Saturday, August 4

Tour of the towboat - Bobby Joe James

Statue honoring "Our Confederate Dead"

Bluff Hill - Demopolis, AL.

The Red Barn

Dinner with Francis & Helene

With a couple of tropical storms possibly headed for the Gulf Coast, we decided to spend another day in Demopolis, AL., until we had a clearer picture of the weather. At the marina's fuel dock we noticed the tow, Bobby Joe James (think it's based in the South?) which was there to fuel and provision before heading upriver to Illinois to pick up a load of coal. We struck up a conversation with Captain Billy and inquired about the possibility of a tour. He agreed and for the next half hour showed us the inner-workings of a river towboat. The tour was quite fascinating, especially after passing so many of them along our cruise. Some interesting facts regarding the Bobby Joe James: She carries a crew of seven - Captain, pilot, relief captain, mechanic and three deckhands. She holds 85,000 gallons of diesel. She burns 3,000 gallons of diesel and 50 quarts of oil a day. The engines have 4200 HP each - turning 96" propellers. A normal tow on the Tenn-Tom is 105 feet wide, the locks are 110 feet wide. Not much room for error! Next we decided a bike tour of Demopolis was in order. Although it appeared that this small town is struggling like so many others, the community has focused on many beautification projects. The parks were well landscaped and the neighborhoods full of nicely maintained older homes. We knew we were in the Deep South when we came across the prominently displayed statue honoring "Our Confederate Dead". The big attraction in town is Bluff Hill, an antebellum house museum. Since it did not look too busy and I felt as if we should show some support to the the town, I bought a ticket. Signing the guest book I couldn't help but notice that I was the first customer in over a week. Located on White Bluff overlooking the Tombigbee River, Bluff Hall was built in 1832 by slaves of Allen Glover for his daughter and her husband. At Green Turtle Bay we were told to look for "Miss Jazz", a trawler owned by a French Canadian couple who were headed for Demopolis. We joined Francis & Helene for 5:30 "docktails" and dinner at The Red Barn, enjoying their company very much. They love boating as much as we do - their last adventure was cruising the canals of France off and on for the past four years in a 25' boat. Francis said he had to earn 3 licenses from the French Government to do so (ugh!). Their home base is Quebec, near Chateau Montebello on the Ottawa River, a place we visited while in Canada.