation and human companionship. There were also live-aboards on the hard (meaning, they were on dry land and not in the water). Unique! Character! Ummmm....

 

Some of the new and varied "water vegetation"

Our trip from Smithville to Columbus was an eventful, 3-lock, 41.5 mile stretch of waterway where we encountered a disabled 17' Boston Whaler (dinghy-type boat a bit bigger than the one atop the Mary A II houseboat) with two men aboard. 

 

Electrical problems with their outboard Mercury left them dead in the water after locking thru lock#2 of the day...and of course, with a tow approaching. NOTE: The Tenn-Tom is not known for width and was originally designed and built for commercial traffic and not for pleasure nor passenger boating. 

We notified the tow and stood guard, offering assistance to the whaler which the boat owner called Huck Finn. They first declined, then realized they needed Captain Clay and his crew. Tied to our starboard side, the boat followed us (duh!) to the 3rd and last lock of the day where we wanted to dismiss them. They'd asked for tow only to a landing, but this waterway is not known for landings nor for much recreational activity nor for numerous stops along the way. You really have to plan your stops for gas/diesel, for pump-outs, for provisions, and for docking/anchorages; Clay has done that well. So, arriving at lock #3 called Aberdeen Lock with the boat still in tow, they asked that we at least get them thru the lock which would make rescue by Sea Tow easier. Heck, Clay said, locking thru with us, we might as well tow them the add'l 22 miles to Columbus. We'd never rafted during locking, so this was a first. In our case, rafting meant we'd be tied to the lock's floating bollard and in control of the event with the whaler merely ties off on our port (left) side. Adds a certain degree of responsibility which was all in my hands (I hold the line in the locking process). Worked fine. Clay reconfigured the lines, using a bridle, which centered the whaler, and we towed them to Columbus Marina where we were hailed as heroes. One Looper took a pix of us towing the whaler and circulated it by email, thanking us for doing what boaters do!  How true!  That's just what boaters do; costs a little time, a little gas, but the feel-good in return is immeasurable! And, the harbormaster named T was even more appreciative in that, had we not towed them, he would have been called into action...and his trip would have been upriver. NOTE: I won't go into much detail regarding the two men aboard the whaler except to describe one as a professional captain and the other as 'different and unique.'

Red Mississippi soil

Pre-cell phone

White Cliffs of Eppes

Trusty First Mate/Admiral

Following our weekend in Columbus, we departed too late Monday for a timely arrival at Pirates Cove Marina (won't do that again!). Our night at Pirates Cove was a dukes' mixture of things gone bad! First, the marina's hook-ups (electric and water) were temperamental (that's being kind); Plan A for dinner became Plan B due to the lateness of the hour; Clay's shower for the day at 11:33 p.m. awakened me with the pump noise (yep, our showers have pumps to empty the stall bottom of water); and, now awake, I was awake the next 2 hours (you women my age will understand this). Clay gave me a heads-up for departure early the next morning but had misspoken; our departure came a full hour ahead of his annonced schedule. On a boat with duties to accomplish prior to departure, that one hour is HUGE! As Captain Chris said in his session at the Rendezvous, if the captain and first mate are not getting along nor communicating well, it's best not to sail that day. Hmmmm, we sailed anyway.

Two locks and 90 miles later, we docked at Demopolis, AL for a couple of nights, noted to be the last  stop of any consequence (stores, services, etc) before Mobile. Most Loopers hang out a day or two, gas up, pump out and regroup before heading down the last 216 miles to Mobile Bay. We got reacquainted with many of our fellow Loopers here, again in the laundry room, pump out (this marina had a really cool set-up for pumping out with a traveling hose cart and fixed pump-out connections along the dock) and cocktails on the dock. We also had occasion to use our grill for only the second time in the 9+ weeks we've been gone, grilling lamb chops and zucchini; thanks to Lee Spry Marine for reconfiguring the grill mounting for us!

Some of our traveling companions

"Captained boat" with owner enjoying the cruise

As we anticipate 'falling back' on Sunday to DST, we earmark 10 weeks since our departure from Two Rivers Marina and home. It has been eventful! We attest to the fact that Life is an Adventure!

Industry on the Ten-Tom Waterway

P.S. Now Nov 1, I am completing this email started yesterday during cruising. To catch you up from the opening paragraph, we did beat the storms to our last night's destination Bobby's Fish Camp. Envision 'Bobby's Fish Camp' and you will be right-on! Greeted by Giddy-Up's Herb and Mary, I noted that Mary was using leather gloves to hold and tie our line. She said they were good dress gloves which she sacrificed for the Loop. I said, "I imagine that's not all you sacrificed!" She smiled in understanding! Once tied up, Clay and I took a walk up the dirt road toward the highway (akin to County Road D). We encountered a fella in a pick-up who stopped to warn us of the wild boar and the fact that wild boar like the color blue; Clay and I were both dressed in blue. I am so gullible! But there are wild boar in the area, also gators, but we saw neither. He was a Marine nicknamed Gunny, lives on the riverbank and hand carves items out of cedar. We were invited to his 'museum' (second floor of his home housing all of his finished work). We never made it to his museum, tho I wished later we'd made the effort!

Get-acquainted hour with Herb and Mary aboard our boat was followed by dinner at the restaurant. Fresh-caught fish (fried) with hush puppies, slaw, and french fries served family style was the bill of fare for the many local diners as well as for most of the Loopers tied up at Bobby's dock. Because the dock space is limited, many Looper boats have to raft here for the overnight (as described before, but tied to dock not lock wall). I was happy that we were direct-tied to the dock as the storms had yet to hit, but did overnight as a rather gentle rain which soaked the area and was gone by daybreak.

That's all for now.  You are updated on our whereabouts and goings-on. Sun is shining; temps are cool; and we are on the Black Warrior River at mile marker (mm) 83, headed towards Mobile.