Tuesday, November 16,2010

Lat 32 31 56, Long 87 50 42; fuel – 151 gal; eng 525.57
It was raining again this morning when we woke up. However by 7 all the loopers and our friends on Irish Ayes (Old Smokey) from Toronto were ready to go, so we all pulled out to the lock which was just around the corner. We call the boat Old Smokey because the engines have not been maintained and they are blowing black smoke which has covered the entire boat in soot. The guys from Toronto are doing a delivery and are not happy about the condition of the boat so they are trying to drop it off as quickly as possible before it completely breaks down.

The lock is the second last lock and we are looking forward to the end of the locking thorugh, although Brenda and I have now got it down to a science and it is really easy. We decided to travel with the folks we met last night Quest, Moor $tuff and Next Endevour. All of us got through the lock and started traveling down the Tombigbee River. I think both Brenda and I will be glad to see the end of the river system – while it still pretty, we have seen too many trees and are looking forward to salt water.

While we were traveling along, we saw a cow at the bottom of a cliff at the side of the river. Obviously, it had worked its way down to the water and could not figure how to get back up. Hopefully someone will figure how to get it back up the cliff.

The water on the river at one time was a lot higher. Dead trees along the bank are all over the place. You can tell we are in the backwoods: as we were going along a guy in his underwear was waving to us as we passed.

We decided to stop at Bashi Creek to anchor. The folks in Quest, decided to enter the creek which was very small and tie up to one another. We decided based on the Nitty Gritty book to anchor across from the creek in the river. Only concern is the tows that might come by in the night. We are about 10 feet from shore but in 10 to 20 feet of water depending on the side of the boat the transducer is taking a reading. I have two transducers on each side of the keel and they are giving different readings. The water drops off real quick.

Tonight I am not going to get much sleep worrying about the tows coming by although we are protected where we are anchored.