Lower Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway

• Demopolis, Alabama...We pulled in, filled-up, pumped out and and got our slip assignment. Went to the slip, turned to stern, and started to back up and came to an abrupt stop. Oh Sugar, Honey, Ice, Tea, we hit something...Did we damage the props? We docked the boat in another slip and Mike went to the dock master to let him know something was wrong. Turns out that a house boat had just left that slip. It was there for the past two years. There was all kinds of stuff under it. Tree stumps, branches and logs. We took the boat for a ride to make sure we didn't have a vibration or any other problem. There didn't seem to be any, but we all know Lucky Eddie, next week the rudders will fall off.
• The rest of the weekend was uneventful. We took the bikes for a ride to church, did some walking and ate at the same restaurant 3 times.
• Next stop on the hook in Bashi Creek about 80 miles south of Demopolis. The entire creek is only about 12 feet wide, we had to use a bow and stern anchor (thanks to Walter K's parts store we have a second anchor) to keep us straight.
• Mike took Ruth and her dog Tango to the ramp for a walk. While at the ramp he met a family from Alabama; they were on a pontoon boat. Mike started a conversation with the young father. The guy had never met someone from N.Y. before...Mike thought he was going to touch him. Anyway the family had been fishing and offered Mike half of the fish. They didn't look like they could afford to give their dinner away. Mike explained that I would not cook the fish on the boat, it would stink for a week. We thought that was real southern hospitality.
• The man told us about the alligators in this area. He said when it got dark we should take our spotlight and shine it across the river and in the bows along the shore and we would see a pair of red eyes. Just when I thought I was safe from sharks, I have to worry about alligators. We got up at 3 in the morning, grabbed the search light and started checking along the shore. Remember this shore line is all trees and vines. We couldn't see anything, we heard fish jumping, water spilling down the side of the mountain, the call of the coyote, the buzz of the mosquito and felt the bite but no alligators. We looked up and saw more stars then you can imagine, but no alligators. Do you think that good ole boy was putting us on?
• There's a place along the river called Bobby's Fish Camp. It's early around 12 P.M. but we decided to stop for the night. Bobby has two floating docks about 100'. We called Bobby and he said " just pull up" and tie up. There's no electric or water. We waited but Bobby never came down to check on us. Remember we are in Alabama, (Mike keeps hearing banjos) we walked up a hill and at the top was a restaurant, this is one time I was glad it was not open on Mondays. There in the dark corner sat Bobby. He was chewing tobacco and spitting into a soda can. The place was really dirty. All I could think of was Bates Motel. Bobby didn't move from his seat. It was $1.00 a foot and if we used a charge card it was an extra 5%. A real character.
• As the day went on we became the dock master. Boaters would call, we could hear them on the radio. Again, Bobby would tell them to just pull in. When there was no more room and more boats were coming, he told us to work it out among ourselves. A 75', 65', 2-43', a 37' and us on a 100' dock. We started to raft off 3 deep. There were 2 "Bubba Boats" with guys in full camouflage carrying bows and arrows. We weren't sure if they were skin heads or survivalists and we didn't ask. One boat wanted fuel, Bobby said pump it yourself. It cost $900. and the owner had to bring the money up to Bobby. There were also trailors and cabins that you could rent. We kept looking for the candid camera, this just couldn't be real.
• Everyone became friends. That night we took a tour of the 75' boat. I can't begin to tell you, I'm living in a dingy.
• During the night we had wild animals crawling all over the boat. Dennis said he saw them looking in our hatch. We could hear them, the door was closed so we paid no attention.
• Everyone left at 6:30 A.M., in the dark. We all went through the last lock for this leg of the trip.
• I'll aways remember Bobby and not fondly.