Following a busy day yesterday Renee, Erik and Riva all had a restful and much needed night of sleep.
Most of the forecasted rain from last night apparently skirted our location. We spent and couple of hours walking Riva, showering, planning and eating breakfast. The forecast for the day had altered some and now was indicating the storms to hold off until after noon so we decided to cast off from Florence Harbor to make our way toward Pickwick State Park area. We would decide when we get there whether to anchor (preferable) or get another marina slip.
The temps were perfect and the cloud cover and nice breeze at our 9.5 mph cruising speed kept us very comfortable. About an hour into the trip the skies ahead darkened and we began to be able to see the rain moving up the river at us. We zipped up the isinglass on the Flybridge enclosure and cruised right through some heavy rain accompanied by a few claps of thunder and lightning ⚡️. This is where we realized the payoff in the investment of the new canvas and enclosure. Money well spent to keep us and everything dry and happy!
The rain stopped after about 30 mins and the remainder of the cruise to an anchorage that we had scoped out to stop at for lunch was pleasant while cruising along listening to an Eagles playlist on Pandora.
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| Mouth of the TennTom (Tennessee Tombigbee River) that heads down to the Gulf ....Not this year for us |
The lunchtime anchorage did not disappoint and we enjoyed a nice relaxing swim followed by lunch with a view.
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| If a waterfall doesn't make you smile we can't be friends! |
After lunch the cruise to another anchorage adjacent to Pickwick Landing State Park was about 6 miles. After ensuring that our anchor was set well we lowered the dinghy and took a 3 mile cruise aboard Trudge. We stopped off at the marina to bring Riva ashore and checked out their gift shop We motored on to the main lodge where we walked around and checked out the facilities.
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| Trudge at the State Park lodge dock |
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| Returning to the boat from our dinghy adventure |
Returning to the boat at 4:30 pm we all three were tired and enjoyed a nice afternoon nap in the breeze.
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| tired mama |
Shortly after cooking and enjoying dinner on the aft deck we were visited by a couple from Arkansa, Mike and Debbie, who motored up to our anchorage to chat for a while. They were out in their dinghy baiting catfish lines in the cove, they have a Marine Trader Trawler here at Pickwick Marina that they are planning to start the loop on this fall hopefully. Very nice, down to earth people. Maybe our paths will cross again.
It was an absolutely perfect evening with yet another splendid sunset and nice gentle breezes. And….no storms :-) After sitting for a while and doing some planning for the coming days we brought Riva to shore in Trudge under the stars.
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| There cannot be a blog post without a sunset picture |
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| or two |
Tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day. We will be transiting our last lock of this leg of our journey almost immediately after leaving the anchorage. The trip is getting too near to completion.
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| Our Navionics track for the day |
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