Day 19 - Columbus, MS to Demopolis, AL

Yesterday Mary and I were talking about what the perfect day on our trip would be like.  I can tell you that today wasn't it. We covered 115 miles, went through three locks, and a thunderstorm, and our engine acted up causing us to put the Blue Fin on the beach once again.  But despite all this we arrived at the Demopolis Yacht Club at 5:30 PM, only slightly later than what I had calculated we would. Rain fell on us for most of the last 50 miles of today's route and we became chilled to the bones. I didn't expect this in Alabama as the temp is usually in the nineties and the water temp is running about 88 degrees in most places.  When my toes became cold I'd just dip them in the water but then the wind for the boat's speed would numb them up again.  By the time we reached Demopolis I was shivering but Mary seemed to be fairing a bit better. This weather has made us both glad we spent the time and money to purchase our nice and expensive Cabellas rain suites.  We'd be dead without them on a day like we had today.

The day began nice enough and I started off taking pics as usual.
The reddish soil along the river banks is a good contrast to the green foliage and blue water.

I spotted this strange place for a telephone booth. Maybe it's necessary as my cell phone was dead nearly half the day.

The White Cliffs of Epes are America's version of the White Cliffs of Dover.
White Cliffs

This bollard inside the lock chamber has a small garden growing behind the pin. These things make my first mate nervous by producing weird sounds as the raise or lower. In each lock chamber we might be surrounded by a dozen of these and when they move they squeak and grown. The sound echos around the hard walls of the chamber as each one randomly emits a tone or percuses a thumb or bang.

Around 1:00PM everything changed when the weather attacked as we waited for a lock-through. A line of thunderstorms had organized and was moving down on us from the north. At the time we arrived at the lock the storm was still at a good distance but as we entered the gate it became apparent that we were not going to be able to outrun it as we had for all of the morning. 

A storm approaching as we are being lowered in the Gainsville lock chamber.
The lock master said we could hangout inside until the storm passed and we took his offer. I though it was kind of fun to watch the clouds swirl overhead as the wind blew above. The light standard in the upper left waved back and forth. 

We're still in the lock chamber and the rain is pouring. I idled the Blue Fin around to keep the front into the rain to maximize the amount of coverage we were afforded from the bimini top. After the wind died down and the lightning subsided we attempted to drive on into the rain but soon realized we were only going to head right back into the backside of the  storm. We were advised by the lock master that a boat ramp with a restroom shelter was only a half mile away and maybe we could make it there to get inside.

The Blue Fin tied up at a Corps of Engineers boat launch. We spent 20 minutes here to allow the storm to move further ahead of us. The ramp on the right in this picture is a small river in it's own right. I walked right up through it to warm my feet. The water was running off a previously hot parking lot above. 

And Mary found the shelter.
Check out the nice rain jacket.  We both have the matching pants to complete the outfit but we discovered you have to put them on before you get soaked, not after.

As I mentioned above, the motor acted up again by doing the same thing it has two times before.  We loose power and have to idle to shore with the engine sputtering. I've been convinced the problem is caused by water in the fuel but had only anecdotal evidence since I had been able to clear the problem by switching tanks and limping along until the problem cleared. An episode takes about 15 minutes from the onset of the problem until I beach it, switch tank and line, and then run the bad gas out of the reservoirs integral to the engine. This seems pretty easy but you never know when it's going to happen. When a barge tow is traveling nearby is an example of a bad time.  The other problem is that Mary's lost all confidence in our ability to successfully finish this trip as she no longer trusts the Blue Fin to get us through these most remote parts of our trip. But don't worry, we're not giving up. 

I had a good discussion with Matt again today and was able to report to him that I now have hard evidence of water in the fuel. When the problem was occurring I carefully removed the water trap in the engine compartment and there it was. Small beads of water floating around in the bottom of the schottglass like filter cap. Now with absolute proof of the problem in hand we can eliminate mechanical problems in the motor itself.  The new focus will be how to get rid of the water and for that I made a trip to a store and purchased an arm full of Heet brand bottles to attempt to dry the gas already in the Blue Fin's tanks. We'll see how this goes tomorrow as we move on the Bobby's Fish Camp where we'll spend the night. The distance is about 100 miles and this segment along with Wednesday's are the most remote of the trip.  What we need is that perfect day to get this journey back to being pleasant and to erase all the stress of dealing with bad weather and mechanical problems.  

There's a good chance tomorrow will be a black out and I'll not put up a post. I don't expect there'll be cell coverage or Internet at Bobby's so here's a little bit of info in advance.  bobbys-fish-camp   You can best think of this place as an outpost.