Touch of Class

Well, we have been at Orange Beach Marina for a week now.  We were happy to see that “Hank” is still here

Hank on the bow

They have gotten smarter with keeping their Palm trees alive.  See how they cover them

Bagged Palm Trees

Hopefully it helps.  The people around here lost quite a few trees last year when that freeze came thru.

We celebrated our first Sunday with Bloodies and a Mexican breakfast bake.  Yum!

Bloodies

So we decided now that we are settled we better go fetch the van before the dealership we left it at auctions it off.  So we rented another car from Enterprise (thanks Pat) and we left on the 23^rd, Friday, to go back up to Corinth to pick up our van.  It was a cold and rainy day.  The car we rented a cute little Chevy Sonic.  It only took about 10 gallons to fill.  Lots of extras, pretty comfortable and besides that, it was cheap :).

I called the dealership before we left the marina to let them know we were coming.  No sweat, the van is all ready.  So we drive all day thru the rain and get to the dealership about 4:10.  They close at 5.  We go in to the cashier, tell them who we are and what we want.  The girl gathers our paperwork.  Now they also did do an oil change on the van.  We had finally called them after a week of not hearing anything and they said they were glad we called cause there was gas in the oil and they wanted to do an oil change.  The oil change costs money and the rest was going to be covered under warranty.  We gave them the OK for the oil change as we knew we needed one anyway.  So the girl hands us the paperwork for our oil change, in triplicate, has us sign here and there and takes our credit card.  So, I say, do you have any paperwork for the rest of the work they did on the van?  We’d like to keep it for our records.  Oh, she says, they did more work.  So we tell her about the coil replacement and the other part they had to replace.  She starts looking around any can’t find anything.  She calls in the Shop guy, we refresh his memory, he leaves and looks around.  He can’t find anything either so another lady looks it up on the computer, ahhh, here it is.  So the Shop guy goes and gets the print out.  I ask him, so, what was the other part?  He looks as the paperwork and with a blank expression on his face reads “replaced coil, no cure, PCM shorted internal, replaced and programmed PCM, test drove, OK”.  So what does that mean I ask him, he says they replaced the PCM, took it for a test drive and now it’s OK.  So you really don’t know what they did either do ya?  I just say OK and take the keys.  Then he has to find the car, Gary tells him roughly where it is and the guy goes off for it.  I jump in our cute little rental car

Gary and our cute little rental with the small gas tank

and wait for Gary to get in the van so we can find a hotel.  The van comes around and Gary gets in.  I can see him fiddling with the radio.  Oh oh, that’s not good.  He never listens to the radio.  I shut off the cute little rental and go see what the matter is.  Apparently the radio has “wait 30” on it.  What the heck?  They have only had the car for 2 weeks, nobody noticed this?  We get out of the van, and back into the service area we go to explain our situation.  The Shop guy looks confused, it’s 4:30 by now and there are 3 other people in his service area looking for help with their cars.  We’ll guess what people?  They are taking care of us first.  The Shop guy starts looking the error code up on his computer, then he goes and looks in the van, then he consults with a mechanic (I hope their only Dodge mechanic hasn’t gone home for the day cause I am not spending another day here)  They pull the van into a bay.  At 4:55 the van is all fixed!  It just needed the anti-theft code entered!  Whew!  That was a close one.

We are off to our nice hotel for a nice glass of wine 🙂

We wake the next morning to find out it has SNOWED!

Snow on the lamp post

Snow on the landscape

Let’s get the hell outta Dodge, there is snow here!  So off we go with our fixed fan and our cute little rental, back to Orange Beach for 4 months of fun in the sun.

BTW, for those of you that don’t know what a PCM is, my sister in law Googled it for us

1. A power-train control module, abbreviated PCM, is an automotive component, an electronic control unit (ECU), used on motor vehicles. It is generally a combined control unit, consisting of the engine control unit (ECU) and the transmission control unit.

Basically the “Brain” in the car.  Remember when we hit the deer in 2013 and the brain was hanging down and Gary bunged it up and covered it with baggies to keep it dry?  I guess we were lucky to make back to Aqua in December.  Thanks to all those little Angels that are watching over us 🙂

Before we left this morning we met a family in a 45 Carver.  Husband, wife and two younger boys.  They had taken a year off work and had done the loop in their boat.  They were on their last leg and actually returning to their home in Chattanooga TN.  One of the boys, the older one, maybe about 12 was on the side of the deck after just shoving off from the dock.  No Life Jacket!  The mom, who was transporting the car, was still on the dock taking pictures of them leaving.  She yelled “L I F E   J A C K E T!”.  The kid got down.  You’d think after living aboard for a year it would be ingrained in their minds but I guess kids will be kids and I’m sure he knew better than his parents as all kids of that age do :).

We shoved off around 7:30.  36 degrees but it was a beautiful sunny day.  But the tide was at it’s lowest point.  We were hoping we wouldn’t have too much trouble going back out their narrow and shallow passage way.  Whew! We made it out and the low water alarm only went off a couple of times 🙂

There were a couple REALLY large boats in the shipping channel that morning, some commercial fishermen and a few barges other than that, not too busy.  We traveled down the shipping channel to where we needed to cut across.  We got some tips last year from a few people as to where to cross Mobile Bay without having to go all the way down to where the ICW (Inter Coastal Waterway) comes into Mobile bay.  This short cut shaves off quite a bit of time.

I have seen more dolphins on this trip than any of our other trips.  They were practically swim right under our bow.  Cool!  Our trip this time, once we hopped on the short cut, was a little rougher than before.  The water was hitting us on our port side causing a little rocking and rolling.  No one pukes though, not even the cat, that is good :).  It calmed down the further we got.  Gary was worried it might have been too rough for me.  I told him, when I put my life jacket on and start saying the rosary, you’ll know it is too rough.

As we entered the ICW and start traveling it, we see where someone has hit one of the piling markers, I bet that must have hurt.  The marker is practically level with the water.

Someone hit the Pile marker

The Coasties are out there replacing the buoy with a little floating one.

Coasties to the rescue

Now the ICW narrows down and we have land close by on both sides.  We go by The Warf,

The Warf

see the pretty 49 DeFever?

Pretty Defever

Can you tell I’m driving and Gary is taking pictures?

Then we come along an area where they are dredging or something.  Look at this cool floating digger thingie

Floating Dredger

Another sunken boat.  I think he didn’t see the corner, hee hee

What the heck???

As we get closer to Orange Beach the water got very clear

Clear water in Orange Beach

And the beaches are as white as ever

White Beach

This is a boat yard called Sanders.  I’ve heard they do very good work.  You should have seen our AIS light up with all the boats they are working on.  Even a Pirate Ship

Pirate Ship

AAARRRRGGG!

We make it to our final destination……Orange Beach Marina

Our Winter Home

We even get our same spot again.  Right across from the gas dock.  We are doing our happy dance and are very happy to be back at Orange Beach.  Now we’ll have to think about getting our car back!

There was a tug that passed our anchorage last night.  I was down in the bunk room with the cat, Gary slept at the booth on anchor watch.  I could hear this tug for what seemed like forever.  Growl, growl, growl.  Holy Hoot!  Are you ever going to pass? Growl, growl, growl.  Person here.  Trying to get some sleep.  I was wondering if it was beached to allow another tow to pass.  Growl, growl, growl.  Maybe they are blocking the enterance to the anchorage and we’ll never be able to get out.  Growl, growl, growl.  Gez, just pass already!  Finally after what seemed like forever it finally quieted down and I was able to get some sleep.

We awoke at 5:30 on the morning of the 15^th.  I was glad to hear Gary didn’t sleep very well either although it wasn’t the tug that kept him awake.  Misery loves company :).  It’s raining out, oh great!  Hopefully it won’t be cold.  We got up pretty early so we’ll have to wait for the sun to rise before we can leave.

We finally get underway.  There are more palm plants on the river banks, oh boy, we are just that much closer to the Gulf!

Our Garmin looses it detail the closer we get to Mobile Bay so we fire up the IPad.  See the difference between the two

Garmin vs. IPad

The IPad has much more detail now over the Garmin.  We keep both running so we can use the IAS on the Garmin.

The river is getting pretty winding now too

Windy River

We finally make it to Mobile Bay.  The traffic is really slim to nil which is kind of nice.  We won’t have to worry about running into any Naval vessels today :).  We do see this big boat tied up to the convention center.

Big Boy, probably about 140 feet!

Status Quo

That is a big boy.

Even though we have been here a few times, we still do a lot of gawking.  So many new things to look at and of course……all the boats!

We got to Dog River Marina early enough for us to add some fuel and take a walk around.  Then it is early to bed for the Mobile Bay crossing in the morning and our final destination of Orange Beach Marina.

We left Bobby’s at 7 and were locked thru by 7:50.   We were supposed to be dropped 34 feet and we were only dropped about 9.  Do you think the water level is still up a tad?

The past three locks asked us for our documentation numbers (Some boats, like ours, are documented with the US Coast Guard.  We don’t have to be registered with the state of Minnesota, although we are [that’s another story], supposedly if war ever breaks out, they can confiscate our boat to use for war but have to return it in same or similar condition.  Also, we can only be boarded by the Coast Guard).  We knew the lock at Coffeeville would ask for our documentation numbers, as it is the last chance to find a stolen boat before they hit the Gulf but we were never asked for the documentation number at the other locks in our past trips.  I was wondering if it was because the USA is on High Alert for terrorist attacks right now.

After they dropped us, they usually open the doors right away.  This time they opened the doors a few feet and stopped.  Then they closed them.  I’m thinking, shit, they can’t get the doors open!  We’re trapped! OMG, I am going to die in an Alabama lock! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

Oh, there is just some bird on the door and they are afraid they will crush if they open the door,  So one of the guys shoos it away and then they start opening the doors again.  I guess I will live for another day :).

As we make our way down the TennTom, I am driving.  I am keeping my eyes peeled for the buoys and debris.  I see a red buoy sitting high in the water but when I look again it is gone!  Crap, where did it go?  I guess I’ll have to hope we don’t hit any submerged buoys.  We end up seeing about 8 to 10 of those as we make our way down.  I think the water is higher than the last time we went down.

Now you see it
Now you don’t buoy

Gary takes over driving later on in the day.  BANG!  Kill the power, pull back the throttles. Look behind us.  Nothing,  Must have hit a submerged something or other.  Put the engines back in gear, give a little gas, give it a little more, a little more……good, no vibration.  I think we dodged a bullet, that’s good.  And luckily it wasn’t me that was driving hee hee :).

We get to our final anchorage at 2:00, only need one anchor today as there is enough current to keep us straight and no bad weather is predicted for the rest of the day. So I guess it is time for a nap!

Today is the 13^th and we are waiting for the Lockmaster to call us to the lock.  We checked with the five or so boats here to see who is leaving with us and looks like we are the only ones.  Of course they do predict rain all day today, that could be the reason we are the only boat leaving today.  Well we only have one lock today and it is 42 degrees so I shouldn’t freeze too badly manning the lines.

We were finally called to the lock by the Lockmaster.  There was a lot of foam in the entrance to the lock and the lock itself

Look at all that foam

We had to be careful where we went cause you never know what is hiding under all that foam.  Luckily we didn’t hit anything and we make it out of the lock by 7:45, not too bad.

We are still getting a 2 knot current so we are making pretty good time.  The water is relatively clear of debris.  I seem to remember we had a lot more logs and water hyacinth last year.  Quite a few people we have talked to, tell us they think the TennTom is boring, they call it the “Ditch”.  I don’t know, I always have found it interesting.  Different things to look at.  We saw an ottor or something at our anchorage

Otter or alligator????

There are always lots of different benches and chairs along the bank

Just a bench

Bench and Chair

We even saw a wheel chair!  The telephone booth was still there

Pay phone on shore

And we saw what we thought was a deer crossing the river (it was too far away so I couldn’t get a good picture 😦 ).

Then we saw a tow trying to thread the needle with his barges.  There was a railroad bridge with a pretty narrow opening.  We hung back to make sure he made it.  The Tow Captain put a lookout on the front of the first barge to make sure he was going to make it.

Little more to the left

Then he lined it up

Ok, looks good

Then he made his run

Thread the needle

He made it!  With the current as fast as it was, that was a difficult move by the Captain.  As we drove between the pillars of the bridge we could see where some other barges scraped the pillars.  Pretty tight squeeze.  We had plenty of room 🙂

The weather man was right and it rained all day today but with the extra current we made good time and got to Bobby’s Fish Camp by 3:50.  At least the current wasn’t as bad as last time we were here or Gary is getting to be a better Captain cause he shimmied right up to the dock and I got off no problem and was able to tie the boat up.  Of course when I tie the boat up I just do my best to keep the boat from moving off the dock, then Gary comes in behind me and tidies everything up.  He makes sure the boat won’t go forward, or backward and stays nice and tight to the dock so we can get off and on safely.

Just south of the dock we were tied too is a boat that apparently didn’t make it to it’s destination

Whoops

That window on the starboard side looks awfully close to the water

Watch out for that big wave

I don’t remember this being here last year but the boat is in really tough shape.  But it is an old woodie.

Tough shape

We missed the Catfish dinner at Bobby’s so I guess I better get going and make my man something to eat.  Sweet dreams till next time!

HOT DANG!  They have turned back on the water.  We can bathe!  And I have never looked so forward to doing the dishes before.  And laundry!  Whoopie!  It is the little things in life that make us happy :).

After I got done with all my chores I noticed a very interesting boat over on one of the docks.  Thought I’d take some pictures of it, here is the starboard side

Unusual Sail Boat

The bow

Bow

That looks a little odd, better not hit a wave or the boat will sink for sure!

Here is the port side

Port Side

A close up of the window

Window

There are 4 windows like this on the sides of the boat, 2 on each side.  They are super close to the water.  They even have braided rope around the frame of the window.  Well, everyone can enjoy boating no matter what kind of boat they have :).

The water is still running high and Fred, the owner of the marina says we should stay until Tuesday.  So we’ll hunker down till then and maybe wash some more things :).

Sunrise at the anchorage

We woke up to a beautiful sun rise and the boat hadn’t moved at all, we like that.  We ended up leaving the generator on all night.  It got down to 20 degrees, so it was pretty cold.  I slept like a rock.  That is a first for me in an anchorage.

We lifted anchor and started heading for our next destination, Kingfisher Marina.  Well it seems Smokie has adjusted quicker than last time to being on the boat and he seems to be enjoying the ride

Smokie likes boating

When he is feeling a little apprehensive, he just climbs up on Gary

Keep me safe

Sometimes he helps Gary watch for logs, forward

No logs in front

And aft

All clear Captain!

No logs behind us!

Other times, Smokie just likes to hang out in his bowl

Kitty in a bowl

Although the best place for a nap is on his dad’s shoulder

Dad’s are comfy

As we neared Kingfisher Marina we got a call from the people on Jack and Water.  They just made it to Kingfisher an hour ago.  The water is shut off at the marina but the people running the gas dock will fill our water tanks using a fire hose if we pull up to the gas dock.  We arrive at Kingfisher Marina by 2 on the 9th.

As a side note, the marinas shut off the water to the docks when it is going to be down below freezing for a few days so their pipes don’t freeze.  As a matter of fact they did that at Columbus Marina while we were attempting to move the van.  Usually the marina gives you a heads up so you can fill your water tank, but we were gone and now we are running low on water.  So low, we haven’t done any dishes and no showering!  Wouldn’t want to be 1/2 way thru a shower and run out of water.

We called the gas dock at Kingfisher when we got closer.  Sorry, can’t pull in there, too much debris surrounding the dock.  So we had to go directly to the dock we’d be staying at.  Damn! No water.  That means no laundry, no showers, no shitter and we are running out of silverware!  Times are getting tough on the Touch of Class.  We will have to start dousing ourselves in perfume and wearing our underwear inside out!  The cat won’t even come near us.  We’ll be restricted to the boat until we can bathe.  We are keeping our fingers crossed it isn’t too much longer.

Well, we were back at the dealership by 9:30, we let the people in service know we were waiting.  About 9:45 a person comes back.  She wants to know if we are carrying.  No, no guns on us…..do we need one?  Well, turns out they got the coil in but now something else is wrong, they have the part ordered and it will be here by 10:00.  Ten?  That is only 15 minutes away, no sweat.  No she says, not today…..tomorrow!  Crap, double Crap!  I don’t think I can sit around here all day again listening to politics and peoples family history. We decide not to wait and head back to the boat.  The dealership agrees to keep the van there until we can pick it up.  So we jump in the rental and head head back to Columbus and the boat.

So we are back at the boat for a while and guess what?  The toilet broke again!  That same set screw.  I guess I better start using more fiber or something :(.  Hopefully Gary can fix it without taking the whole dang thing out again.  Well, that will be a project for another day.

While we were at Columbus Marina, we met another couple on the dock. They too were living aboard their boat.  They are originally from Montana.  They have been at Columbus for quite a while so they took us under their wing and showed us a few places to eat.  While meeting all these new people, I have come to the conclusion that not many meals are made on these traveling boats.  Luckily for Gary, and the budget, I am enjoying cooking so he is getting by cheaper than some other guys traveling with their wives :).  Anyway, one of the places they took us to was called Profits Porch.  I don’t think we’d ever find it again as it was way off some back road and of course it was dark when we went there but it was a great place to eat.  Great Cajun food.

Didn’t have any of that but doesn’t that makes your mouth water!

Well, we were finally able to leave on January 8^th from Columbus.  It was pretty dang cold in the morning, we even had frost on the windows

Frosty window

And look at that ice on the shore!

Ice on the shore 🙂

Man, now that’s cold! ;).

This leg of the journey we’ll be traveling with a new boat called Jack and Water

Jack and Water

They are out of Chicago and heading south too.  Again, they travel faster than us so we have to pick it up a bit to get thru the next two locks with them.  Once we are thru the final lock, we slow down and they continue on their way.

I think hunting season is still in full force here as we see a lot of boats pulled onto the shores any many people dressed in camo, like these two

Hunters, you should of seen them from the front!

We made good time with the current so we got to our first anchorage by 2:00, and guess what?  There are PALM PLANTS here!

Palm Plants

OMG, we are getting closer!  We are sooooo excited!

You can see by this picture of the tug behind us that we are not too far off the channel

Tow Boat in the channel

Of course at night, with no power, we have to run the generator and find ways to amuse ourselves.  I’ve suckered Gary in to playing a few card games we have learned along the way.  Even the cat likes to get in on the action.

Smokie, playing cards

So after beating Gary in a few games, it is off to beddy by and we’ll hope the anchor holds 🙂

We left family and friends on December 29th to meander back down to Aqua to pick up the boat and take it down to Orange Beach.  Orange Beach will be our winter destination again this year.

Our crew is complete now as we picked up Smokie from Pat’s house.  He spent the fall with Pat at his new home and now he is ready to enjoy the dolphins and pelicans.

Smokie, finally back on the boat

We Aqua left bright and early on the 31st and arrived at our 1st destination, Midway Marina.  We ended up traveling (sort of) with a 65 to 70 foot Berger.  He was pouring the coals on and we were traveling at our normal slower speeds.  I don’t think he was too happy when he ended up waiting for us at the last lock :(.

Midway marina was still nicely decorated with Christmas lights

Christmas lights

And our boat looked so warm and cozy

Warm and Cozy

We, of course, rang in the New Year with a little bubblie

Cheers!

but we were in bed by 9.  Such non-hackers 🙂

We got up early on January 1st and were on our way by 6:45.  Smokie couldn’t handle the partying from the night before

Smokie, sleeping it off

We have an action packed day planned, we have 4 locks to get thru today.  As we didn’t travel well with the Berger (he was too fast and we were too slow), we were hoping to get well ahead of him.  We succeeded until the last lock, then we had to wait for him and he had to rush to catch up to us

Here he comes!

Almost there

Ahhhh, he made it!

It turned out this boat was also from Minnesota.  They keep it at Red Wing, at Cindy’s.  Us crazy Minnesotans running from winter.  But what fun we are having!

Our next stop was Columbus Marina.  We ended up staying there for a week.  It rained hard for the first 2 days we were there and so the waters rose and the tress started floating down river and we hunkered down to wait for the waters to subside and clear out.

So while we were waiting for the waters to recede, we decided to go transport our van from Aqua marina to Orange Beach Marina.  We rented a car for 2 days, filled up Smokey’s dishes and we were on our way.  We got to Aqua.  Gary was going to drive the van and I was going to drive the rental car.  The van was running very rough when he started it but we decided to continue.  As the van continued to run rough he pulled over to the side of the road, we were taking the van to Corinth, MS to have it checked out.  He is in the lead, all of a sudden we are going down back roads.  I can hear the banjos playing now.  What the heck?  I hope the van doesn’t die on these roads, we’d be screwed.  Turned out he took a wrong turn but luckily our Garwin got us back on track and we made it to the dealership. We told them our sad tale of just passing through so they were going to do everything they could to get us on the road.  But, of course it was lunch time and the only mechanic that worked on Dodge’s was out to lunch, so we left the van and walked across the street to have some lunch of our own.  About 1:45, someone comes back and tells us it is the coil.  They have sent someone to Jackson, TN to pick it up at another dealer.  They will try to have it installed before they close at 5.  I Googled the distance between here and Jackson, TN….it is 1 1/2 hour drive.  Poop!  I don’t think we’ll be getting out of here anytime soon.  So we sit and wait.  People in the waiting room try to strike up conversations with us.  One old lady is talking politics.  Don’t you know one of the things you should never talk about is politics?????  What do I think about Jebb Bush?  What do I think about Mitt Romney?  Oh oh, time to fake sleep so she’ll find someone else to talk to.  Then there is this old gentleman.  He is like the Wal-mart greeter but he sits in the customer lounge and talks to everyone.  Seems he is related to everyone there…….somehow.  Someone finally comes back at 4:30.  Yes, they finally have the part the need but there is no way they are going to be able to get it installed that day but will have it done by 9:30 tomorrow morning.  So we will get a hotel and be back at 9:30.

Here is what we do

That’s right….we water ski on November 29th!  See the snow and ice on the lake in the back of the picture? Of course this must be some crazy teenager.  No way would you catch me out there!

Here is what I would rather be doing

Decorating our boat for a Christmas boat parade.  Some day we’ll see on in person.

Stay warm y’all!