Underway Day 90:

The morning began with an unanticipated hassle. The anchor chain had collected a ridiculous amount of weeds in the links, so it took an excruciatingly long time to clean the chain, as we put all 150’ back in the locker. It was frustrating to clean but at least I won’t have a smelly anchor locker.

The good news is that we held fast in the night. Once back in the river, there was still lots of debris, but with heightened vigilance, we managed. We stopped and topped off the tanks in Demopolis, AL. We then waited for Demopolis lock for an hour, but enjoyed the rest.

We are now joined with the Black Warrior River. It was beautiful and winding with talk sandstone cliffs. There is really nothing out here but birds, and the occasional barge. We eventually arrived at Bobby’s Fish Camp and tied off into the current on their floating dock/barge. After a long day of dodging debris, their home cooked catfish and hamburger steak with gravy and a cold beer was a welcome bit of southern civilization and hospitality.

After dinner, the mosquitos were out in force, so we hoisted the teepee, snapped it, lashed it, and crawled into the mosquito net. A tow and large “six pack” barge came by going upstream in the darkness. It was eerily rumbling up current, lighting up the shoreline with its massive searchlight. Another tow with four barges was coming downstream around the bend but we could see it’s searchlight through the silhouetted tree tops.

Watching them pass each other on this narrow stretch in a river bend was a delicate nautical dance. Two moving fields of steel. Nobody’s tows got smashed. It was better than any episode of Dances with the Stars. I’ll take dancing with the barges and sleeping under the stars any day.