Alabama

Captain's Log - Day 23

Allow me to first wish Blake (whom I will henceforth refer to as Banana Sandwich) a happy birthday!

As we were cruising today, a boat full of girls zipped past and one of them mooned us! At first I was caught off guard, but now I think that was intended as a birthday gift for Banana Sandwich. So next time I see you, man, I'm gonna pass it on. Don't even try to stop me.

We're on the hook in Alabama now after a day of uneventful cruising. We just passed the turn off for the TennTom. Simon and I waved a sad goodbye to the route to Mobile.

I was looking forward to seeing some alligators. I have to confess that I was toying with the idea of catching one. Most of you are probably thinking that's a bad idea, considering my run-in with the copperhead. But, I have successfully handled an alligator before. It was a small one - only about three feet - but I think I could wrangle another one!

The Tennessee River is beautiful, but I feel like it's just barely a river; it's surface is glassy, there's almost no current, and it even smells a bit stagnant. The current is so slow, in fact, that we killed the engines for a few minutes and and jumped in (it was super hot today)! There are no anchor eating trees to dodge, very few barges, and marinas every couple miles ... It's almost too easy.

Famous last words, eh?

Maybe I'm getting a little too confident? Tempting fate? I only put sunscreen on my shoulders, neck and face today - and it was only 8 spf! I have a theory (which my science type friends will probably immediately shoot down, as is their wont) that after I get pretty tan, my need for sunscreen diminishes. Alright Amy, Emily, I'm ready - fire away!

One thing the Tennessee River does have over the Mississippi is Lock names. Locks on the Mississippi are all numbered. The Tennessee River's locks have names like Pickwick, Nickajack, and Chickamauga!

We were able to help out some fellow boaters tonight! The Adventure II, which came through the Pickwick lock with us, hailed us on the other side of the lock and told us their GPS had gone out. They asked if we were going to their destination. I informed them that we weren't and that we also didn't have any GPS - just river charts. We proceeded to lead them to their marina with only the stars and our Tennessee River map to guide us. Then we remembered that Simon has an Iphone and it got really easy. Anyway, it was really great to be able to help someone out!

Could be rough sleeping tonight. It's really muggy. We've also got about a million bugs in here, but they're not mosquitoes!