So, we’ve had some sketchy internet service the past few days (which was really nice).  Beautiful ride last Monday to Rattlesnake Bend with Heartbeat and Alysana.

We passed these stark white cliffs that were amazing!

Got into our anchorage @ 2:45.  Did Happy Hour on Alysana and were treated to a spectacular sunset.

The sunrise was beautiful too, but I didn’t dare go outside as I saw a bunch of mosquitos.  I believe they are Alabama’s state bird.  Heartbeat and Alysana at anchorage:

Departed Tuesday morning at 10:00 and arrived in Demopolis, AL a little more than an hour later.  We knew we were in for Thunderstorms maybe Wednesday night and all day Thursday, so planned to leave Friday morning.  We were able to use the courtesy car and go into town.  Visited Gaineswood Plantation which was built and finished on the eve of the Civil War, sadly by a lot of slaves.  It is supposed to be Alabama’s finest neoclassical house.  The great, great, great granddaughter of General Nathan Witfield who had the house built was one of the docents who gave us a tour.  It was interesting.

Downtown Demopolis was old and very small.  It was only about a mile and 1/2 walk from the marina, which was nice.

We had some decent Thunderstorms on Thursday, and even a tornado warning (what in the hell does one do with that???), but they mostly dissipated by the end of the day.  PSA: mosquitoes thrive before and after thunderstorms.  I hate mosquitos.

Friday morning, 20 boats left from Dempolis Marina at first light.  It was interesting, to say the least, locking with 19 other boats.  The boat that tied up to us almost took out our dingy motor.  I acted as a human fender and kept him off.

We traveled about 71 miles with a lot of commercial traffic to Bashi Creek, AL.  Really interesting, narrow creek with overhanging trees.  You would either need a stern anchor or a stern tie-off to a tree.  Kent went in ahead of us, dropped his anchor & backed down 75′ or so…we spun FF around, dropped our anchor about 75′ to his stern, and backed until we were able to raft our boats like bookends.  Very secure and didn’t budge an inch.  Awesome!

Mike and Kent made a go at catching some fish.  We did not have fish dinner that night.  A side note:  Heather casts better than both of them.

Had pork butt that slow cooked in Martin’s BBQ sauce all day for dinner which was incredible.  The stars this night were really something.

Mike and I hosted everyone for biscuits and gravy the next morning while the fog lifted.  Departed Bashi @ 8:45 bound for Bobby’s Fish Camp.  Bobby’s is one of the oldest restaurants in Southeast Alabama and is known for their fried catfish.  The dock at Bobby’s is only about 120 feet long.  We arrived just before noon and there was only one boat on the dock.  We knew there would be more, so decided to raft-up to Heartbeat hoping there wouldn’t be a third, or fourth, raft-up to us.

Lo and behold, 11 boats ultimately came, so we were 3 & 4 boats deep.

Bobby’s is only 2 miles north of Coffeeville Lock and Dam, so everyone at the dock discussed leaving at the same time and having a point person coordinate with the Lock Master so he didn’t get a ton of calls.  All seemed well until one couple, at dinner, made an announcement that they would be leaving earlier, needed to get to Mobile, and we shouldn’t call the Lock Master because he might “hold” the lock for us.  We were all kind of shocked at the utter assholery of this couple, but shook it off.  You’re bound to meet some, right?  This couple also had their generator on until after 10:00 (being tied-up with a boat on each side), and turned it on again at 5:30 this morning when they started yelling at their boat mates about their departure.  The 6 remaining boats decided to let them go ahead and wait an hour or two until we could lock down.  A Golden Rule of boating is that you cannot be in a hurry.  As Kent and I were letting go of the lines to the Grand Banks rafted up on our outside, a big Carver (the one that almost crashed into us at the Demopolis Lock) jammed his throttle just adjacent to us, throwing up a 5-6 foot wake super duper close.  Kent was at the bow, and I at the stern, and this all happened with maybe a second of warning.  Kent sacrificed his ribs keeping the GB from poking a hole into our bow, got pitched off our boat, flew up and grabbed onto the GB as they were trying to pull away.  His torso broke their wood railing.  The GB had another broken part of their rail that likely broke on our stainless bow rails.  Kent’s ribs are going to be really sore tomorrow.  Mike and I owe him a really good dinner.  The GB contacted the owner of the big Carver, a nice guy but not the most competent boater, who gave them his insurance information.  Very thankful Kent didn’t get seriously injured, and that our boat is o.k.  Scary stuff for sure.

A side note from Mike:

Where was Mike when all this hooliganism was going on?  Why, in bed, of course!  It was slightly after 6 am…and I was awakened to Kent & Mary’s shouting and then was nearly tossed out of the sack as FF rolled on her beam ends…and it was such a nice dream.

TGFK (thank God for Kent) and his heroics this morning.  Yep, we owe him a dinner.  Mike out

We went through the Coffeeville Lock around 8:30 this morning.  It will be our last one for a while.  Since we turned off the Tennessee River, we have gone through 12 locks.  Looking forward to a respite.  Bobby’s was mile marker 119.  Plan today is for an anchorage at mm 53, then leave at first light tomorrow to try to beat the storms into Mobile.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!  I got some great pictures from my sister last night who was at Harrahs Casino with my folks and Mark & Cynthia.  Made my day to see their smiling faces!  M&M