Demopolis, Alabama

Day 189 … Thurs, Oct 26, 2017 … 55.5 miles; 7 hours; 1 Lock

Sumpter Rec Area to Foscue Creek, Demopolis, AL

The setting of the anchorage last night, Sumpter, was pretty!

Coffee, breakfast, walk Cally and call the lockmaster for their status to lock us & Soulstice down. We are about 30 mins from the lock. Another hurry up & get here or wait for a tow to lock through first.

Both boats scrambled quick & easily.

The lock was almost ready for us when we arrived. We only waited about 10 mins. We were locked down and out of the lock by 9am!

This is how Cally spends her time when we are in a lock! Ha, she has the easy part!

Lock doors open for us …

Leaving the last lock (10) of the Tenn-Tom River.

Sights along the way today …

Here, Soulstice takes the lead and heads on faster to a different anchorage than us. I am sure we will see them again further south.

These white cliffs are located on the Tombigbee River at Epes, AL. They are part of the Selma Chalk formations which were deposited at about the same time as England’s famous White Cliffs of Dover. According to:

http://www.ruralswalabama.org/attraction/the-white-cliffs-of-epes-al/

Twice we saw a pair of Eagles … once in flight and out of sight; the other I noticed just as they were getting ready to land in a tree top.

I have heard alot about the beautiful fall foliage along the inland rivers … well, not so much this year. Or, at least not, yet?

Below is one of the few examples of fall color. I can count on one hand the pops of red I have seen as we have traveled. Mostly it is lots of green with dying, yellow, brown leafed trees.

We only passed one tow today. He (the Captain of MV Miss Lillie) never answered the VHF to confirm passing instructions. We hate when they don’t answer; luckily it is rare.

Our anchorage tonight is at Foscue Creek, just a half mile from the next lock. We are now on the Black Warrior/Tombigbee River; there are 2 locks between here and Mobile Bay. After the 2nd lock … NO MORE LOCKS, until we cross Florida. And, that won’t be until after New Years – so NEXT YEAR!!

This creek has a Coast Guard Station and a USACE facility; we anchored passed them … just in case they had to make a run out tonight. There is a park (with trash cans!!) and a boat ramp. We took Cally to shore at the park twice today. Tomorrow we will try the boat ramp beside the coast guard station. It looks like it has much nicer grass for Cally to play.