Sunday, 10/2/2016

The Lucky Lady left Bobby's Fish Camp and headed to Coffeeville Lock and Dam.  We were given the green light and told to come in and tie up.  Lo and behold Mike and Shelly were tied up there waiting for us . . . the stragglers.  We exchanged pleasantries and small talk; the gates opened and we were on our way again.  The Coffeeville lock was the last of 19 that we'd been through.  The locks personnel have been terrific and therefore, much appreciated.

After a few hours, I saw a 9 or 10 foot log straight ahead.  I steered around it well in advance and soon noticed that it had changed position.  This log was now parallel to us on the front left and seemed to be moving with us.  Furthermore, it was leaving a wake.  That's right, this drift log was actually an alligator.  It went under the water just as Jimmy was taking the picture.  We saw another one on the bank a bit later. It was waddling along in the sand like a Komodo dragon.  Missed the pic again.

We tied up that night just below the mouth of the Alabama River.  We weren't that happy with the spot we'd chosen to anchor.  After talking to two towboats, we moved to a different place close by that had been suggested by the second tug captain.  It was really dark at the time.

Early the next morning, Jimmy fixed the generator and soon we were on our way to Mobile, AL. It was early afternoon when the skyline came into view far away.  Good lord . . . along with the tugs and barges were tankers, freighters and shipyards on both sides of the river.  We tied up at Mobile Landing on the back side of the convention center and directly across from Austal, a company that builds ships for the navy.  We rode bikes (didn't race this time) into downtown Mobile and wound up at a place called Veets.  We met Jared Barr, of Clarksville, FL and had a couple of beers together..  Jared is in the technology business and we needed some help with Skipper, our navigational app.  We called Ron at Riverpark Marina in Louisville.  It wasn't long before he and Jared got us straightened out with our app . . . thank God.  And the utmost appreciation to Ron and Jared.