Home in Ely

We left our anchorage at Briar Creek and wandered down the last 20 miles or so to Mobile and then Dog River Marina on the west side of Mobile Bay. There had beena cold front with north winds for the past 3 days and the wind blew the water out of Mobile Bay. It is shallow on good days, but when we got to the marina, we couldn't get into the slip, not enough water so they put us on a face dock for 2 days until the water came up and then moved to a more permnent location where the boat will sit until the end of January. Dog River Marina is  boat yard as well with lots of maintenance stuff going on. Huge buildings for housing boats while they are worked on. We arrived on Saturday and then did chores and got the boat ready to leave. We got an Uber and flew home on Wednesday morning early, flights went well and got to Duluth around 5:30 with Barry picking us up. We'll return the end of January after skiing, hockey and getting our grandkid titer up.

Resting at Dog River for a couple of months

View down the fairway at Dog River

Add captionMobile is a huge port. Lots of shipping

Mobile skyline at the harbor

Last campsite for a while at Briar Creek

Lower Alabama

We pulled over in Demopolis for a couple of nights, took their courtesy car and replenished the larder and bar and did some recon for the rest of the river trip south. Demopolis has a great briefing for the lower river that we attended, then left the following morning with 2 other boats, one of them a Krogen 58 that was at the rendezvoux in the Chesapeake with us last fall a year ago. They kept their boat in Demopolis through hurricane season and knew the riveer well. We left Demopolis in the dark nd locked through the Demopolis Lock just as it was getting light. Our timing was good, no delays and we put on a long day to get to Bobby's Fish Camp to tie up for the night. This is really the only place to stop on the river in this section. There aren't many creeks deep enough to pull up into and you have to get off the river to avoid the tows and barges. Bobby's is a cross between the Winton Liquor Store and dueling banjoes. We left the following morning again at dawn to get through the Coffeeville lock, the last one. Glad to have the locks done. When we left, it was pouring, 74 degrees and a dewpoint of 73. The cold front  came through within an hour, the temp dropped 25 degrees and we travelled in the mist the rest of the day. Came down river 45 miles or so and camped at a place called the Alabama River cut off. It was narrow, but plenty deep and well off the river, and were all alone which is the best. When we got up in the morning, there was ice on the anchor bowsprit and the temp was 34 at the closest reporting station. Yesterday proceeded on a short day to Big Briar Creek anchorage, again a mile or so off the river and it is really beautiful here. Quiet except for the occasional bass boat that flies by at 70 mph. Another trawler pulled in late afternoon. We spent the fternoon beginning to clean the boat up to leave nest week. The locks have taken a toll on the fenders and when they are mudded up, they get the boat dirty as well. Today we have a short 25-30 mile run to the Dog River Marina where we will leave the boat and fly hom on Wednesday.

Mist on the river in the early morning

Water over the Demopolis dam

Cliffs along the river

Coal being unloaded a a big power plant

Big Briar Creek last night

and this morning. 

Tombigbee into Alabama

We're continuing to progress and this phase is bgining to wind down. Today we will reach the half way point on the Tombigbee River, and pull over at Demopolis, Alabama for two nights in a marina. I ordered some parts, and need to go to the store there and get a few supplies for the last 10 days of the trip. Had some interesting weather day before yesterday. A cold fromt came through and just about blew us off the river. Winds hit 45 mph. We ducked into an absolutely beautiful, protected creek for the afternoon and stayed the night. The temp dropped and by sundown, it was flat. Yesterday made about 80 miles including 3 locks. It went well and parked in a slough on the backside of an island with 3 other boats last night. The rivers have not been what I had hoped. It has been difficult to access the history and towns. The past 3 weeks we have descended the Illinois, Mississippi, up the Ohio and Tennessee and now down the Tombigbee, and what is striking is the remotenes. There just isn't much habitation, and the towns are far enough off the river to make them inaccessable from the river. And the nations wireless infrastructure is certainly lacking. Our cell phone coverage and therefore internet access has been really limited. Still about 280 river miles from Mobile where we will leave the boat, but will chip 70 off of that today, and we don't need to be there until a week from Tuesday, so lots of time.

Muddy river but lots of southern pines on the banks

Looking down river

We've seen some strange things, but a phone booth on the shore of the river takes the cake. I think it is an indication of the marginal cell service

84 foot drop and the lock is opening at at Whitten 

Wood chips being loaded on barges

Mississippi - the State not the river

The past several days we have had some pretty amzing weather and great anchorages working our way up the Tennessee River,  through Kentucky Lake and Pickwick Lake. Yesterday at the end of the day, we turned the corner into the upper reaches of the Tombigbee system and anchored at a place called Zippy Cove. Quiet and serene. We've pretty much lost the other boats we were traveling with and are on our own, except last night another boat in our anchorage was a loop boat, from St. Ignace in the UP. Weather has moved in with rain for the next 36 hours, but it is flt, and traveling in the rain for us is not an issue. The sailboat guys don't like it though. Came through Pickwick Lock mid afternoon yesterday and past Counce, Tennessee where my brother used to live and keep his boat. Today we are in a series of canals, reservoirs and will hopefully transit sveral locks working our way through northern Mississippi.

Layered limestone banks

Lots of relief and bluffs

Quiet anchorage at Beach Creek Island, Tennessee

traveling in the ealry morning mist

Lots of beautiful homes above the flood levels

Other homes on stilts, built in the flood plain

Pickwick Lock up 55 feet

Pickwick Lake

A barge loaded with wood chips on Pickwick Lake

Pickwick Lake at the corner to the Tombigbee. The Bouy marked the corner

Grand Harbor Marina. Looks pretty fancy. We anchored in a quiet bay around the corner

This morning in the rain

Guys fishing in the mist yesterday

The Ohio then the Tennessee

Descending the Mississippi was not particularly pretty. The water was ugly, full of debris, whirlpools and flotsam. Dodging the crap in the water felt like Han Solo on the Millenium Falcon in an asteroid field, then you hit a whirlpool and your in a black hole. After Hoppies "Marina" of sorts we got close to the junction of the Ohio and stopped at a great creek off the Mississippi beneath a railroad bridge and it was delightful. Going down river, on an engine check, I saw the raw water pump was leaking so had to change that out at the end of the day. The next day we shot on down the river and turned the corner to start the ascent up the Ohio. I feared the current would be heavy against us but it was really minimal and what a delightful afternoon it was on the ride up to Paducah where we tied up to a city dock with 5 other boats, including our two buddy boats still with us. Found the Paducah Brew Werks and my new favorite beer, Zombie Dust, a real hoppy IPA. The next day began the ascent of the Tennessee River past the Kentucky Lock into Kentucky Lake. This area continues to be a major transportation hub for barges and tows. At the lock we waited 2 1/2 hours for a tow to go up and another to come down the lock before we could get through. We finished the day by crossing over to a marina on the Barkley Lake side of the reservoir, to Green Turtle Bay marina. The weather turned to crap with lots of thunder, lightning and rain so we holed up two nights there. It was a nice enough spot, but we both would rather anchor out. This fall trip has not been conducive to anchoring. There just haven't been a lot of anchorages, but that will change now going up the Tennessee and down the Tombigbee. We left Green Turtle yesterday and said goodbye to our buddie boats for now anyway and are now on our own. Had a nice anchorage alone last night and a pretty, misty morning departing today. Tomorrow we hope to lock through the Pickwick dam and enter the Tombigbee sysem. We also made plans for the end of the trip and will leave the boat in Mobile in two weeks, and fly home on November 6.

Misty departure this morning on the Tennessee

Mississippi flotsam

Railroad bridge anchorage off the Mississippi

Down river speed on the Missisppi

This tow was pushing 35 barges, 7 long and 5 wide

Tied up in Paducah

Frozen food section in Kentucky

Colors changing on the Tennessee

Looking down Kentucky Lake

On the Mississippi

Over the last 5 days we have descended the Illinois River and are well on our way down the MIssissippi. The rivers are in flood stage from all the fall rain. The Illinois ws full of barges and tows pushing them. It is also surprisingly void of population. I expected small river towns, but they were few and far between. Also, not much for cell service so minimal internet coming down that river. It's better now on the Mississippi. We have been traveling most of this distance with a couple of other boats, both sailboats, with their masts off. One of them is a catamaran with a group of three older guys , and the other is a couple several years younger than us, we have become good friends with. Coming down the Illinois, we tied off at free walls in Joliet and Havana, with a stay at SpringBrook marina in between, anchored out one night behind Buck Horn Island, rafted up with the other couple, and stayed at the Grafton Marina, then Hoppies lasat night. Hoppies was destroyed by floods and ice a year ago and is pretty third world. Cindy thought it was comparable to the apocolyptic community in the movie "Waterworld". It's at Kimmrick, Missouri, a nice little town full of craft shops. Today we are going to put on over 100 miles, and get close to the bottom of our stint on the Mississippi, start the slog up 50 miles of the Ohio River before the locks into the Kentucky Lkes and the Tennessee/Tombighbee waterway.

Traveling in the fog, leaving Grafton

Our buddy boat, Mon AmourMon Amour and Encore

Mon Amour and Encore, our other buddy boat

Passing St. Louis

The Arch, not as impressive as the Stutue of Liberty

Big tow of 12 barges. Each Barge carries the equivalent of 40 semi trailer trucks

Budwiser plant

The big tows are analagous to the huge semis with the cabin in back of the cab

Smaller tows are like a regular tractor/trailer rig

My speed on the Mississippi yesterday at 90% throttle. It's flat water speed would be 9.5 mph

Wine tasting at Grafton

Typical lower Illinois River

At Havana Illinois

Not sure of this "castle" but it looked cool

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Mon Amour in the lock

Down the Illinois