Float my Boat: Unlooping - Days 26

Time to say goodbye to Lulu's

It's been a few days since we had any wifi available. Besides not being able to work on the blog, I can't update charts and often not even weather reports can be checked. It actually began right after we left Lulu's and entered the Mobile Bay. That day was very nice and the bay was relatively smooth. There were lots of commercial fishing boats in the water, several large freighters and even a two dredges. A fuel stop was required at Dog River Marina because it's 119 miles up river before any more is available. Going through the shipping channel at the top of the bay is always amazing. There are all kinds of ships and there are a bunch of photos of them in the "track" link. As we past the Mobile Convention Center, it was mile 0 of the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway as well as the official entry of the Inland Waterway System. Today we will continue on up river another 64 miles to an anchorage called Three Rivers. The entry off the waterway is a narrow, tree lined, channel which opens into a lake that provides a very protected, quiet spot to anchor. It was a long day, but we are almost back into fresh water. Today's track and pics - https://www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/1632617/

House available - Mobile Bay

Dog River fuel dock and office

Check out the birfs behind this fishing boat!!

The little "channel" on the left is the way back to the Tenn-Tom from Three Rivers

Day 27 took us on upriver to our first lock at Coffeeville. I called them long before we were too arrive to check their status and they said everything was good and come on up. Maybe this was a sign of things to come, because when we arrived, they were suddenly doing maintenance. Our conversation went back and forth as to when we were going to be able pass. I guess we got lucky and they paused some operation for us to be able to lock up with only a slight delay. Right after the lock is Bobby's Fish Camp which is our fuel stop. I tried calling on the VHF and got no reply so I switched to the cell phone. Apparently, since this wasn't a "cooking day" no one actually stays at the location. After about 10 minutes of wandering what was going on, Bubba pulled up on his green tractor and turned on the pump for us. We added enough fuel to get us to Demopolis where we would stop for the night. It's 95 miles from Bobby's to the lock at Demopolis and I pushed up our speed to cover the distance as quickly as possible. As always, I talked to the lock to let them know we were on the way and to find out about any anticipated delay. They told me it should be fine, but there was one tow setting up all afternoon to come down with barges and they didn't expect him soon. Of course, as I got there, he was ready to come down and I was told we would have to wait. The marina was expecting us so I had to notify them that we would be delayed when suddenly the lockmaster called and said we could come on ahead of the tow! Today's track and pics - https://www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/1633964/

Heading out from Three Rivers

Sitting at Bobby's

We left Demopolis about 7:30 to go 4 hours to Heflin Lock. I called ahead of time to do the usual check and learned that unscheduled maintenance was underway. They told us to keep coming and we would see how things worked out. I got there and was told to wait. After 45 minutes of waiting with no updates, I called again and was told to "hold on" they would inquire again about status. Another 15 minutes go by until I get the call to come on in and they would locked up. After Heflin lock, we must travel another 40 miles to Tom Bevill Lock. They were ready and waiting for us so we went straight in and locked up quickly. This is a three lock day, so next comes Stennis Lock which is also right before our marina stop. Stennis was also ready and waiting which was really nice after another long day. We went into Columbus, MS for dinner tonight at Husker's. Allen anf I both got catfish with white beans and They told us to keep andouille sausage - so good!! Today's track and pics - https://www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/1634772/