December 27th to December 29th

December 27th - we finally made it back on the river. It is good to be back. The sun is out, we have 65 degrees and the current helps us along nicely. That night we find a “reasonable” anchorage and enjoy great Garlic and Red pepper spaghetti with our last Parmageano Reggiano from Chicago; thank godness Costco in Atlanta had more! Comes 1:00 a.m. the wind starts to come up and the current is trying to push us around. We spent about three hours up to see what the wind and the current are doing and went finally to bed at 4:00 a.m. but still holding at anchor (fortunately!)

December 28th both of our anchors are tied with each other somewhere in the murky water of the lower Black Warrior River and the current is still pushing us. After a few nasty cuts on Chris hands we manage to get us free and head back down the river. Always something, but we still love to be on the boat. There are so many adventures out there for us.
We are definitely going down the river – SOUTH – it is getting warmer and we see lots of trees covered with Spanish moss – which incidentally is a member of the Pineapple family. Chris mentions a few time down the river how many pineapples grow, all I can think of are Pinacoladas with a fancy little umbrella on top. One has to have priorities.

December 29th – we have been through the last lock on the river system. We are at sea-level now. It is 75 degrees and positively summer for us Chicagoan’s. We saw a few deer standing on the river not even looking at us – must not be hunting season in this part of Alabama. Our GPS reads 9 knots – we are flying down the river with a little help from some current. We are entering an inlet called Bates Lake for the night. Chris and I, we both forgot that we are a sailboat again. Watch the POWERLINES – we did not hit it – thanks to Chris’ fast reaction. Our anchorage for the night is beautiful; it was worth it! A few fishing cabins and a serious number of little bass boats flying by us. We take our dinghy and row ashore to play with Jackie – we did not get shot entering somebody’ private property.