Tombigbee Ox Bow Anchorage to Demopolis
Uncharted, Salty Dog, and Honey Queen all pulled anchors at 6:30 this morning and headed toward Demopolis. Uncharted, whose boat is faster than ours, lead the way. We would see them tonight at the marina.
Calm waters, sunny skies, temperatures in the 70’s, and spectacular scenery made this day so delightful. We took a number of pictures, making up for the past days.
The red clay banks tell me I must be getting close to home 
Limestone banks glow in the sunshine 
Our friends on the Salty Dog 
The limestone cliffs that look like the Alabama version of Mt. Rushmore and colorful trees made the slow trek down the last leg of the Tennessee-Tom Bigbee Canal a delight. The canal ends just North of Demopolis, where it connects to the Black Warrior River and then the Tom Bigbee River. From Demopolis, we will be 4 boat days from Mobile Bay, Alabama. Another 7 boat days after will find us at Carabelle, Florida, the point where we make the “crossing” to Tarpon Springs, Florida. More to discuss on that later, as the time draws near.
We called to notify the marina we were near and we would need fuel before going to our slip. Skipping the painful details, we waited an hour for Uncharted to get their fuel and then spent another hour getting ours. The “high speed” fuel pump shoots fuel into our tanks faster than they can vent which results in constant “burping” of the tanks and fuel back-splashing out the fuel fill inlet all over the place. With no assistance from the hands on fuel dock, it took forever to trickle the fuel into our tanks. When the guy walked past our boat with a cigarette in his mouth, while I was pumping, Amanda said, “Please don’t smoke out here,” he said, “It’s just diesel.” She said, “It’s the law.” He flipped his brand new cigarette into the water and walked off. The attitude didn’t exactly make a great first impression of the Demopolis Yacht Basin. With diesel all over the boat, I had to wash it as soon as we got to the slip. Diesel takes the wax right off, slicks up the walking surfaces, and makes the whole boat wreak.
With all the Loopers in the marina, lots of visiting happens on the docks. Loopers typically pour their cocktails or pop their tops and start wandering the marina neighborhood. For some reason tonight, the majority of the roaming was taking place around our slip. I finished washing the boat and it took me 1 ½ hours to get my water hose disconnected because of all the folks hanging out. With the Looper flag displayed on the bow of boats, everybody knows who the Loopers are, so there is no lack of conversation as people pass your boat. We always enjoy meeting folks this way. And now that we have been doing this adventure for 6 months, people now perceive us as veterans. Many of the Loopers we’ve recently met have just started in the past few weeks, so they are still figuring out so many things. I don’t realize how much I have learned until I hear some of the questions and comments. For example, we heard someone complaining about the long hard day. The bad news is they have no idea what a hard day is yet. The rivers are virtually unaffected by the wind. The depth of water on the rivers and canal allows you to almost ignore your depth finder. There is no chance you will run aground if you follow the marked channel. And some have never dealt with the tide. Yes, there are some fun times ahead…for all of us.
We ended up with 6 guests in our little salon. As tight as quarters are, it doesn’t take very long to really acquainted, nor to figure out their deodorant scent. After an hour or so of great conversation, folks drifted back to their boats. We had dinner and turned in shortly thereafter.
11/22/19
We got up this morning, finished our packing, and caught a ride to Enterprise in Demopolis. We rented a car to drive to the farm for Thanksgiving. If all goes as planned, we will return to the boat on Monday, December 2nd, and move on southward. As some of you know, Amanda’s brother, Tom, has some health issues that may affect our short term plans on the adventure. We may need to hang at the farm (he lives in the area) to offer any assistance to him as he recovers. When his prognosis is clear, we will respond accordingly.
We always take photos of the Honey Queen when we leave it somewhere, just in case something happens.
We arrived at Sweetwater late afternoon, looking forward to having all the kids and grand kids for the long Thanksgiving weekend.
The ground looked like the aftermath of a parade…so colorful 
Sweetwater Pond