Back at Dog River

Okay boys and girls, when I last left you I was leaving the boat at Dog River Marina near Mobile because several locks on the Tombigbee Waterway were closed for a couple of weeks due to maintenance. Since the boat was in need of a bottom job I went ahead and had that done while leaving it and heading home.
Fast forward to yesterday... My good friend Rob Cantrell volunteered to join me as a deckhand so my wonderful father drove us to Mobile. About an hour out from the marina I called and left a message that I would like to take a quick look at the bottom and then settle the bill, please be ready to put the boat in the water shortly thereafter. When we arrived I found that the message was never received and it would be about an hour to prepare the bill and put the boat in the water... oh well. The bottom looked good and I was told there were no blisters of any significance.... yeah. Daddy took us to the grocery store and when we got back they had her in the water... all is good. Rob and I planned on spending the night on the boat and heading out at first light. As the maintenance guys tried starting the engine in order to move her to a slip we found the batteries to be dead... after a short charge it cranked right up, so all is good, right? Well, I was concerned so first thing Wednesday morning I had them check the batteries... one was dead. No big deal, we'll just have the bad one replaced and be on our way a couple of hours later than planned. As the mechanic, T.J., was finishing up I asked him to check the oil for me before I cranked her up... he said the level was good but the oil was really dirty and in need of changing... not what I wanted to hear but I knew it would be on my mind if I didn't have it done. I believe I have quite a few hours on the engine since leaving Melbourne so it's probably due anyway... the problem is they didn't have anyone to do the job until 2:00.  Oh well, we'll leave in the morning at first light.  Like I've been told by experienced boaters, don't try and follow a schedule, just go with the flow.

Okay, after sitting and watching the guy change the oil it occurred to me that I could walk over to West Marine and buy a pump to pull out the old oil thus allowing me to do the job myself... like I said in an earlier post, I'm a little slow at times. Anyway, I went ahead and bought the pump, just a little hand pump, and can do the job myself next time.
It's been relatively cool most of the day due to overcast skies, but it got fairly hot this afternoon so Rob and I walked on down to a little store by the fuel dock where we landed in a couple chairs on the shady front porch and had a few cold beers. There was a breeze crossing the river which felt mighty good and we just kicked back and watched life for a while. If we had a guitar it would have been nice... even better if we knew how to play one.
Once again our plan is to shove off early in the morning and try to make about 60 miles... we'll see what tomorrow brings.