Nowhere Alabama

 Bobbys Fish Camp

On Saturday morning we had planned to make a 60 mile run down the Tombigbee to an anchorage however Mother Nature had a different plan. When we reviewed the weather in the morning there was a pretty ominous line of storms, meaning lots of red on the radar, marching directly east. It was looking that we would run onto them sometime after 11 am. And that’s just what happened. The good news was there was a place to pull off and tie up called Bobby’s Fish Camp. It used to be one of these iconic Looper places but has since fallen into further decay with the restaurant being closed and no other real facilities. The place is truly a fish and hunting camp located in the middle of nowhere. In fact we spoke to a fellow with his grandson as they were headed out to try to bag a wild boar. Well when we arrived we realized we were not the only Loopers that had the same idea. The dock generally has room for about 4 boats and even that is a stretch. Well by time we tied up the dock was three deep and there was 12 boats.

The rain had set in but fortunately on significant wind or lightning. The rain let up later in the afternoon but it was still pretty gloomy. Docktails were on Knot Dreaming which was the boat we were rafted to. Sue had a planned dinner aboard that we shared with the crew from Tomijean. The owner of Bobbys offered to open the shuttered restaurant for us to watch Alabama play football. He even bought everybody a couple of beers! 

The next morning the fog set in even though it was forecast to be sunny later.

This is when we met the first Looper we did not care for aboard Only Fools Rush In. The Looper rumor mill was lit up from previous stories about this crew and them not playing on the Loop. You will see in a minute why their boat name is so appropriate. Well they insisted in leaving very early in the fog. They were dockside so two other boats had to break away to let them out.

The crazy part is the final lock at Coffeeville was only 2 miles down river. Remember locks don’t like to lock one or two boats every half hour. Well those that were waiting out the fog organized to hopefully send them a bit of a message. When they got to the lock and we heard them communicate, one by one of the rest of us radioed the lock and let them know that we were going to lock thru also.

That meant the Only Fools Rush In waited for over an hour for the rest of us to get to the lock and get tied up. How bout them red apples! Well as predicted the sun came out and we had a nice cruise to our intended anchorage at Alabama Cutoff. It also meant passing thru the last lock which brought us over 200 locks since starting the Loop.

In addition we would now be entering tidal waters and in the land of alligators. We began to see the flora and fauna change to a more southern scrub with Palmetto, Swamp Oak and Spanish moss covered Cypress trees. And yes we spotted our first alligator sunning on the bank. Four of us pulled into the anchorage and settled in for the night. Sue and I launched the dinghy and rode up the cut on an alligator hunt.

We cruised a couple of miles up this cut but no luck until right when we got back to the boat Sue spotted a small gator up on the shore. He would serve as our watch dog for the night. Docktails were aboard Next Chapter and a communal meal aboard Tomijean. Some were excited as we would be leaving the river system the next day by entering Mobile Bay. 

Just a baby gator. I was trying to convince the captain from Knot Dreaming, and also a Canadian, that catching one of these guys was a right of passage to cruise the Alabama water. I would be happy to coach him through the process. You can imagine the funny commentary that followed. 

 In all seriousness if any any of you have seen Swamp People we saw a number of gator sets where there was a flag in the tree along the waters edge. 

Trying to get back to the boat before dark

                                                            Alabama Cut Anchorage

Docktails aboard Next Chapter

City of the People

 Demopolis

On Wednesday November 2nd we rolled out of our great anchorage at Crooks Bend South and headed 58 miles plus one lock to Kingfisher Marina in Dempolis, MS. On the way we passed the White Cliffs of Epps. Don’t know if they were granite but they were pretty white. Demopolis translates to City of the People and was established in 1817. The city was where many of the wealthy planters, read plantation owners hung out when they were not on the plantation or the growing and harvesting season was over.

So there is a number of stately Antebellum homes right on the river that they used as their “town homes.” We were able to tour two of them. One was actually not very typical of the time in that it was very open and airy with high ceilings and rooms that opened into one another. It was not terribly ornate but very nice in that I could easily see someone today living in it. One thing that stood out was what looked liked quarter sawn trim work.

As many of you know that is my favorite word to work with. Well there was something that bugged me about it and I could not put my finger on it. Then in one section I saw so white under it. Well it turns out it was not real wood but faux finish over plaster. It looked really good and was considered a luxury way of doing trim. We took a spin thru town which was a bit disappointing in that most of the store fronts were shuttered.

It had all the right ingredients for a renaissance but no signs of such. On Thursday 8 loopers jumped in the marina shuttle bus and headed of to the only good restaurant in town called Red Barn. Well barn it was. It was pretty rustic but in a good way. So seeing they had chicken gizzards as an appetizer I decided to take a flyer. Guess what? They were just like usual, chewy and chickeny. Most at the table liked them.

The highlight was our 23 yo waitress Bailey. She was a firecracker. When someone would order a beer or drink she did not approve of she would say, “Gross.” It was quite funny. Anyhow four of us ended up staying to hear a county singer playing at the upstairs bar and Bailey ended up being our Uber driver back to the marina. She had us laughing all the way.

We stayed two nights in Demopolis and left Friday morning for a planned anchorage. This stretch of the river is very remote and had many anchoring opportunities. We ended up in a deep bend directly on the river just above Bashi Creek where a number of other Loopers had pulled into for the night. We rafted up with Tomijean and enjoyed dinner together and a beautiful sunset.

We also experienced a couple of tows moving down river in complete darkness. They use these incredibly bright spotlights to light up the banks as they make their way. It is really neat looking and somewhat creepy. We heard owls hooting in the woods alone with wild boar rutting and foraging for food. It was a very peaceful nights sleep. 

Just another lock

Beautiful interior finishes. 

Example of the Faux graining

Nice open rooms. The docent gave us a special treat, She played the music box they had on display. It is supposedly a very rare example. It is in the pic on the left side. 

How’s this for a kitchen?

White cliffs

Nice river cabin

Not the guy who discovered America

 Columbus, MS

Columbus marina was only 16 miles from our anchorage at McKinley Creek but they did not open until noon so we had a nice leisurely morning at anchor. We had a two day planned stop here. The marina is a well loved stop by Loopers. It overlooks a large bay that is full of white pelicans. Now white pelicans are not all white. The ends of their wings are black but you only see that when they are in flight.

This area is one of their major breeding grounds. Columbus is a mid sized town with a small downtown area where there seemed to be as many opened business as there were closed. The renaissance bug has not hit this area yet. We did manage to find a brochure that self guided us on a walking tour of some great examples of Antebellum homes. Now I had to look up that word myself.

Antebellum means before the civil war. These homes were built by local wealthy planters and businessmen. Unfortunately the one mansion, the Waverly was not open while we were there. Sunday afternoon a local country boy invited me aboard his house boat for a beer. Turns out he is a tow captain and runs the local river. It was great to get his perspective of life on the river.

Well one beer wasn’t gonna be enough. He said, “Hey you like bourbon” I said, “well no I’m just a beer drinker.” He quickly replied, “ I got this great bottle of bourban that I’m just itchin to open, so I will teach you to like it.” Oh god, what do I do now? So I didn’t want to be rude so I took a small pour of it. Crazy enough it wasn’t too bad. I then called in my secret weapon, Sue. I knew she would drink it for me. Well he was not having that.

He said she was entitled to her own drink. Rats! Anyhow it was fun talking with him and his buddy who was a deckhand on a different river boat. 

The first half of Monday was pretty much boat chores. Next Chapter got a thorough bath that included removing the river mustache on her bow. All cleaned up she looked good.

Sue and I then jumped on the bikes and took a long ride. Not the prettiest one we have done but we got some exercise in anyhow. We joined two other Looper couples and crammed into the loaner car and went to dinner at a nice place in town called Harveys. For a Monday night we were all surprised how busy it was. Bedtime was fairly early as we had a pretty big cruised planned for Tuesday. 

In the morning when we headed out it was pretty crisp. There was a little residual fog hanging around the marina. Our plan was for a 58 mile day that included two locks. Basically we would be on the water all day to reach our anchorage at Lower Crooks South anchorage. Well the first lock went very smooth as it was right close to the marina.

Usually somebody organizes everybody else as to when we go thru as the locks don’t like to lock thru one or two boats at a time. We exited the chamber and headed down the river. As we turned a corner there it was, the dreaded river fog. There’s nothing like being on a narrow twisty river playing chicken with the tows in a fog bank to give your adrenal glands a good squeeze. Fortunately we had a little bit of visibility and came out of it after a couple of miles.

I also learned that an oxbow is a tight bend in a river. Many of these cutoffs and creeks were created by canals that cut the oxbows out as they created the Tombigbee. Our second lock things did not go as smoothly. When we arrived we had a short wait for a tow to exit and then we got the green light to enter the chamber. Once in we found out the lock wanted to wait on two other boats that were up river a couple miles.

Well an hour later the boats arrived we got locked down. We finally arrived at our anchorage so Tomijean and Next Chapter dropped the hook and rafted together. Another boat, Knot Dreaming joined us in the anchorage. We were situated right off a small bayous that was quite scenic.

Tomijean hosted docktails so I offered to launch the dinghy and Uberdink the crew from Knot Dreaming to the happy hour. Somehow the energy that night was infectious and we all had a lot of fun. So much so we really forgot about dinner. Safe to say nobody had trouble falling asleep that night. 

The Famous Ten Tom

 Fulton

So on Thursday morning October 27th we headed out of the anchorage on a sunny but chilly morning for a short 22 mile cruise to Midway Marina located in Fulton, MS. Tenn-Tom is short for Tennessee Tombigbee river that was man made in the early 20th century and runs for about 230 miles.

The waterway was created by connecting ten lakes with canals and 10 locks to join the Tennessee and Black Warrior river allowing a shorter inland waterway to the Gulf of Mexico. Anyhow the marina has a beautiful view of the river and has a wonderful restaurant on site. Good thing as the restaurant options in town were pretty limited. Speaking of town,

Fulton is one of those places where life is pretty simple. Everybody knows everybody. You can tell by the many understated churches in town that the locals still center their lives around the Christian faith. It was refreshing to see that in contrast to the many metropolitan areas we have been were just the opposite with churches being sold off and repurposed.

Fulton is the type of place where drinking on a Saturday night is looked down upon and whispered about in the pews Sunday morning. Even the court house has “In God We Trust” in big letters above the doors. I have said it before and need to restate, Americas fabric is still alive and well. Maybe a bit under represented but still present just the same.

So the town Square was but a few blocks with the buildings from the 40’s and 50’s I would guess. Back at the marina we were reunited with our friends from the UK and joined them for dinner with another couple also doing the Loop. 

On Friday we hitched a ride from some folks returning a rental car to Tupelo, MS and spent the day exploring the town with them. Our first stop was to tour the birthplace of the “King” Elvis Presley.

They had a small but nice museum, the church he attended and sang at as a child and the actual house he was born in. The house style was called a shot gun home. Only had two rooms, a kitchen and a bedroom. As many of you know Elvis came from a very poor family.

Boy how that changed. The museum was great in that it highlighted the elements in Elvises life that influenced both his musical and clothing style. After the museum we walked the town and had lunch in a local restaurant. We returned to the marina and shortly there after the dock shenanigans began. The marina was kind enough to set up a little bonfire for all to enjoy. 

On Saturday morning we headed off for McKinley Creek anchorage 43 miles down river but included a couple of locks. The good news is that we are nearing the end of the locks. We arrived at the point where the creek cut off the river. Well the entrance was pretty narrow and tree lined tight on both sides. Well we stuck the nose of Next Chapter into the creek and began easing our way in.

It was another one of those boating moments where Sue thought it best that she just cover her eyes. Well all went well and we ended up about a half a mile up the creek. Once we settled I launched the dinghy and explored the back waters to see what I could see. I noticed the the flora and fauna was definitely changing to that of a warmer climate with a few palmettos and Spanish moss hanging from the trees. At happy hour aboard Sue and I listened to a owl hooting in the woods. Fortunately we did not hear any banjo music!

   This was a staircase at a cool antique warehouse in Tupelo called Relics. They had some really interesting items including an embalming table. 

Nite time on the docks

                           Note the words above the entrance