In light of the flooding on the rivers, they should consider placing Oprah in the middle of Mobile Bay. "You get new props, YOU get new props, and YOU get new props!!" I know of scant few boaters who have eluded the obstacles and ended their journey down the rivers without needing at least some repairs. Remember, I'm traveling with a very handsome (sorry Tammy) and capable Captain. We hit a significant something in a well marked channel. Totally pissed and bummed us out, to be truthful. An "are you kidding me???" Sort of moment. But I digress.
I've left you out of so much! We found a lovely Anchorage called Kelly's landing where the kids swam with abandon in waters that were for all intents and purposes "cold". We were almost eaten alive by coyotes. Really. It was one of those stories where the minute the sun set, we heard "scrambling" in the woods.... And we went silent. "Uhm, honey? Let's get in the dinghy,. Like NOW. " So we did. And once we were all safely in the boat, we saw them. Well, actually, the dogs saw them first. Low growls in their bellies and then iridescent eyes reflecting our flashlights. We finally saw their bodies with Todd's powerful lights. Much bigger than I cared to think about, larger for sure, than our dogs. Going to be honest. I slept like a rock - was relying on the dogs; about time you guys carried your weight! 😝 Poor boys, they were probably totally stressed out. Dunno if coyotes like to swim, but I was counting on "no".
We were "ghosted" at AquaYachts Marina. They didn't care two hoots how long we stopped there waiting for someone to pull out our boat and look at our props. IT was really frustrating. YOU try waiting somewhere random with two 5 year-olds and two dogs!!! And you'd think I'd remember the guy who fixed us up? Nope. Dang it. I think itt was Bay Springs Marina - fairly sure his name was Chris. And his Marina was waaaay better than AquaYachts. They were so nice to us and put us on the "inside" so the winds would not whip us around. Ugh. I'm seriously hoping that you're not relying on me for travel plans.
Besides being really nice to us, I do know that they sort of forgot that the dogs, kids and I were on the boat when they lifted us out of the water. How many of YOU have been lifted up in a 36,000 pound boat, 20 or so feet, by two yellow straps that did look "sturdy," but still?!?! "I didn't really think that one through" was the comment. 😜 But seriously, they were good guys, and we were really happy with the outcome. If you find yourself on that part of the river, lemme know and I'll really try harder to remember who they were. In their opinion, we were good to go for a while, and we took their word for it since we weren't ready to pull the boat again and wait for the props to be repaired.
We had to stop next at Midway Marina since Todd had some warmer/waterproof gear shipped there. Just remember that these marinas are NOT like ours at home. For instance, Tess wandered into what she thought was the bathroom, and she thought she was turning on the lights (or at least that was her story). In reality, she turned off the power to the WHOLE MARINA. Not our proudest parenting moment - she literally could've fried herself!! sheesh people!! "Yah, I thought we should close that door". You think?!? Poor girl is NOT used to being yelled at by Daddy - She was more scared by that than the actual event. It was there that we met, for the second time, "Lead Dog". A very nice, southern couple named Gene and Paula - the sort of folks that you aspire to be; full of grace, great stories, and such a welcoming demeanor. We decided to cruise along with them for a while since they were almost as fast as we were.
We stopped next at Demopolis (TN?) A really nice, large marina, but with a really bossy and "rule ridden" harbor master. She was a tough old broad, and she wielded it. (A move reference there.....)
despite breaking one of the rules, we let the kiddos fish off the back of the boat, where they summarily caught our catfish dinner! They were so proud of themselves! I was pretty proud too - poor, handsome poppa had to clean those buggers though. That's a job, let me tell you. He had to literally rip the skin off them (slippery little devils). This marina had a "party deck" over the harbor master's office, so I thought better to stink up that area with a fish fry that to stink up our boat....seriously, right?!? Fish fries are stinky! We took up plates, tartar sauce, our fryer, french fries (lord, don't forget the Ketchup!) and went up to the second floor. It was a might bit chilly up there with the wind and all. Also, Ryder promptly found the one puddle left from the last storm, and slipped, Laurel and Hardy style right onto his back into the middle of the puddle. IF you know Ryder at all, this is not surprising. Poor dude. Daddy graciously took him back to the boat and changed his clothes. Not a trivial walk. And nevermind that I had just lugged our 40 pounds of laundry to the laundromat so that we could have clean clothes to fall into puddles. It gets better.
Do you know those parenting moments when you're self-talking; surely he's learned his lesson, and I'm not going to beat this dead horse. Uhm, nope. Ryder literally hadn't been back upstairs, in his clean, dry clothes but maybe five minutes, and he found the EXACT SAME PUDDLE and slipped EXACTLY THE SAME WAY!!!! whomp! on his back! you can't make this shit up. Do i laugh? Do I scream "are you f'ing kidding me?!?!"I think I just walked away, left him laying there on his back for Todd to find. Ryder, if you're reading this in middle school, that, right there, is the answer to so many of your issues. I love you very much. Sorry you had to learn that life lesson in such a harsh way. I don't know what to tell you, Buddy, that was pretty f'ing stupid.
We left Demopolis and sort of found our way to a wall in Mobile Bay (where I believe Oprah should've been stationed). It was a "feel your way in dark" kind of moment - there was a boat behind us, counting on our expertise (HAH!). We were right by the convention center (always a really nice side of town, right?!?) on a concrete wall, between two naval ship yards where I"m pretty sure we saw some stuff we should've been killed for (a really sweet, nimble, navy ship that we think Clay night have been stationed on for a bit)...ALL NIGHT LONG those boys worked and put their forklifts in reverse (beep,beep.beep) but God bless 'em for working for God and Country. We finally gave up around dawn, and made our way to the ICW towards Saunders Marina for our prop repairs. I woke up Tess at our first Dolphin sighting, and she said "See Mom?!?! I TOLD you they were REAL!". I
m not sure when I might have told her that dolphins were in the Mermaid category, but whatever. The look of pure Christmas on her face was well worth it. We soon found Saunders Marina and queued up our boat n the line of boats for prop repairs. We spent a few wonderful days in Gulf Shores, AL. What a beautiful place, soooo full of snow birds! But really beautiful! We rented a car and all-nighted it home, 17 hours. in a very small rental car. With two dogs and two poor, road-weary children sitting on their "short distance fold up car seats". Troopers, those kids. Scared the bejesus out of the big kids when we walked in the door, but what a nice surprise, the house was clean, and still there!!! Just in time for Thanksgiving and all the holiday magic.
Besides being really nice to us, I do know that they sort of forgot that the dogs, kids and I were on the boat when they lifted us out of the water. How many of YOU have been lifted up in a 36,000 pound boat, 20 or so feet, by two yellow straps that did look "sturdy," but still?!?! "I didn't really think that one through" was the comment. 😜 But seriously, they were good guys, and we were really happy with the outcome. If you find yourself on that part of the river, lemme know and I'll really try harder to remember who they were. In their opinion, we were good to go for a while, and we took their word for it since we weren't ready to pull the boat again and wait for the props to be repaired.
We had to stop next at Midway Marina since Todd had some warmer/waterproof gear shipped there. Just remember that these marinas are NOT like ours at home. For instance, Tess wandered into what she thought was the bathroom, and she thought she was turning on the lights (or at least that was her story). In reality, she turned off the power to the WHOLE MARINA. Not our proudest parenting moment - she literally could've fried herself!! sheesh people!! "Yah, I thought we should close that door". You think?!? Poor girl is NOT used to being yelled at by Daddy - She was more scared by that than the actual event. It was there that we met, for the second time, "Lead Dog". A very nice, southern couple named Gene and Paula - the sort of folks that you aspire to be; full of grace, great stories, and such a welcoming demeanor. We decided to cruise along with them for a while since they were almost as fast as we were.
We stopped next at Demopolis (TN?) A really nice, large marina, but with a really bossy and "rule ridden" harbor master. She was a tough old broad, and she wielded it. (A move reference there.....)
despite breaking one of the rules, we let the kiddos fish off the back of the boat, where they summarily caught our catfish dinner! They were so proud of themselves! I was pretty proud too - poor, handsome poppa had to clean those buggers though. That's a job, let me tell you. He had to literally rip the skin off them (slippery little devils). This marina had a "party deck" over the harbor master's office, so I thought better to stink up that area with a fish fry that to stink up our boat....seriously, right?!? Fish fries are stinky! We took up plates, tartar sauce, our fryer, french fries (lord, don't forget the Ketchup!) and went up to the second floor. It was a might bit chilly up there with the wind and all. Also, Ryder promptly found the one puddle left from the last storm, and slipped, Laurel and Hardy style right onto his back into the middle of the puddle. IF you know Ryder at all, this is not surprising. Poor dude. Daddy graciously took him back to the boat and changed his clothes. Not a trivial walk. And nevermind that I had just lugged our 40 pounds of laundry to the laundromat so that we could have clean clothes to fall into puddles. It gets better.
Do you know those parenting moments when you're self-talking; surely he's learned his lesson, and I'm not going to beat this dead horse. Uhm, nope. Ryder literally hadn't been back upstairs, in his clean, dry clothes but maybe five minutes, and he found the EXACT SAME PUDDLE and slipped EXACTLY THE SAME WAY!!!! whomp! on his back! you can't make this shit up. Do i laugh? Do I scream "are you f'ing kidding me?!?!"I think I just walked away, left him laying there on his back for Todd to find. Ryder, if you're reading this in middle school, that, right there, is the answer to so many of your issues. I love you very much. Sorry you had to learn that life lesson in such a harsh way. I don't know what to tell you, Buddy, that was pretty f'ing stupid.
We left Demopolis and sort of found our way to a wall in Mobile Bay (where I believe Oprah should've been stationed). It was a "feel your way in dark" kind of moment - there was a boat behind us, counting on our expertise (HAH!). We were right by the convention center (always a really nice side of town, right?!?) on a concrete wall, between two naval ship yards where I"m pretty sure we saw some stuff we should've been killed for (a really sweet, nimble, navy ship that we think Clay night have been stationed on for a bit)...ALL NIGHT LONG those boys worked and put their forklifts in reverse (beep,beep.beep) but God bless 'em for working for God and Country. We finally gave up around dawn, and made our way to the ICW towards Saunders Marina for our prop repairs. I woke up Tess at our first Dolphin sighting, and she said "See Mom?!?! I TOLD you they were REAL!". I
m not sure when I might have told her that dolphins were in the Mermaid category, but whatever. The look of pure Christmas on her face was well worth it. We soon found Saunders Marina and queued up our boat n the line of boats for prop repairs. We spent a few wonderful days in Gulf Shores, AL. What a beautiful place, soooo full of snow birds! But really beautiful! We rented a car and all-nighted it home, 17 hours. in a very small rental car. With two dogs and two poor, road-weary children sitting on their "short distance fold up car seats". Troopers, those kids. Scared the bejesus out of the big kids when we walked in the door, but what a nice surprise, the house was clean, and still there!!! Just in time for Thanksgiving and all the holiday magic.
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