Clifton Marina
Sometimes you just get a surprise when you expect the least. We cruised 55 miles from Birdsong leaving at 7:00 am because we had a 1/2 hour of puckering at the helm to wind our way back out of the the creek to reach the river. We did so without an event, read that as we did not destroy our running gear. The day was forecast as a sunny warm day with brisk winds out of the south.
We reached our port of call at 2:30 pm which was this small marina with a very casual country style dockside restaurant. We happened to have the slip right next to the restaurant. The dockhand of the day was a big bellied country boy that I think was paid in beer at the bar for every boat he helped tie up. He was a hoot. Once secured I laced up my running shoes and headed for town on the bike.
Well it turns out there was not much in town. Not a bar, restaurant or significant shop. It was a pretty simple place. As I was riding around a guy who was taking care of a bank’s landscaping yelled, “hey is that bike comfortable to ride?” I said well yes. He then walked over to me and introduced himself as Shawn. He then proceeded to ask if he could take it for a ride.
I of course said, “hell no!” Just kidding. He jumped on and took it for a spin. We then stood in the middle of the road and he proceeded to tell me all about the town and how there was no jobs for the kids. He seemed quite industrious though. He told me about the couple of houses he owned. Before it was all over he said, “well if you are here on a boat you must need a car.” He went on to say he had a whole driveway full of cars and we were welcome to use one of them. Again the total kindness of strangers.
I kindly declined and headed back to the boat with the news from the other Looper boat, that the restaurant at the marina was the only game in town. Well it was Friday so a few extra beers would make anything taste better. The restaurant readily accommodated the group of 8 and we settled in for the evening. Well as I opened this blog about surprises dinner was just that. We had Gator bites, quail bites and yes fried bologna with BBQ sauce as appetizers. All excellent. Same for dinner. Then a local band hit the small stage and played some good music. The captains also had a discussion about the report that the dams were possibly going to release water to help out the shallow conditions in the Mississippi lowering the pool about 3’. If they did that most of us would be trapped in the marina with no way out.
Pickwick Lake
Morning came and we surveyed the shore waterline. Good news the level had not changed overnight and by days end we would all be in the reservoir where the water level cannot be lowered. We had another long day ahead of us with 58 miles and one lock towards the end of our cruise. So we pulled out of the marina and headed up river. The one notable thing about the miles we covered was the many hundreds of RVs that were parked on the upper banks.
They were all on a slab with a roof structure over top of them. I mean to tell you there was hundreds of them for well over a hundred miles. I guess it makes sense in that if the river crests the bank you can move your RV to higher ground. Well we made the lock and only had a brief wait. By 5 pm we were within a mile of our intended anchorage when over the radio we were hailed by name. “Hey Next Chapter, you need to come over to this anchorage you won’t be disappointed.”
Well what the heck lets throw caution to the wind. We did a quick “Crazy Ivan” and went over to check it out. Well there was this very narrow entrance to a tiny cove with none other than a water falls on the back wall. So we tiptoed in and made a quick pivot. We approached the far side of the cove and dropped the hook. We then proceeded to back up to the opposite shore where the folks who invited us over were there to help tie a line from our stern to a tree.
The boat we were traveling with then came over and rafted to us. No doubt one of the prettiest anchorages on the Loop. We then joined the others on the stone beach for a shore fire, s’mores and a couple of adult beverages. One of the shore crew was none other than Kim Russo who owns America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association. She is also currently doing her first loop. The shore crew was there by pontoon boat and had to beat dark before they got back to their marina. The crew from Pilar and us enjoyed a shared dinner aboard Next Chapter. We all were serenaded to sleep by the sound of the waterfalls. Early in the morning we listened to a pack of coyotes howling in the woods.
View from top of the falls
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