Friday September 30: Taking Advantage of the Shade

After we tried spending a leisure morning in Birmingham (housekeeping knocked 3 times apparently to see if we were up yet - which neither of us were - until I stumbled to the door and probably not very nicely indicated that we were still sleeping) we just gave up and got up.

Yes, I know - we should have put the do not disturb sign up ....

Regardless, we found a Waffle House for breakfast. Bonus - there was a nice grocery store for Steve and a place for me to get a haircut.

Arrived back to the boat by early afternoon.

After unpacking, returning the rental car and stopping at the hardware yet again for the bolts we needed to finish the flybridge, we declared it a day.

Early start Wednesday morning to complete attaching the pontoon furniture but again needed to go the hardware store yet again! No problem though as we combined the trip with a lunch stop at Kora's for the BEST catfish sandwich we have found anywhere - and this from a person who usually doesn't like catfish!

Sanding the railing.

Anyway the flybridge is finished!! And we gained a bit of space as well ... not sure what we'll use it for.

Thursday it was time to tackle the rest of the teak Steve wanted to refinish while we could take advantage of being in a covered slip.

Sanding of piece of the hatband.

He started by sanding the remaining 1/4 of the walkaround railing.

Next was to remove the "hatband" which is the teak trim around the bottom of the flybridge A zillion screws but way easier and faster than sanding and painting while on the boat.

Hatband is off!

Once off of the boat, these  curved pieces become much more manageable.

Today it was time to continue painting - the third coat on half of the railing, second coat on 1/4 of the railing, first coat on the other 1/4.

Plus the first coat on the hatband pieces.

Note: Steve did all of the sanding but he had some help with the painting .....

The Plan: over the next 2 - 3 days finish everything else  we want done and then continue traveling the 217 miles to Mobile on the Gulf of Mexico. We'll be anchoring out the four days on the way there with likely no internet :-(

Tuesday September 27: Back to Demopolis

Steve, Matt, Wendy, me, Becky!

Ever go someplace, spend some time there, return 'home' and feel like you never left?

That's how the trip to San Diego felt. We returned to the boat today having spent the night in Birmingham because our flight, after a couple of delays, didn't arrive until 11 pm - didn't think the 2 hour drive back to Demopolis would be much fun ...

We picked up Matt and Wendy at the airport on Thursday late afternoon - they were coming from Washington DC. Becky drove down from LA Saturday morning and the party was on :-)

We were gathered to cheer Matt on in the Ironman 70.3 Superfrog race.

First event: the 1.2 mile swim. Because it was a double lap he had to enter the water twice in a crazy surf and current.

Swimmers were quickly being swept north with the current but Matt did very well figuring out how to gauge the surf and the current.

Next was the 56 mile bike portion of the race. Again Matt did very well!

The best part of this race course was it was very easy for the support group (that was Wendy, Becky, Steve and me!) to follow and cheer Matt on as he passed our 'cheering stations' on the bike and run. Plus the transition area (area where the athletes changed from swimming to biking to running) was very close.

Last leg of the race was the 13.1 mile run - a good part of it was on sand to boot.

Overall start to finish: total time to travel the 70.3 miles? An amazing 4 hours 31 minutes and 59 seconds!! Good for 4th place in his age group and for qualification for the 2017 Ironman 70.3 World Championship!!!

He was also within one place of qualifying for the 2017 World Ironman Championship in Kona, Hawaii - maybe next year :-)

Nice job, Matt!!!




Also credit to Matt for finding our Airbnb housing for the five days we were there. It was literally a five minute walk to the Ironman activities and a two minute walk to the beach where we had the chance to see the green flash each night.

Becky and I were waiting but sadly no flash that night .... maybe tomorrow.






Meanwhile there were bike issues being taken care of - new carbon fiber wheel for Becky's bike and Matt was great in bringing his bike tools to install the tubes and tires on the new wheels.


Which of course needed to be tried out, right?

Super new wheels :-)

Start of Wendy's tattoo

Wendy's finished :-)

Entertainment Saturday night was the application of the Henna tattoos - a Christmas gift from December.

Of course once this was started Becky and I joined in!

Becky's

Both Becky's and mine were hand drawn by Wendy.

My 'knee' tattoo!

The rest of the weekend was spent just hanging out and enjoying being together.

And a lobster dinner is almost always on the agenda when we get together with Becky and this was no exception!

There is a great Asian market that we frequent whenever we are out this direction - super fun place to go!

This gathering was also a chance to celebrate birthdays for Becky (July), Wendy (August) and me (September). Good job goes to Becky for the idea and getting ice cream and for Steve making brownies :-)

Thursday September 22: San Diego!!

Sunday morning we headed off to Tuscaloosa for breakfast at a Waffle House and then found the Home Depot we needed.

Seems the new flybridge furniture was not designed to be free-standing. Who knew?! Didn't say that on the web-site and the old stuff didn't need to be supported by anything so we thought about how we were going to do that since the L shape was definitely not going to be supported along one of the sides.

After throwing out several ideas, we decided using 3/4 inch plywood inside and outside would do the trick.

Fortunately Home Depot will cut an 8 x 4 sheet of plywood into whatever pieces we needed! Especially good since the rental car ($35 for Friday - Monday - can't beat the price :-)) could no way haul a full sheet of plywood but easily held the cut pieces.


First paint the plywood with a sealer to keep the water out then cover it with vinyl to give it a finished look.

Steve works on the inside with the small 14" x 9" pieces of plywood that are being bolted to the large piece on the outside as I line up the bolt holes from the outside.

End result is a nice support for the back of the L shaped furniture.


The table needed to be relocated so those holes are drilled. To keep water from getting to the wood that is in the floor, we filled the holes with Git-Rot.

It's great stuff that is essentially a two part epoxy that cures slowly so it can be absorbed by the wood - thus sealing the wood off should any water get past the caulking we'll use for the screws.

I expect this furniture to last another 10 years!!

This project will be put on hold until we return from our trip to San Diego!

Off to Birmingham to the airport. It's a 2 hour drive so we went up on Tuesday for our Wednesday morning flight and relaxed a bit at the airport. Better early than late, right?


There was the neatest wall of growing plants at the airport. Never saw anything like it before. It was stone with built in vase like holders for the plants. Not sure how all of the plants get their water though. Fun design!

We were headed to San Diego to be a part of the cheering team for Matt as he was going to compete in the Ironman 70.3 Superfrog race on Sunday. Becky would drive down from LA to join us for the weekend - sounds like a party!

But first a surprise!! Craig and Karen from Rahn de Vous - we met them on the Trent Canal in Canada - had told us they would drive down from San Juan Capistrano and spend the night.

I had given them the info on where we were staying but imagine our surprise when we opened the door to our Airbnb place and there they were!!

With Manhattan mix, snacks and best of all Bada Bing cherries :-) What friends :-) It had been a long day ....

Thursday morning we headed up to the Hotel Del Coronado. Built in 1888, it is totally made of wood and quite unique. Very interesting place. For more info,click here.

The Crown Room

After walking around the hotel a bit, we parted ways - they were headed north home and we headed south back to the place we are staying.



We'll see Craig and Karen in November when we're back out this way to see Becky.

Plus their boat is in New York for the winter - maybe we'll cross paths with them in Guppy!

The Hotel del Coronado

Meantime, Matt and Wendy arrive today and Becky on Saturday!

Saturday September 17: Demopolis, Alabama

Thursday when we left the anchorage below the Hefflin Lock, there was no wind -at all. All day no wind.

The reflections along the waterway were again amazing. And we see so many great blue heron and white egrets. Often times I don't see them until they fly off as we pass by.

The river we're on is now the Tombigbee River - which connects to the Mobile River which leads of course to Mobile!

We picked up a hitchhiker along the way. A really nicely colored butterfly that seemed to think we were going his way :-)

Kind of surprising how long it stayed.

But it is entertainment for the 6 1/2 hour cruise  :-)

Leaving early allowed us to arrive early afternoon. Our covered slip awaited us!!


Best views along the way? The white cliffs of Epes - hands down.

Especially with the water still reflecting the shoreline. One more of those time when I couldn't quit taking pictures.



For more information on these cliffs, click here.  I wasn't able to find very much about them though other than they are chalk.












Once we arrived on Thursday, Steve wasted no time checking in at the office to pick up at least part of the new flybridge furniture we had ordered and had delivered here.

It would take several trips but there are a couple of golf carts for boater use so it makes it pretty easy to get things to the boat.

Friday morning we began in earnest removing the furniture installed 10 years ago. It had held up quite well but definitely needed replaced. You may recall that we painted it with vinyl paint in Banana Bay to at least temporarily make it look a bit better.

Disassembling it wasn't hard - but some of the fasteners were in difficult to reach places.

Fortunately for me, Steve was able to pull me out of the corner section I had somehow managed to get into!!

Once removed, it was time to move it to the main marina area where they would either give it away or throw it away.

Again the golf cart came in handy :-)

Plus they loaned us the pickup truck so it only took one trip for Steve to swap the old stuff for the new.

Of course we had to at least set in place some of the new stuff just to see how it would fit/look.


Enough for today - time to just enjoy the sunset :-)

Saturday we were back at it - positioning the bases for the new stuff. This furniture is made by a different company and is not built at all the same.

Molded plastic bases for all of the pieces with the backs and seats separate pieces. Certainly easier to handle for sure.

The work continued -- and then it decided to rain!


While we are undercover, we have the westernmost covered slip so when it rains, we still get a bit wet.

First long on and off rain we've had for a while.

Ok by me that we needed to quit for the day :-)


Tomorrow we'll drive to the nearest Home Depot - 60 miles away in Tuscaloosa!

Wednesday September 14: At Anchor near Hefflin Dam and Lock

The extra day spent at Smithville was refreshing! After working through the leaky fuel tank and the storm rolling through shortly before our arrival, both of us were ready for an extra day of sitting!

We were up the next morning searching for a place for breakfast so as to start the day off right ...

A tornado when through this area a number of years ago - it was so weird searching on google maps for a restaurant. Clicked on Mel's Diner and all there was for a picture of a cement pad where Mel's Diner was before the tornado.

Took a chance and drove over to it (5 miles in the marina loaner car). Sure enough Mel's Diner was there! But closed :-(  There was literally almost nothing around.

Weirdest thing was the lack of trees - due to the tornado of course. So back we went to the boat to have breakfast in. Then one of the local liveaboards told us to try going to Amory. A bit farther - in the opposite direction - but definitely there were several breakfast places. We settled on Huddle House.


This small town was the site of a visit by President Franklin Roosevelt on his special train - the Frisco steam engine number 1529. For some info on the train and it's history, click here.

Monday morning we left early again for a 6 hour trip to Columbus, MS.

This was a longer day than we had originally planned but we kind of like the pattern we've been in lately: travel a longer day then stay for a second day.

Seems more relaxing that way! Plus we can avoid traveling during the afternoon when it is really warm - even on the water -especially when Steve has me up and moving early :-)

But then when the water temperature is almost 90 what expectations could there be for any cooling effect from the water??


There seems to be endless entertainment along the rivers. But I also wonder sometimes as we have now traveled a little over a thousand miles since we left Chicago. Where did the hours go?

Maybe it just doesn't require much to entertain us anymore ..... like a bunch of buzzards perched on an electric tower :-)

Or having a Walmart Supercenter around!

Or FINALLY finding a real Chinese Restaurant!!



It happened in Columbus Mississippi - we went to the restaurant twice in two days. I suspect the lady who asked Steve 'weren't you here yesterday?' thought we were a bit odd. But then maybe 5 1/2 months traveling on a 36' boat will do that to a person :-)

The Columbus marina was great! Again a courtesy car at our beck and call as we were the only transient boaters boat in.

And as always, the marina folks were so nice.

The second day we took a drive to the Waverly Mansion completed in 1852 - a short time before the Civil War.

It has a very interesting history which can be read by clicking here.


This is the view from the brick gate see in the picture above. Really an amazing place.

Home to a 250 year old magnolia tree - maybe Matt and Wendy's in CA will grow this large!!

View from the front entrance.

View from the second floor.

Steve's favorite part might have been the turkeys and peacocks :-)

So it's now Wednesday and I realize it was going to again be a long day - but really? We're in the lock as the sun is coming up?

It's another 120 miles of Demopolis (where we'll stay several weeks) so the sooner we go the sooner we get there.

This is what Steve tells me as he's once again waking me up :-)

It's another unbelievable day on the water. A light mist as we leave the lock.

The reflections were so amazing that I seemed to not be able to stop taking pictures.

The trees are starting to show signs of fall as we continue south.

As we went through the next to last lock today we saw the snagboat Montgomery. Snagboats removed snags, underwater trees, stumps or branches that created obstructions to river navigation on a daily basis. These boats would remove approximately 120-170 snags per day!

Last time down the rivers we stayed at a marina nearby and visited the visitor center here. It was very well done. For information about this National Historic Landmark, click here.




Last lock of this 9 1/2 hour day as we moved downriver to the Hefflin Dam and Lock. Our anchorage for the night was below the lock and back towards the dam area. Beautiful spot - so quiet and peaceful.

This picture is from the morning we left - just to give an idea of how special this area is ....

Tomorrow: the last 50 miles to Demopolis and our 'home' for a few weeks :-)!!!!