Funny Papers or Real Life.

You know the tired old routine in the funnies where the punch line is that dinner is done when the smoke alarm goes off? Well I have realized that sometimes life does imitate art, at least if you think the Sunday funnies are art.


Let me explain. This morning as Larry was making breakfast, while I was sitting on the sundeck cross-stitching my heart out, I heard the smoke alarm sound. I didn’t panic, I simply thought ‘time to quit because breakfast is ready’. You see aboard Miss Lauren Grace the toaster is directly under the smoke alarm, the last thing either of us does when we make breakfast is put the toast in and when it is almost finished the smoke alarm blares. Thus I knew he was going to say “ready babe” before he even called. So I came in laughing and Larry asked what is so funny. I told him our breakfast is like the funny paper cartoons; breakfast is done when the smoke alarm goes off.

I like predictability in life!

Living on the "Hard"

Life on the “hard” is ….tiring, challenging, chilly, frustrating? Actually it is all of those things. Last Friday Miss Lauren Grace was lifted out of the water and set on the parking lot with blocks under her keel and jack stands supporting her hull.


Those with a good memory may recall that we were also sitting “on the hard” last November during Hurricane Ida, and you would be correct. We had our bottom painted last fall and this summer we discovered that the paint is failing so here we are again.

I am trying hard (no pun intended) not to complain about… climbing up a 8’ ladder every time I need to go to the bathroom (because our toilets require water from the river to flush properly); getting up early to be ready for the workers (who start at 0730) to start, scrubbing, sanding, painting (pick one) and then finding out that they have slotted several other jobs ahead of us and they won’t start on our boat until after lunch; getting up in the cold because our heaters need water to function and having to wait for an electric space heater to warm things up; having to be frugal with my use of water for dishwashing and hygiene because it drains out onto the ground under the boat and creates a mess. If all of this was not frustrating enough I am fairly well pissed that we paid for this job to be done just a year ago and now they are finding all sorts of reasons, some even partially valid, why it is not “their” fault that the paint failed.

Apparently our bottom has “blisters”, think of them as pimples on the surface of the fiberglass. This despite the fact that before we bought her someone had gone to the expense to apply an epoxy bottom finish. Now we learn that those jobs generally last from 5-7 years, so it appears ours is at the expiration date.

Now we have to decide if we want to spend several months with the boat hauled out of the water “drying out” or if we just want to put a band aid on the situation and deal with it later. So far we are leaning toward the band-aid approach.

On the bright side (if you look hard enough you can generally fine a tiny ray of sunshine somewhere) it is not raining and the sun heats the boat up nicely by noon and it is stays warm until a couple of hours after dark. Also the temperatures are forecast to warm throughout the week and the nights won’t be so cold in a couple of days.

Hopefully we will have the band-aid in place and be back in the water by next weekend. Meanwhile we had dinner tonight with friends Paul & Stacy who are sitting right next to us here “on the hard”.  I guess life isn't really all that bad.

Upper Black Warrior River

All we can say is WOW! We were excited to explore this river because it was new to us, now having traveled 165 miles upstream from the junction with the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway all we can say is wow.

It is true that the first hundred miles were just so-so, but beyond that the Black Warrior is spectacular. Above Tuscaloosa, AL the topography changes completely, we are in the mountainous area of central Alabama. The forested mountains fall straight to the water, with a few rock outcroppings thrown in for interest. Add a bit of fall color and the scenery was perfect

However what really made this trip special were the people we met along the way. At Eagle Cove marina just above Holt Lock (and Tuscaloosa) we met fellow cruisers Mike & Mary aboard What Daze It. Mike is originally from Moundville and they are staying here now to help his aging parents. Lucky for us because they spent several hours with us reviewing the charts and sharing their favorite places to explore.

Larry and Jim, from our buddy boat, dinghied to an abandoned coal train tunnel and explored all afternoon.



Another day they found a waterfall at the head of a creek and climbed to check out the caves in the hill by the falls

The people we met were what really made the trip special. At newly opened Franklin Ferry Marina, which was as far upstream as we traveled, we were welcomed by the local boaters and by the residents of the community around the marina. Nearly every one we met offered us a ride to the grocery; one couple even invited us to join them for karaoke night at the local American Legion.
Exploring by dinghy from Franklin Ferry we found Quinn’s Landing, a tiny little marina and restaurant is in a small creek. We had lunch at the restaurant and then, as boaters always seem to do, we walked the dock. We stopped to admire an old wood Chris Craft and a fellow (Ken) came out to talk to us. In the course of the conversation we discovered that he used to live in St. Louis. Naturally we asked where in St. Louis he lived, and Larry volunteered that I had grown up in St. Charles County; that was when Ken told us that he still had a boat at a marina in Portage des Sioux. We inquired at which marina and he replied Sioux Harbor! For those who don’t know that is our old marina where we kept our sailboat after the 1993 Flood. In the “small world” category this has to be a close second to our experience last fall in Demopolis where we met a total stranger that had gone to my same high school. Perhaps Alabama is calling to us.

Heading back downstream toward Tuscaloosa we passed this spectacular waterfall cascading directly into the river

We tried to figure out how we could do as the locals do and moor to an old lock wall in downtown Tuscaloosa but we couldn’t see ourselves securing to the top of the wall which was at least 12’ off of the water and so we had to pass on that experience.


Our last night on the Upper Black Warrior we pulled into a creek to anchor for the night only to be greeted by a couple on a quad runner at the mouth of the creek, who called out “welcome pirates” as we idled past. Before the sun had set we were in their home dining on venison chili. Gene & Karen (who live along the creek) and their friends shared the most awesome hospitality. First we had a “signature frou-frou drink” in the “tiki hut”, then we toured their home and the dipped up heaping bowls of chili before we retired back to the tiki hut to enjoy the evening. If you think a tiki hut is inconsistent with central Alabama I can explain, Gene and Karen vacation in Marathon each winter and they wanted to re-create the ambience of their favorite vacation watering hole. What fun we had with them and their friends, and the following day they sent us an e-mail thanking us for coming!

Life on the river is great!