Day 49: Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Underway: 7:58 am Motor Off: 3:26 pm Miles Traveled: 23 Stayed At: Anchor
First Things First: First time fossil hunting; first time anchoring along shore and swinging the boat over close enough to step on off in about 1 foot of water; first deserted marina.
Mile 123 to Mile 100: Today was a leisurely day. We started after the fog burned off and cruised a few miles downstream to Bobby’s Fish Camp. If we had been able to get a phone signal and internet, we would have stayed overnight there but we couldn’t get anything there. No phone. No internet. No gas. Not a live person anywhere to be found. They have a sign telling people to call a phone number but that only works if you have a phone that has a signal. Neither of ours had any bars. I tried walking a little over a mile up the hill to get to a highway but still had no service. So I walked back to get the gas cans and decided to walk back up to a house by the road to see if I could use their phone or, if they weren’t home, to hitch a ride to the town about 4 miles away. Luckily Tony happened to be driving towards Bobby’s to do some business and he offered to drive me to town to get gas. And he waited till I was done to give me a ride back. And he stopped at a different place so I could get the ice I forgot to buy at the first place. And he gave Cindy a nice visor (she has been wanting one for along time so she can get the hair normally under her hat to bleach out to a nice grey/blonde depending on how you look at it). He saved the day. I had heard of other people waiting for 4 hours or more before someone showed up at Bobby’s. It’s a slow time of the year but they need a better system to service their customers. We were able to get gassed up and head down the river to our next anchorage before lunch. Thank you Tony. You went above and beyond.
After the adventure at Bobby’s, the rest of our day went smoothly. We passed through our last lock at Coffeeville and we are now at sea level (or about 5 feet about sea level right here). Wow. We now have to start planning for the tidal surge that travels up the river and will speed us up or slow us down. I thought I smelled the ocean today but it was probably just my overactive imagination. We have travelled through a total of 41 locks between St. Paul and here – 26 on the upper Mississippi, 2 on the Ohio, 2 on the Tennessee River and 11 on the Tenn –Tom. And everyone of them was an adventure (some more so than others).
We stopped at a bluff where you supposedly can find fossil sand dollars and sharks teeth. It was fun to get off the boat and just wander along the shoreline. We found some cool fossils – mostly common seashells, a trilobite type thing and what looks like a small shark tooth. I also found a large geode but it was too heavy to bring with – I have to get rid of my nice Delta anchor before I can start adding anything not edible to the boat. Cindy even had time to clean up our home and take pictures to prove it.
We had an easy cruise to our chosen anchorage for the night in a channel leading to the ruins of Old Lock 1 – a nice secluded bay above the lock made for an ideal anchorage. We were anchored early, took boat baths (could be a stray alligator in these waters) and lazed around in the warm afternoon sun. 
