ssloop: Pickwick - Demopolis

After 2 months back home at the dirt house, we were very excited to get back to the PV2. On Saturday, Dec 2 we flew Grand Rapids to Memphis, rented a car and loaded up on supplies for our last leg of our journey down the rivers. We found PV2 to be looking mighty fine under cover at Aqua Yacht Harbor. The next day, we spent time prepping the boat and had lunch with Joe & Tammy who kept an eye on the boat while we were gone.

Destination - Mobile, Alabama! 12 locks and 450 miles to go!

At first light Monday morning we began our trek down the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. We locked through our 1st lock, 38 miles down river. (As we exited the lock, we were hailed on the radio by the captain of "DougOut", the boat behind us inquiring about our dinghy lift. We were happy to provide information on our hydraulic lift as we are official Ambassadors representing FreedomLift. As we travel we will be promoting and demonstrating the ease and convenience of the lift. The PV2 may also be a working demo for FreedomLift at the Florida Boat Shows.) We continued down the river the remainder of our 72 mile, 4 lock day and dropped the anchor at Smithville, MS.

Tuesday was cold and rainy. The captain stayed warm and dry up on the helm while the first mate donned full rain gear to work the lines in the locks. Four locks and 70 miles later we pulled in with DougOut to Pirates Cove Marina near Pickensville, AL, which was a broken down and closed marina. We tied up to the somewhat dilapidated docks and ran generators as needed for heat and electric. While tying up, Doug was approached by a local asking what we were up to. Doug gave him $20/boat and he went away. To warm up, we went to DougOut for a hot bowl of homemade chili.

Just when we thought Tuesday was nasty, Wednesday brought even colder and wetter weather. The good news was that Doug gave us his portable propane Buddy Heater to use on the helm. What a life saver! After locking down our 2 locks of the day with DougOut, we put the PV2 up on plane and traveled 25mph for the last 50 miles of our 90 mile day. Our destination was Demopolis Yacht Harbor. Soon after docking, we used the marina courtesy car to make a run to Walmart to buy our own Buddy Heater as the predicted forecast was looking even worse. Argh.