Saturday, Oct. 22

Lots of boats headed out of Joe Wheeler this morning, and we fell in with them.  Lockmasters like to have leisure boats go through in groups rather than one or two at a time, so we had company as we went down into Lake Wilson.  We had been this route to Florence and back last week, so didn't slow down for much sightseeing.  Wilson Lock took us down into Pickwick Lake at Florence, AL.  We pulled into the marina where we stayed last time for lunch and a pump out.  (Those two things probably shouldn't be in the same sentence.). The blackened fish flat on Naan bread was delicious and we got to watch a little of the Alabama football game.  Kyle, the wonderful dockmaster, had pulled our boat up and pumped it out while we were eating, and even found a space for us to stay.  There were quite a few Looper boats there, but we decided to keep going for a few more miles and anchored in Pickwick Lake.  Our first choice for anchorage looked wonderful, but thank goodness Danny saw something ahead that looked like a plant so we kept going past it.  Good decision - it was a rock crushing facility that made rip rap and it was busy dumping rock onto barges!