The crew was a little rusty!

Yeah!!  7am. November 6th ready to go and No FOG to wait on.  We called the lockmaster at Demopolis lock which is only 2 miles from the marina.  The lockmaster was difficult to understand but we heard him to say come on. He was locking a tow through and would be clear when we arrived.  Excitement filled the fly bridge as we prepared to leave. It was a beautiful sun shiny morning, so coffee in hand we were off.  Have you heard of the saying "hurry up and wait"?  Well that was us. We arrived at the lock about 7:20 and waited and waited and waited!  Lesson learned, always repeat what you think a  lockmaster with a Southern accent says. Anyway, 45 minutes our parade of three boats that were now waiting paraded into the lock.  It was windy and our locking skills a bit rusty so catching the bollard wasn't pretty nor efficiently or calmly accomplished in front of our audience but we did get it done. We spoke with the other boats on the radio and we all now shared the same concern.  Can we make it to Bashi creek to anchor before nightfall?  Now behind we decided to run 10 knots rather than our usual 8.  At 2:30 we were approaching Barrons Landing, a large indentation in the river that is used as an anchorage. It is set back enough to keep 2-3 boats out of harms way when the tows come by. We chose to anchor here rather than risk arriving at Bashi at dusk and finding it full of boats that had left before us.  Anchoring went somewhat smoothly. Soon after we anchored a tow passed, their wake rocked us but we did not move, which meant our anchors were set which is definately a good thing. We settled in and did a little fishing off the bow.  About an hour later another boat joined us. a beautiful coaster cruiser named Irony.  Now you may remember we have a dog with us. What does she do when we anchor and can't get her to shore?  Tom bought a large piece of sod, cut it in two and put each piece on a plastic tub cover. Thank goodness, she chooses to use them!!

The first of my catch up posts - A night on the Demopolis Fuel Dock

We returned to Demopolis Yacht Basin on November 5th following our little shake down cruise on the Black Warrior.  We tied up at the gas dock, as it is easier to get going in the morning once the lockmaster gives us the Ok to come through.  We still had a few minor items to take care before we could relax for the evening, that is if you call two frozen heads minor!  I guess you could say Tom was up to his eye balls in *#%&* or another way to put it; he was full of it.  Anyway, can't really anchor out without a potty so it had to be done.  We also came back from our shake down cruise minus one fishing pole.  The only bait we had was corn, a can of oysters I found in the cabinet, and stinky cheese bait, but something liked it because the loosely secured pole is now following some fish along the bottom of the river.  How many fish did we catch you ask?  That would be nadda, nothing, zero, but that means we don't have to clean any either! Tom successfully repaired one of the heads so off to theWall we went to visit with everyone one last time before leaving Demopolis. An evening of mixed emotions, excited about our new adventure, sad to leave good friends we made. 

Mobile Alabama at last!

At 3:30 p.m. yesterday we pulled into our assigned slip at Eastern Shores Marina on Mobile Bay. It was hard to believe that we were really here. Peanut was also very excited to see land as she had not been off the boat for four days.  After securing lines and hooking up the electric we walked out onto the little beach area and shared a toast as the sun set over the Bay. Later we visited with several other boaters who had arrived just before us. One of the gals said " I still can't believe our little boat came across that big Bay", we all quietly looked across the Bay and nodded.  Today we rode our bikes into the town of FairHope about 3 miles from the Marina.  It is definitely a don't miss place to visit if you get down this way. I loved their shops and Tom the raw oysters. I guess it was a good thing we were on bikes, as I had to limit my purchases which pleased Tom. As much as I enjoyed anchoring out, I must admit it is much easier sleeping when your tied to a dock!  Now that I have internet service again I will spend the next few days filling in the gaps in my posts from Demopolis to Mobile. 

At peace with the world-communing with nature

We left our slip at the Demopolis Yacht Basin Friday morning for the first time in in over a year. We were on a 24 hour shake down cruise down the Black Warrior River. The day started out overcast and cool but we didn't care, we were on the water and on the move.  About noon the sun started to peek through the clouds, soon we were enjoying mother natures fall colors at every turn in the river.  We arrived at our anchorage about 3pm.  The only boat there, we found ourselves surrounded only by the sights and sounds of nature; fish jumping, bald eagles flying overhead, a Blue Herin hunting for dinner, the rustling of the tree tops from a slight breeze and the beautiful reflections in the glass like water surrounding Laughter. The night sky was filled with stars. We lay on the bow watching the stars, enjoying  beauty and the silence of our surroundings.  An owl called out in the distance and Mark answered his call. Remarkably Mr. Owl answered and for the next 10 minutes they exchanged a conversation that neither probably understood. Our conversation was sparse as we enjoyed the amazing night sky and quiet surroundings. We felt at peace with ourselves and the world, no worries, no cares, at least for a little while.   We woke up this morning to fog.  I remembered reading about the fog in our area. It is said that the whispy funnels of fog that pass over the water are the spirits of the Indians that once lived here. I found myself smiling as I watched those whispy funnels flow across the river. Once the fog lifted we were on our way back to Demopolis to drop Mark off and spend one more afternoon on the wall before heading South.

On the Move...again

We are back and blogging again after a year!!

One of my daughters brought home a sentence completion worksheet while in elementary school. One of the sentences started with, My mom is.... her answer was, "always going". I have to admit, that wasn't the warm and fuzzy answer I would have hoped for but it was her honest perception of me. Unfortunately sometimes the "always going" seems to be equivalent to a treadmill that is set on high. If you don't keep up, you will find yourself on the flat of your back on the floor. Now that I have retired, my hope is that I can be a little more selective about the pace of my treadmill and that the "always going" will be years of adventures to come with family and friends. It is more than a year since I have stepped foot on Laughter and I am looking forward to being "on the move again" The photo below is of the inside of our van as we moved down to the boat on Oct. 10th. Peanut was on top of a new dingy and two inflatable kayaks. She liked being able to see out the window between Tom and I! No, we couldn't see out the back windows, nor could we open the back or side doors when we stopped for fear of loosing something!