Day Three....A Peaceful Day!

beckygarrison66
Nov 16, 2020
4 min read

11/16/20

We knew we needed to get an early start this morning because we were scheduled to travel 97 miles. I know that doesn’t sound very far, but on water…it can be 5 to 20 hours, depending on how fast you go (and how much fuel you want to burn!) We were up by 5:00 am and started our day. After breakfast, we pulled out of the docks at 6:10 am. The other boaters were traveling south and were all waiting for a barge to lock through before they left. We had one boat tied up to us, so they had to move to let us out. All the others helped us untie and push off. The boating community is a great group of people. I wish we had more time to get acquainted with these people (most are “Loopers” who are doing the Great Loop) but this is not a vacation. We are very anxious to get back to our kiddos and we have a lot of work to do on this boat. We are passing quite a few boats (Loopers) who are all headed south for the winter. Everyone tells us we are going the wrong way….but they don’t know what (or who) awaits us in Tennessee!!

It was very cold this morning so we started out driving from inside (pilot house) and even had our heater going. By 9:30, I was ready for a nap. I am NOT kidding! (I did take a little power nap) This traveling by boat is hard work! Actually, getting up at 4:00-5:00 am is hard for me. It is now 9:15 pm and we are both ready for bed! LOL. We had to pick up the speed a bit today to make it to our destination (Demopolis AL) before dark. We didn’t start passing the barges until later in the day. We also had one lock we had to go through. All in all, it was a peaceful ride today. We had beautiful weather (although it was chilly) and no boating issues.  We went to the top (Bridge) and drove for the last part of the day. Our boat came with a Keurig machine, so I made us some hot chocolate to drink. We had to wait about an hour for a barge to lock through at Demopolis Lock and Dam and then we were able to go through. It was perfect! James pulled right up to the wall, I hooked the pin, he tied us off and up we went! The marina where we are staying tonight is only 3 miles from the Locks, so we made it just before dark. We are at Kingfisher Bay Marina. It is a very nice marina. Anna Maria is the harbormaster (I suppose) and she took great care of us! We called her earlier and she told us to check in after we locked through the Dam. She gave us great directions for where to go and she was at the dock ready to grab our lines and tie us up. I borrowed the courtesy van and went to Walmart to pick up a few supplies and groceries. On the way back to the marina, I grabbed some KFC because it was too late to cook. Tonight, I am precooking (chicken and ground beef) some meals in the instant pot for the next few days. Everything is about planning on these long trips. I am not sure if we will be staying at any other marinas and I won’t have the opportunity to go to the store later. And we have to take advantage of electricity when we have it. We have the generator on the boat, but it can’t handle the load of all that cooking, laundry, etc. We had planned to do some work on the boat in the evenings, but by the time we get docked or anchored and settled in, we are dead to the world lol! I can barely keep my eyes open as I am typing this blog lol. We had planned to soak in the hot tub tonight, but we were too tired! LOL Can you believe that? My sweet hubby has already retired for the night. But it is 10:00 pm here and 5:00 comes early!

But the experience is awesome! I mean Wow! And we are so very blessed to be able to do this. As I was driving in this little town this evening, I was thinking about how adventurous this all is and how we really don’t know where we will be tomorrow, even though we have a schedule, we still have to be spontaneous and adapt to whatever comes our way. And right now, our world is in a craziness all of its own. It is kind of scary being this far from home with the uncertainty of our leadership in the US and with the Covid-19 craziness. The hardest part of today was being without cell signal for so long. Brianna texted us and told us that Madelyn got sick at school and it was late before we were able to Face-Time with her. I am thankful that I can see and talk to my babies while we are away….but Oh how I miss them!!

So, the plan for tomorrow is to go about 70-80 miles and find anchorage for the night. Our friends David and Kathy (from our marina) are heading south and we are going to try to hook up with them tomorrow evening. We will have one lock to go through tomorrow as well. I am going to try to post some photos from today, but the internet is super slow here too, so not sure how many will upload.

Talk to ya’ll tomorrow and God Bless!!