The Black Warrior River

We left the Demopolis Yacht Basin early Friday morning, November 3rd, and began making our way up the Black Warrior River with Todd's parents and their dog Ginger on board. Even though it was a frosty morning, it quickly turned into a beautiful, sunny day during which we traveled 60 miles and went through one lock before anchoring at Old Lock 8 for the evening.

Ginger wasn't very excited about going down the steep steps that lead from the sun deck to the swim platform to get in the dinghy for a trip to shore, but she did fine and after getting the dogs taken care of and dinner out of the way, we played a couple of games of Skip-Bo before calling it a day.

Ginger kindly sharing her bed with Buddy.


Since there didn't appear to be any good anchorages for the next 70 miles, we got up early again on Saturday and made it to Eagle Cove Marina just before dark. It was a very long day with two locks, but the weather was great and we enjoyed the fall foliage as we boated along.




This was an interesting spectacle we ran across - a satellite dish mounted on a stump sticking out of the river... You might be a redneck if...!!!

 

As we neared the first lock of the day, just south of Tuscaloosa, we came upon a barge and asked if we could lock through with it since the only alternative was to wait for it to go through ahead of us which would have cost us time we didn't have. The barge captain said it was okay with him, so we waited for the barge to get secure and then pulled into the lock behind it. Unfortunately for us, the barge captain hit his engines just as we were nearing the lock wall to tie up and the force of the water coming from his engines pushed our bow into the lock wall. Thankfully, Todd had asked me to put a large bumper on the bow rail, which we normally don't do, but it saved our bow from being slammed against the lock wall!

The barge wasn't going north of Tuscaloosa, so we went through the next lock by ourselves, without incident, and then made our way into a wonderful covered slip at Eagle Cove. Since we had made it through two long days on the water, we took our time leaving Eagle Cove on Sunday and then only went about eight miles upriver to a nice anchorage in Pegues Creek where we enjoyed a beautiful view of the full moon as it rose over the trees.

On Monday we went through the final lock and traveled 25 miles before pulling into a nice covered slip at Franklin Ferry Marina. Storms were forecast to move in Monday evening and continue all day Tuesday, so we felt very fortunate to find such a perfect refuge from the rain and wind. Franklin Ferry is no longer an operating marina, but no one was using the slip and a couple who live above the marina assured us that we were welcome to stay there.



We stayed dry and cozy under the covered dock for the next two nights and left Franklin Ferry late Wednesday morning. An hour or so into our day we passed The Point Bar which our boating friends Mike & Mary fondly refer to as The Plywood Palace. Mike, who is a Black Warrior native, graciously provided us with aerial charts, notes and pictures of their travels up the Black Warrior and suggested that we check out The Point Bar during our trip. So, we docked the boat and went in to have a few cocktails and pizza for lunch. The staff and customers were great, the beer was cold, the pizza was good, and I even managed to win $90 in nickels on the video slots game at the bar!



After lunch we made our way to a neat anchorage just above Bankhead Lock where we tied to a mooring buoy. Todd promptly got the dinghy down to take the dogs to shore and then set off to do a little fishing. After a short while, he returned to the boat and insisted that his dad join him since the fish were practically jumping in the boat! Bill joined Todd in the dinghy while Marilyn and I enjoyed the view from the sundeck.

We could hear Todd and Bill talking excitedly about something, but they were too far away to hear what they were saying. However, it wasn't long before they headed back to the boat yelling for us to get our cameras ready. When they arrived, it was all Todd could do to lift the huge catfish Bill had caught high enough for us to take a picture of it - it must have weighed 40 pounds! They also had a stringer of other fish to show for their efforts, but they decided to cut the line and let the catfish live another day.

It was all Todd could do to hold the fish out of the water long enough for me to take a picture!

We left our anchorage Thursday morning, went through the lock and arrived at Eagle Cove Marina fairly early that afternoon. We enjoyed a great afternoon and evening at Eagle Cove and left early Friday morning for a 70-mile, two-lock day to arrive back at Old Lock 8 around 3:30 p.m. to anchor for the evening.

By Saturday morning, the weather had turned windy and rainy so Todd and Marilyn took the dogs to shore and we started the 47-mile, one-lock journey downriver to anchor in Big Prairie Creek in front of Buck's, another local establishment that had been recommended by Mike & Mary.

Todd and Marilyn returning from doggie duty in the dinghy.

A view of Buck's from our anchorage in Big Prairie Creek.

The four of us enjoying an evening at Buck's.


We ate our way through the evening and topped it off with warm brownies a la mode while Bill and Todd watched football and Marilyn and I played a video quiz game. Another fun evening on the water! Since this was our final evening on the boat together, I need to make note of the fact that we played several games of Skip-Bo over the course of our 10-day trip; and since the women beat the men 10 of the 15 games we played, the women will go on record as the Skip-Bo champions for 2006 - way to go Marilyn!

It took us about two hours to make the final 16-mile trek back to the Demopolis Yacht Basin Sunday morning where we spent the day cleaning, doing laundry, catching up on e-mail, etc. Most of yesterday was spent shopping and restocking with Marilyn while Todd continued to re-coat the rest of the wood on the front of the boat.

Bill and Marilyn left this morning (Tuesday) for Orlando, and Todd and I will spend the next week or so in Demopolis waiting for the Coffeeville Lock to reopen and taking care of a variety of boat maintenance issues. Todd has done a great job with the Cetol (wood finish) on the front of the boat, but I suspect he is saving the wood on the rails for me. I can hardly wait!