The Long and Winding River

Day 187 |  Demopolis to Silas  |  10.5 Hours  |  85 Miles  

The alarm rang at 5:00 and I reluctantly got up and ready for a possible 6:00 departure. Our designated leader called the Demopolis Lock at 5:45 expecting a "come on in" response. Instead, he found out that a tow had beaten us into the chamber and we'd have to wait about an hour. I laid back down and caught a few more minutes of sleep. The next time I awoke to an orange sky and felt better about getting underway when we could see. Seven boats filed into the lock and Crossroads was in the back next to the gate. When the water level dropped, we had a close-up view of the water leaking in over the sill. Leaving the lock, we passed the Demopolis water towers -- old and new, sitting side-by-side.

The scenery was much of the same that we've seen for several days. We had another stretch of white cliffs. We saw several small waterfalls along the way and more brightly colored foliage. It seemed that we saw more channel markers on the shore than at their anticipated location in the water. Recent high water levels have forced the buoys out of position. Our journey down the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway today was full of switchbacks and curves and we traveled at all 360 degrees of the compass. By comparison, we could have driven point to point in a mere 76 miles. For a while we were even heading north and noticed that Granny's compass was still dialed in, accurate, and directing our way. I wish our modern day equipment was as reliable. Cell service along this stretch was almost nonexistent. Lack of internet did keep me from finding out that Virginia football lost to Virginia Tech ... again. Will I live long enough to ever see another Cavalier victory? Fifteen losses in a row and a 9-23 record of futility since I left Grounds. Ugghh.

I did see two eagles and managed to get shots of both. Thanks to heavy cloud cover, today was much colder than yesterday. We sure missed the sunshine heating up the pilothouse. Twice we turned on the generator and ran the heat for a few minutes to knock down the chill. We pulled up to the dock at Bobby's Fish Camp just as the sky was dimming for the day. We rafted up to Miss Utah, joined them for cocktails and then went over to the namesake restaurant for dinner. The boys had the house-specialty catfish and the girls had shrimp.  

The captains reviewed our travel plans for tomorrow and we retired to Crossroads just before Boater's Midnight. We'll have another long day tomorrow, but have identified a few destination anchorages depending on how much progress we make. First up in the morning will be our final lock of the river system: Coffeeville (aka Choctaw). Rain is falling now, but it will be gone by the time we get moving. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's forecasted sunny and 65 degrees.