December 2014

Dec 1^st, up at 5:25, very foggy so I figured I was in for a delay.  Walked up to the marina shower and when I came out at 6:30 the fog was lifting.  Motors started and away by 6:50.  Into Demopolis lock at 7:05, out at 7:25.  Met “Amy Francis” at 8:15.  I was able to connect on a conference call with Advance Training System speaking with a group from Australia looking into a simulator.  I slowed down to 5mph for 20 min to keep a good connection. At 11:40 a train was waiting to cross the Meridian & Bigvee R/R bridge as it lowered on my arrival.  I was not monitoring the bridge channel (13) since I did not have clearance issues with the bridge down.  Met “Crimson White” at noon.  Very calm day on the river but LOTS of logs. 

 I grazed one on the port side but did not feel any vibration afterward.  Arrived at Bobby’s Fish Camp at 5:05 in twilight.  All is good!  2993.5 HRS.  “Thelma Parker II” passed by going upstream at 9PM. 

Dec 2^nd, up at 5AM, NO FOG, YEA!  Some duck hunters launched two boats and headed out for a day of fun killing little birds.  Motors started at 5:25, asway from dock at 5:45, into Coffeeville lock at 6AM, doors closed at 6:09.  Patchy fog until 8:30,  “Tim Huckabee” and “Gilbert Taylor” were parked by the power plant loaded with coal.  

Met “Legacy Providor” and “Jane Ann Blessy” at 11:15.  3000 HRS at 12:30 at mile marker 55!.  Saw my first brown Pelican a few min later.  “Safety Runner” and “Safety Forever” were moving barges around at the recycle plant at 1:15.  Everything played out just as I expected.  I passed the 14 mile R/R bridge just before sunset and approached downtown Mobile as darkness set in.  Mobile was very stressful with traffic all over the place! 

 I made it through without any close calls or pissed off boat captains yelling at me but it was NOT fun!  The shipping channel was a piece of cake with the Garmin Chartplotter and Radar along with a very well marked channel.  Got to the Dog River channel entrance at 7PM, then into the marina aat 7:30.  No one volunteered to help me land but it was dead calm anyway so I had no problem getting secured.  Long day but big accomplishment!  3007.3 HRS.

Marina across the river from Dog River Marina

Dec 3^rd, Ordered transmission repairs with Linda at Dog River Marina.  Hoping they could pull the boat by the end of the day but no luck.

Dec 4^th, DRM could not get to the boat today so I took off at 2PM with a rental car heading back to Grand River, KY.

Dec 5^th, Dropped rental car off at Paducah airport, got a ride back to Green Turtle Bay Marina with one of their staff, then drove van home to St. Paul.

I was hoping the transmission could be pulled out, sent out to Florida for repair, and then return to DRM by Christmas.  Didn’t happen.  DRM did get the bottom painted by Christmas so Missy and I could come down and spend some time in Mobile.  The weather forecast for that week called for thunderstorms and rain most of the week so we cancelled our trip down and went to Ely instead (again).  It was nice to connect with Doug and Nancy!