Danny requested that the lockmaster put us toward the front of the Demopolis Lock. We were going to be a "fast boat" today. Our friends Carol and Jim always ran their Carver fast, about 25 mph, but we had stayed around 8 mph which is considered Looping speed since that's how fast trawlers can go. After the mechanic told Danny we should run fast sometime, and Jim seconding the notion, we toook off! Twenty mph after weeks of 8 mph was crazy! We never planed, which was bad for comfort and gas consumption! Driving was more intense, but not bad. After a couple of hours, we were ready to pull it down. We found that 10 mph was a comfortable speed for us. Slow enough to take in everything, but fast enough to not feel like we were dragging.
Thanks to the race pace in the morning, we arrived at Bobby's Fish Camp shortly after lunch. Jim and Carol beat us there, of course, and I blamed Jim for being a bad influence on Danny!
We had read about and heard about Bobby's since we first considered the Loop. It is the last place to get gas before Mobile Bay, making that stretch one of the longest on the entire Loop. It is also said to have the best fried catfish anywhere. Notice the name is Bobby's FISH CAMP, not MARINA. There is one long dock, 140 feet, running parallel to the shore, with a gas dock at the end. No water hook-up, but they did add electricity when they replaced the old wooden dock. There is no protection, you're just on the side of the river. Three other boats were along the dock, so we tied to Carol and Jim. The owner came down to direct the docking process as other boats arrived, then she left and we were on our own! There were 12 boats, all 40 feet or longer, three abreast. A couple of other boats came by after we were all in place, but they kept going!
The famous catfish restaurant is open Thursday through Sunday, but since there were so many boats that day, they opened just for us. Danny and I decided to try the showers while we waited. BIG mistake! The bath house was a storage shed with fixtures stuck in. It was hot and not very clean, but we survived. Since there were no water hookups, we didn't want to use the water in our tank for a shower, it is still a long way to Mobilie and the next chance to fill our water tank.
Remember I said this is a fish camp, not a marina. Well, I love fishcamps. I know that's weird, but some of my fondest childhood memories are of vacations at fishcamps with. My Daddy LOVED to fish, so we all went fishing. Most of the time we were at Lake George on the St Johns River, and aunts and uncles and cousins would join us. This fishcamp brought back those memories! It was a happy place for me. Dinner was delicious and we crawled over boats to get to ours and called it a day! Another wonderful day on The Loop. We are so blessed to be able to undertake this adventure.
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