Bates Lake to Mobile

NOVEMBER 10, 2006 (Bates lake to Dog River) Wanted to leave around 7 am, but we never got to tell Katie Sue we were leaving early (they were already asleep when we got back to our boat last night). We didn’t want them to wake up and think we had “run out” on them. Luckily at 6:55 we saw John awake. We let him know we were going a lot further than him today and had to get an early start. The old man was leaving as we were saying our good byes. We left shortly after him. Debris is still a big concern. The current is still moving fast (again, great when we have to travel a 10 hour day). We come around a turn and I see a trawler, not anchored, but sitting in a side cut. He radios us and says he left an hour ago and had to turn back because of fog around the next bend. He asks if we can let him know if it has improved. As we round the bend, it is thick, but not enough to stop us from traveling (it ends up he doesn’t have radar and although helpful, not necessary at this point). As we “get into it” we realize its not fog, but smoke. There is a fire somewhere, but we can’t see it. We get through without a problem. It’s another beautiful day and cruise. On the side of the river we hear a crash and then a huge splash. A section of the bank has eroded and dropped off into the river. It reminds me of the pictures of glacier bay with the ice…only brown…and ugly. A little further down and we can smell “salt air”. We can see the city of Mobil in the distance. As we approach the harbor it is big and active. There is industry EVERYWHERE. City buildings, barges, contracting yards, freighters….WOW! It’s really wild that this morning we were in a quiet little, desolate, country anchorage…and now…the complete opposite. We are way ahead of schedule and feeling good about what we have accomplished. Today we have completed the river portion of the loop. Now, not only did we complete the great line (to Chicago), but today we have completed the great semi-circle and we feel great! After months of rivers, coming out into Mobile bay was really wild. We are not used to seeing “big water” (and this is just a precursor for The Gulf). While doing my final engine room check (as I’ve said, I try to do that hourly) I check on the small trany leak that I noticed a couple of days ago. It's not worse, but I do notice the trany cooler is vibrating slightly. When we get to Dog River we have a mechanic check it out. He implies that I hit something and am not admitting it. He paints a doom and gloom picture of possible problems, but I offer some minor problems that can have the same effect. Anyway, we’ll find out Monday when we haul it (pull it out of the water). I wanted to have my rudder checked for a leak and zincs inspected anyway, but I was hoping to do it in Florida when we go home for Christmas. Guess that’s not happening. Better to do it before we have to cross the gulf anyway. After it’s hauled, we’ll see what needs to be done and how long it will take. A boat from Minnesota was next to me and just had some work done. I asked if he was pleased and he said, “Great work and I was very pleased with the bill…about ½ of what he expected…you being from NY, that’s like free!“ I hope he’s right. Some repair work on a 6,000 mile cruise is to be expected, but the only bad thing is that my son, Steven, was coming to visit this week. He really wanted to do the 18 hour Gulf crossing. He worked hard to set up the visit, although its not looking very promising...but we’ll keep our fingers crossed. On a positive note, this marina is like another homecoming again. There must be about 20 loopers here….amazing. After the long days and anchoring out, many loopers like to come to a marina, for work, supplies, town and utilities. It’s a little break before the next long run. We found out that John (TT) was here yesterday and we missed him. He was driving someone here in his truck and stopped in. Miss Liberty and Triumph were here too. Hopefully this work won’t hold us back too long. We borrowed a loaner car and took Jaycie to see Flushed away. She LOVED it!

Bobby's to Bates Lake

NOVEMBER 9, 2006 (Bobby‘s fish camp to Bates lake) Only doing about 6 hours today (only) so we didn’t have to leave real early. They other boats on the dock left at sun up, but Katie Sue and us decided to travel together today. Our last lock was about a mile away. Katie Sue did the first lock in Waterford, NY with us and we finally met up with them again just yesterday and today they will do the last lock with us. (at least the last lock for awhile). Oh, and another thing I forgot to tell you about is the “drama” unfolding. On the internet, other boaters posted how on this next leg of the river (120 miles with no marinas) there has been “trouble” from the local “good ole’ boys”. They are not happy with the “go fast boats” waking (the wave of water off the back of the boat) them and have been pretending they are law enforcement and harassing boats (boarding, demanding fines/money, etc.). Then while on the dock, one of the boats there told us how he’s traveled this part before and has been SHOT AT! I said that it was probably an accident and he said,” NO. I saw two guys and one of them aimed the rifle and fired. The other one then tried to stop him, grabbing the gun and as they wrestled for control shots were going off wildly. He said he now carries an automatic weapon aboard. I still figured it was a bunch of bull and went to the “old man” on the boat behind us. He has traveled this river many times. When I asked if he has ever had trouble on the river, he said an emphatic “NO“, and then, “Oh!….Except one time someone up in cabin on the side of the river fired 3 shots across my bow. I could hear them hit the water.” (In my book, that would count as a big YES!). What I kind of pieced together was that the “big boats” were “waking” the little, local bass boats (and by the size of some wakes I’ve seen, probably swamping them). Needless to say we had our eyes on the shore and even though we don’t put out a killer wake…we were extra careful near homes, shacks and boats. Since we spotted an alligator yesterday, Katie Sue asked us to lead so we could spot one for them to see. I think they just wanted us on point (military for the one who gets shot first!). Well, we made it through the day without having a single shot fired on us :). We did spot an alligator (about 8’) but by the time they got up to the log it had already jumped into the water. We saw Spanish moss for the first time. Its really wild looking and hangs from trees like massive clumps of webs draping from the trees. We made great time, again, with the fast moving current. Again we had to dodge massive amounts of debris. We arrived at Bates lake, which is a side cut leading into a long narrow (barely qualifying as) lake. In the “lake” portion was a really neat little fish camp. Lots of small houses, shacks and house boat/shacks. We anchored in the cut so as not to impose on the small community (or get shot at ). It was a beautiful, rural anchorage. The old man was there already (he left at sun up) and two other loopers we know, Essiana and Juwika (both had their boats trucked from Oregon to do the Loop). Including Katie Sue, there were five of us there. We took our dinghy and went for a tour of the fish camp. Lots of Spanish moss on trees and very cool looking tree trunks (I think Cedar?). Anyway, we went deep into the lake, which was now looking a lot more like a swamp. Joyce said she though we should stop (I think she was hearing banjos playing) but Jaycie and I wanted to take it to the end. So we rode until we could ride no more….it was AWESOME! We headed back to the boat and got invited over to Essiana’s boat for dessert with them and Juwika Joyce baked some brownies & they made chocolate chip cookies…my favorite!). A nice night. We dinghied back to our boat… It was very tranquil and still. What a great anchorage!

Demopolis to Bobby's

NOVEMBER 8, 2006 (Demopolis to Bobby‘s fish camp) 5am and it’s a GO! The temperature is mild, there’s no wind and we see other lights on in some boats that will be leaving. We get out pretty quick and make our way to the lock (about 3 miles away). It’s still dark, our running lights are on…but you can make out what is in the water…OH MY GOD! It’s a mine field. We make our way slowly to the lock with 2 boats leading and another 4 following. By the time we get in the lock we are 10 boats total (that’s the most pleasure boats in 1 lock so far this trip). As we look over to the spillway it is a raging waterfall forming white water rapids at the bottom. We have never seen that volume of water going through a spillway. The advantage will be that the current will be strong and we will travel much (in trawler terms) faster. The disadvantage will be the amount of debris in the water. As we come out it has gotten lighter and we can really see just how much stuff is in the water…WOW! The current is going to “propel” us an additional 2 knots per hour, which will take about an hour off our trip. The first few hours of the cruise was hard work. Constantly maneuvering and I’ll admit, cringing, around branches, logs and even large portions of trees. Sometimes there was so much you just couldn’t avoid it and you went through waiting to hear your propellers hit….but they didn’t. The deep keel must really help in pushing debris aside (not that I’m any less concerned going through stuff). On the positive side, we did see white and blue herons on logs as they floated down river. We even saw a beautiful hawk in a tree, not that I could take my eyes off the water for long. This portion of the trip was already a little nerve racking, because it is about 220 miles without civilization (3 days at trawler speeds). Since you are so far from help, you just hope that you don’t have any major mechanical failures….the debris just made it that much more intense. A wrecked prop, shaft or trany would not be fun. We’re moving so fast it is going to shave an hour and a half off our ETA (still an 8 ½ hour day). We saw a house on the river, high up on the bank, that throws all their big garbage (home demolition stuff, washer, refrigerator, etc.) over the edge behind their house. You can see it from their windows…but it’s a mound balancing on top of this high bank. As soon as a big storm comes or the land erodes a little more…it will all be in the river. What a mess! About 5 hours in we actually get ahead of the debris field. Since its such a long and winding portion of the river I decide to take a NASCAR line and try to shave off more time. I stay out of the center path of the river and cut every corner as close as I can to shorten my overall distance traveled (at the end of the day it cuts another hour off our time). It’s a long, interesting, but nice day, so I see a lot…and am writing a lot. We also see our first alligator! About 6-7’ long basking in the son on a log on the side of the river. AWESOME. Wouldn’t want to have to jump in here to “un-foul” a prop (get junk that has wrapped around it…off). It hit 80 degrees and we are loving it! Now this is “the loop” I heard about (funny, but in everything I ever read or heard about the loop, I never heard about 29 degree days-although they do say it was “freak” weather). Anyway, it’s nice to be “back in the weather”. We arrive at Bobby’s fish camp and it is a wooden dock that holds about 4 boats (our size). We hailed the office and asked if we should dock behind the “blue boat” and he said,“ I guess”. No help, electric, marina, store, loaner car, town…NOTHING. There is a restaurant…but its not open Monday to Wednesday. The sign on the door says; Stale beer, bad food and poor service…WELCOME! The owner (about 90) started this place back in 1956. In my business back home, I bust my butt to give our customers the best service possible (and actually lose sleep if they are unhappy). Once again I have to remind myself to “watch and learn” . After we checked in, we had to help a boater (73 yrs. old, traveling alone), find space on the dock to stay. He decided he wanted to tie up broadside to the current at the end of the dock. We all helped get him in. What a sight.

Demopolis Stay

NOVEMBER 5, 2006 (Demopolis) Directly opposite us on the dock we notice the same boat as ours. A guy comes off it and says, “I know you”. He’s from Texas, but leaves his boat here for months at a time, and says he answered some of my questions before I owned my boat. Unbelievable! He’s a member of the CHB group I belong to on the internet. We talked with Wayne for quite some time. He loaned us his car to go to town. About 7 other loopers came in during the day…some we knew…some we didn’t (but now we do). Wayne also gave us some charts that Joyce needed. We’re thankful they have internet here, it gives Joyce a chance to update this blog (which was LONG overdue-unfortunately, there are long spans without strong signals down here). From here on in, there are no marinas until we get to the gulf (about 220 miles). That’s about 3-4 days of travel through undeveloped area and the anchorages are just spots of the side of the river (most of them unprotected and just outside the shipping/barge channels). There’s some weather coming in, so we want to pick our travel days carefully. We would rather not anchor out in severe weather if we can avoid it. We got invited to cruise with a few different people but we’re not sure what we are doing yet. Watching the weather, as usual. NOVEMBER 6, 2006 (Demopolis) Since we had to do 100 miles, we woke up at 5:30 (sunrise was at 6:15). It was a nice morning, but we still see potential for some rain coming our way. We’ve decided to sit tight and hopefully it will break up (or pass us) by tomorrow afternoon. Three boats that invited us to go with them left, this morning, at 6am . The wind is picking up a bit, but we’ll see what the day brings. Our motto has become: When in doubt…wait it out! So we did. We ran into Gandolf (a 42 Krogen) and talked for a while. Through talking I find out he has the same engine and transmission as me. I have been looking for a manual on my trans for a long time now and can’t locate one (it’s discontinued). I ask a trany question and he says, “let me get the manual”. I ask if I can copy it and now I have a manual! YAHOO! Amazing how things work out. He and some other boats will be leaving in the morning and invite us to come along. They will leave at 5am. We will get up, check the weather and make our decision then. NOVEMBER 7, 2006 (Demopolis) Up at 5 am and it is pouring. We check the internet anyway to see if it will break up anytime soon. It shows it will stop raining, but it is still very cool and will remain cloudy for the day. It’s going to be around a 10 hour day and we would prefer a sunny one. The weather for the next 3 days looks great. Sunny and into the 80’s. Since we will be without shore power (no marinas) we want the warmer weather. I can’t imagine being on anchor with temps in the high 20’s/low 30’s. We’ll decide to leave tomorrow. The other boats leaves and we go back to bed. We took the day to go back to town (again Wayne loaned us his car) and get an “extraction pump” to change my trany fluid. Jaycie and I change the fluid and all went well. Katie Sue comes into the marina. They are the 3rd boat we met when starting the loop. Great to see them again. We talk for a while and find out they will also be leaving in the morning. We line up a number of boats to get to the lock together. Joyce and I notice that the river is rising (from all the rain) and there is a lot of debris starting to collect in it. We are warned from the office to get out early tomorrow because it is going to get worse. But wait for light, so you can see all the junk. We are ready to go. We make sure we are in bed early…tomorrow will be a long day. Now we just hope it isn’t foggy on the river. We don’t want to get delayed.

Marina Cove to Demopolis

NOVEMBER 4, 2006 (Marina Cove to Demopolis) False start! Up at 5:00am (forgot to change the “alarm portion” of my watch)! Back to bed. Up at 6:00am and started to get ready. Heard Ultimate taxi, the 68’, start and knew he was preparing for the lock (again about a mile away). We called and confirmed and got ourselves ready. Noticed he was pouring hot water on his fly bridge windshield…now we KNOW ITS COLD! There was ice on the dock and deck making it very slippery. The windshields were COMPLETELY FROSTED! We got to the lock and tied up. Everything went smooth and we were on our way. We were going to have another freezing night tonight, so we don’t want to anchor out…unless we have to. We have about a 1 hour buffer so we shouldn’t have to come in after dark. I wouldn’t want to travel the river with barges and debris at night. It’s not like there are any shore lights are illuminated markers to help…IT WOULD BE BLACK! The two boats we locked with were faster, so they went ahead. We cruised the day alone. It was really beautiful, but did I mention cold?! I had to go in and put on another pair of socks and another long sleeve shirt (in addition to my shirt, sweat shirt and wind breaker- which I later added another jacket on top). Good thing the sun was shining brightly. Along the way, we have been seeing trees that looked half dead, but with clumps of green leaves still attached. Someone told us it was mistletoe! That the locals, shoot it down out of the tree in order to market it. We never got a close look at it to tell for sure. As we approached the second lock we heard the other boats were just being let in. Unfortunately, we missed it by about 10 minutes. What was worse, we watched them going down as we pulled up. That cost us our 1 hour cushion. Now we would come in, barring any problems, as the sun set…hopefully. When locking through I had a minor mishap. The wind picked up and, when we tied up to the wall, we were getting “blown off”. I kept adjusting the boat, but it was becoming a hassle, so I went down to get a second line on another bollard. The fixed bollard is in a hole on the wall and as I tried to get the rope the boat was moving away from the wall. I missed 2 times and on the third it got on, but not completely around it so I leaned way out, to get it over…..and the railing I was leaning on opened! With all my body weight on it, it unlatched and bent out to about a 45 degree angle. It happened fast, but I fell through the opening, but my feet were still on the deck and my hands on the lock (I don’t remember if I grabbed the railing or the wall). Joyce yelled and grabbed the back of my life vest and I did a “hard push-up” and luckily got back on the boat. I can’t believe I didn’t end up in the water! I fixed the railing and now know not to lean 200lbs over the gate section of the railing. We cruised a long day (about 9 ½ hours). By losing that hour waiting for the lock we knew we might have to arrive in the dark. As the son set we got our spot lights out and turned on our running lights. Luckily, we arrived before it got black and they had a light at the end of their dock making it easy to find. We could already see quite a few Looper boats at the dock. We also saw the 2 boats that we stayed with at Marina Cove. The loaner car was out so we decided to have dinner at the restaurant here. At dinner we met the guys from Ultimate Taxi (the 68’ Hargrave). They reserved the loaner car and offered for us to go into town with them. After town we got invited to see their boat…AWESOME (we may need to trade up)!

Columbus to Marina Cove

NOVEMBER 3, 2006 (Columbus to Marina Cove) We got up and it was freezing…again! We were about 1 mile from the lock and heard another boat start their engine. We called the lock and found out they would lock through in about 20 minutes (we hate to miss it and have to wait- about an hour- for the next one). We did our fast (becoming usual) routine. Engine check, start engines, uncover bridge, disconnect water, electric and cable. We said our “fast” good byes, untied our lines…and were in the lock in less than 20 minutes! It was really sad leaving our friends at the dock…we will definitely miss them! But then as we are exiting the lock we get a radio call on 17 (“our” channel) and its John! He’s up on the lock!! He went to the lock to see us leave…that was really cool! We said goodbye again and were on our way. We were really bundled up (with layers of summer clothes) because the temperature was COLD! When we started the trip we had no idea we would be doing “winter boating”. Even though it is cold, we still pilot the boat from the fly bridge because of all the junk in the water (I want to be as high as possible to see things well in advance. Cruising didn’t feel that different without TT, because half the time they are behind us and we don’t really see them. The only time we realized it was when we see something that really cool and we want to radio them to tell them…and their not there. Hopefully we will hook-up with them in the Bahamas. We got into Marina Cove and it was really an “out in the woods” marina. Just some floating docks, a couple of house boats on it and a run down double-wide trailer for the “marina office”. Oh, did I mention we are in Alabama?! The old guy who runs the “marina” (there are no marine services-or anything) was really nice. They have water and electric and that’s all we care about. He loaned us his car to go to town. Town was very integrated and even though blacks and whites were in the same places, I got a very distinct feeling that there was there was a huge chasm between them (I hope I am wrong-but I don‘t think so). We went back to the boat and met another boater who had come in. Then a 68’ Hargrave came in and we went to help with their lines. We said hi and went back to the boat for dinner…alone. It was the first time in a long… long time. We went to bed early because tomorrow we will be leaving, bright and early, for a long (and cold) run.

Aberdeen to Columbus

NOVEMBER 2, 2006 (Aberdeen to Columbus) It’s about 30 degrees this morning, but the sky is clear and the sun is shining. It should warm up as the morning progresses. It is our last cruise with Triton’s Trumpet (for a while anyway). We did one lock and headed to Columbus. The wind started to pick up pretty heavy by the time we got there. Still lots of junk in the water, so you need to keep a close eye out. They were out of room at the marina so we had to raft (tie up next to) TT. We did it with about 20- 25 knots of wind blowing us broadside into their boat (thank God for fenders). Everything went fine. Other boats came in after and the wind was up as high as 35 knots. I helped (with 5 other guys) a single engine trawler, being blown off the dock, get in and tied up in that wind (what a challenge), but all went well. We had “the last supper” on our boat with John and Linda. It was a great night….but it will be a strange day tomorrow when we leave.

Aberdeen Stay

NOVEMBER 1, 2006 (Aberdeen) The weather is heavily overcast and definitely looks like it could rain. Three of the other boats left this morning (our friends Miss Liberty being one of them). Within a few hours it started to DOWNPOUR. I’m glad we aren’t traveling today, I would hate to have to lock in this weather. The rain continued all day, which is o.k. because yesterday I said I hope it rains tomorrow so we can just hang out and get some work done….it did! Did some maintenance and business, while Joyce worked on a present for TT. Jaycie watched some TV and played. Later we took to the loaner car into town. Medium size town but didn’t look like it was doing all that well. Picked up some odds and ends and then headed back. It’s been decided that at the next stop Triton’s Trumpet will stay for a month and we will move on. It will be a sad day. Maybe we will cross paths again when we lay up in Florida for a few weeks. They think they may head to the Bahamas for the winter, so maybe we will hook up there. We all had dinner together. Its suppose to be nice tomorrow, but cold in the morning.

Halloween at the Church

Fishing for candy Cake Walk

Midway to Aberdeen, MS

OCTOBER 31, 2006 (Midway to Aberdeen) It’s Halloween! Woke up and the day was a lot better than expected. After a few discussions and some phone calls, we were informed that the next town was really nice, it’s not suppose to rain until later tonight and the lock is available, if can get there in 20 minutes (no easy task for a trawler). Within about 10 minutes we were dressed, disconnected power, water and cable, engines started, warmed, untied….and gone! Nothing like a last minute, spontaneous decision. The lockmaster held the lock until we got there (coincidence? Maybe). We locked through and left the beer. The next two locks went smooth and easy. Sirrius satellite radio (plug) has special Halloween stuff on all day. One station plays scary sound effects non-stop. We had that playing for much of the cruise. Jaycie is so excited she already has her costume (a dark fairy) on in anticipation of arrival. We arrived at Aberdeen and it was one of the coolest entrances ever. You turn off the main river and the water goes to 4’6 (we draw 4’2) but then deepens a little. For a half mile you go through a well marked “nature trail”. Then you do a U-turn and come into a really nice little marina, Aberdeen. As we pull in we see a number of familiar boats (which has become all too common now, but always nice). The owner of the marina comes up, gets our lines and gives us a friendly greeting. His wife immediately comes over and says she heard there was little girl on the boat. She gives Jaycie some Halloween treats. I ask her where we can trick or treat and she says she is already working on it for us. The local church is having a Halloween party and dinner and she has arranged for us to go. She also has someone picking us up to bring us there….UNBELIEVABLE!!! Note: To date we have traveled 2,482. When we left I said if we only make it to Chicago it would be “The Great Line”. At the moment we have almost made it to “The Great Semi-Circle” as we continue on our way to completing The Great Loop.

Bay Springs to Midway Marina

OCTOBER 30, 2006 (Bay Springs to Midway) Another beautiful day! It’s time for locks again, so we called ahead to make sure the lock could take us. The priority order is, government…then commercial…then pleasure boats. They got us in and it was an 84’ drop! The chamber is about 600’ long and about 60’ wide. It’s HUGE! But it went really smooth and by now we are very used to locks. Besides, these have floating bollards (posts/knobs which you put your line around and go up and down with you) which make life easy. We left the Tennessee river today and entered the Tenn/Tom waterway. A passage that connects the Tennessee river to the Tombigbee river. It’s really pretty with HUGE spillways down the sides all along the way. If there’s ever a massive flood it will spill into here (let’s just hope we’re not in it when it happens). Until we get to Mobile, (the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico) we will have 13 locks and drop a total of 487’. Looking back, it becomes very obvious that the lowest score of the trip so far goes to the Illinois and Ohio rivers. Lots of wild life everywhere along the waterway. The interesting thing here is that along the sides of the waterway there are tall trees (which appear dead or ½ dead) sticking out of the water. They look really pretty and makes it feel like you are cruising in some strange land. We get into Midway and are expecting to stay because a)we’re suppose to have questionable weather the next few days, and b)there’s a town for Jaycie to trick-or-treat in tomorrow. People are real friendly and that night, while going up to the Jacuzzi, we saw an armadillo cross our path…very cool. The sunset was by far the prettiest one so far…unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me…sorry!

Pickwick to Bay Springs

Beautiful morning to cruise! The weather is starting to come back slowly. Mornings are a bit chilly, but by the afternoon it reaches 65-70. As we cruise, Jaycie's been playing inside...as you can see. It’s really nice to have everyday back in picturesque cruising grounds. About 3/4 of the way to Bay Springs we hear a familiar voice on the radio, John from Miss Liberty and they are heading to the same place we are. It will be good to see them again. We met them in Troy, NY as the second looper and then not again until Chilicothe, IL then at Green Turtle Bay, KY and now. They are really great people. It's amazing that there are about 200+ boaters doing the loop and everyone has such a different itinerary. There are so many options. Now we know why people have done it more than once, you can't possibly see and do everything.