021 Tenn-Tom Part 3: Ennui

It was November 20^th and by now you know the drill: it was up anchor at 6:30 a.m. to catch that first lock through!   I did get a moment to take this picture of Fika as the sun came up: 

The day started out with some sun and then quickly became overcast and dreary.   Then a dreary mood settled in.  We had been running long days and today just felt like a slog.  Sol Maria wanted to get below the Demopolis Lock and Dam some 54 n/m’s away and then some.  We were game for it as we like our tight nit flotilla, but there was no spark in Hygge after three days of hard running.

We came by the White Cliffs at Epes, which are part of the Selma Chalk formations which were deposited at about the same time as England’s White Cliffs of Dover.   I teed up a quick listen of Vera Lynn’s famous song that was a favorite of all WW2 veterans, including dear old dad:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAaxkAgVkHQ

 

 

In the early afternoon Gavin from Sol Maria announced over the radio that it looked like a major thunderstorm system was moving through much of the South that night, and anchoring out would probably not be the best idea.  We opted to pull into Kingfisher Marina just a few miles north of the Demopolis Lock and Dam, much to our relief.   There was a narrow and tight channel leading into the marina and we were guided in one by one by the marina staff over the radio.  

We got fuel and a pump out and Hygge was tied up in a covered slip by 3:00 p.m.   Nancy went for a walk, and I gave Hygge a much-needed cleaning.   Had a nice conversation with a gentleman who had done the G/L Trip twice.   (Luckily, I can clean boats and talk at the same time.)   After Hygge’s bath, I brought the dirty clothes over to the lounge/laundry area to do a load of wash and get a nice hot shower.   After firing up the washing machine, I went into the men’s shower and a guy said he’d run out of hot water as his shower was finishing.    I elected to sit in the lounge and “shoot the sh-t” with Kathy from KatMat and Pete and Sandra from Sol Maria while the water heated up.  Kathy was also doing laundry and waiting for a shower as well.

As I was waiting that last few minutes on the wash cycle, to then head into the shower, a man came up with a towel and toiletries.   I told him that, “Kathy and I are waiting for the hot water to heat up and we're going to shower in a few minutes.”  He said, “I’ll give it a try,” and jumped the line.  Jerk.  He came out later and said, “There is hot water, I made it quick,” but got blank stares with dead eyes back.  I let Kathy go before me as she was there first.   She came out and said she had hot water.  I went in and had about ten' seconds of hot water and then the water went cold.   Like immediately. I was a very unhappy camper. 

The Demopolis Lockmaster had arranged two lock throughs in the morning for us “looper” boats.  One at 6:00 a.m., and one at 8:00 a.m.  There was a sign-up sheet.  Well, you know where this is going by now: our group signed up for the 6:00 a.m. slot which meant leaving the dock at 5:30 a.m. in pitch blackness out that narrow channel.  But that is a story for another day.

The laundry now done, a grumpy me headed back to Hygge.  (I should have just showered on Hygge, but I was in a grumpy mood.)  We had a courtesy car reserved at 8:00 p.m. to run over to Walmart but Nancy and I were both too “knackered” and went to bed early.     And besides, this was a few minutes away:

It was off to bed early for us.

Dave

PS: This is a good time to pause and let you know that for the entire 234 miles of the Tenn-Tom, Nancy did the heavy lifting on manning the helm.   The Friday we started on the Tenn-Tom (four days before) I got two projects assigned to me from by my big client and a data analysis request; and I had to help the CEO of the startup with financial statements for a potential investor.  Plus write some blog posts.   Nancy manned the helm while I manned the laptop.  The good news is that the extra work will help pay for the new propeller.   We also learned that Nancy is much better manning the helm on these long stretches, I think I can multi-task, but you can’t multi-task on the river system.   Floating logs, current, wind, tows, and inconsistent water depth all demand constant attention.