October 30 - November 1 - Demopolis, AL

We spent three nights at Demopolis Yacht Basin, Kingfisher Marina.  Danny wanted to have someone look at the loud noise coming from the mufflers and this would be the last repair facility until Mobile.    Several things impressed me about the place.  First, the guy at the gas dock hooked our rope to the deck cleat by throwing and whipping it around, he never used his hands, even for the final backward loop.  I was in awe!  Second, the restrooms, showers and laundry facilities were remarkable.  Spacious, clean, FOUR washers and dryers.   Third, they had golf carts for us to ride from the marina to the boat yard.  I love golf carts. OK, I'm through counting.  We had docktails on the upper level one night and a Halloween party the next night.  They had a marina car we could sign out, and a mini bus came to take people downtown, to WalMart, and to dinner both nights.  

The boat repair was not as extensive as we had feared.  They changed spark plugs, then pulled the boat to check the muffler and baffles.  Everything looked fine.  The mechanic told Danny that the loud engine sounded like it was supposed to, the other one was too quiet.  He also told him we needed to run faster a little while each day to keep the motors running well.  More about that in the next post.

A real treat for us was a visit from Danny's best friend from high school, David Enfinger and his wife Linda.  They live in Birmingham and drove over to visit and take us to dinner.  I love to hear the two of them laugh when they are together.  We hope they can meet us again while we are on the panhandle.

Several Loopers that we recognized were at the marina, and we had a wonderful time getting to know them better.  Danny saw one of these looper ladies tie her ropes to the rail very neatly and efficiently. He asked her what the knot was, but only understood "cow."  We tried to invent a knot but were unsuccessful.

We were only a mile upriver from the Demopolis Lock and there were 13 - 15 boats that would need to go through the lock.  The lockmaster asked the harbor master to coordinate departures so everyone  would arrive at the same time and have one lock-through.  So we made plans at the "Captain's Meeting."  We started pulling out about 6:30 and it was quite a parade!  The lockmaster called us one by one, and we pulled in and tied off until we were out of bollards.  Then boats tied to each other.  Everything went smoothly thanks to the good nature of most boaters and the efficiency of the lock master!