Some say the best plans are no plans at all. Not for me. Plans often change and that is okay; but I always try to start with an end in mind. It’s all about responding, adapting and trying to enjoy the ride.
On Thursday, I received a phone call from my daughter-in-law that has temporarily modified Sleeping Bear’s planned move south. Son Ed was in the hospital. They found a carcinoid tumor in the bronchial tube leading to his left lung. Monday he was transported to University of Chicago where surgery was scheduled for Tuesday November 9. I was on a plane out of Pensacola to Chicago Midway airport at 6AM Monday morning. As a result of the news, the trip down the Tenn-Tom became a 3 consecutive long day delivery to Mobile. Let’s focus on that for now.
A few miles above Demopolis, the Tenn-Tom connects with the Black Warrior River. Moving south the Tenn-Tom starts to look more like a natural river; most of the earlier manmade appearance disappears as it meandered toward the Gulf of Mexico. Not until the last 50 miles was there an increase in industry along its banks; and still no housing to speak of. Demopolis Yacht Basin is at mile 213 of the Tenn-Tom. Fairhope, Alabama is on the east side of Mobile Bay 12 miles south east of the end of the Tenn-Tom. There are only a few recommended places to anchor and only one place to tie-up and get fuel along the last 213 miles of the Tenn-Tom. Safe passage on this leg, especially with November’s reduced day light, requires good planning and the ability to respond and adapt.
Friday November 5th, the revised goal was a stop at Bobbie’s fish camp, an agressive 97 miles and one lock and dam south of Demopolis. The original plan would have been to travel this over 2 days. Stuff happens. The morning drill at Demopolis had Dan, from the Hatteras, Quest as the communication point with the lock master of the Demopolis lock, 3 miles downriver. In all there were 12 boats heading for the lock that morning. All had agreed to leave as close to 7AM as possible. There were an additional 3 boats that had been turned away from Demopolis Yacht Basin the night before. There was simply no more space due to the number of boats traveling south after November 1st. These three boats had anchored overnight by the Coast Guard station, a mile from the lock. In all, 15 boats would be locking with 10 bollards or “pins” as the lock master referred to them. Boats would be required to raft. When the first three boats arrived, one of the captains appealed to the lock master to lock them thru ahead of the boats from the marina. Dan responded via VHF radio, letting the lock master know that several of the boats from the marina were already underway. The rest were moving as quickly and as orderly as possible. After that there was a banter that took place between the first captain and Dan before the lock master quickly and professionally took charge of the situation. The lock master not only announced that all would lock down together; he also announced the order in which each boat would leave the lock after opening the gates. There will be a few photos of the boats stacked up during this lock-down in the next round of pictures that are posted. The banter, while entertaining was a reminder that most of the people doing the trip have Type-A personalities. Cruising on the river for the most part is pretty laid back. The scramble to leave anchorages & marinas in the morning along with the positioning at the locks sometimes causes some to momentarily fall back to Type-A behaviors. After a couple of hours underway everyone becomes laidback again.
Bobbies Fish Camp is a 160 foot face dock with gas and diesel fuel pumps along the river. Like Hoppies on the Mississippi, there is no protective break wall. There is one 30 amp outlet and one garden hose if someone needs water. Bobbies has a restaurant that features catfish, but no other facilities for transient boaters. This was the second marinaside restaurant to boast that they had the "best catfish" on the river. We arrived as it was getting dark. We were the last of 6 boats that were rafted 2 deep along the short dock. It was a cold night. We had dinner with the people on 4 of the 5 boats on the raft.
Saturday morning there was fog on the river and frost on the deck. Coffeeville Lock and Dam are 2 miles south of Bobbies. As the fog was lifting the lock master readied the lock for the 6 of us. We made it to a lovely anchorage halfway between Bobbies and the marina in Fairhope by 5 PM.
There was fog and frost on the deck again Sunday morning. We heard a tow on the radio reported that it was 3 miles south of our anchorage. It was beginning to move upriver as the fog was thinning out. The tow was visible through the low lying fog about 30 minutes later. Sleeping Bear left the anchorage after the tow passed riding for the first 20 minutes through a gradually diminishing low lying fog. Commercial traffic increased during this final leg. While entering Mobile Bay, the familiar river tugs and barges were replaced by huge container ships. Sleeping Bear passed two incoming container ships before turning east for the final leg to Fairhope.
It is Tuesday morning. I spent last night in a chair next to my son’s hospital bed on the southeast side of Chicago. He was in good spirits, but understandably nervous. Because he was sharing a room with another gentleman, his wife was not permitted to stay with him overnight. My staying with him was technically against hospital rules as well. His roommate was okay with me staying and I could not bear the thought of his being alone.
Thankfully he slept better than I did. He is in surgery now. More later……….
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