We Meet Again

The rest trip to Demopolis, AL (after the rudder incident) was uneventful, thank goodness. As we got closer to Demopolis, the white rock cliffs along the river got more impressive. Think about how many years it took for the water to wear away the stone and create the riverbed, talk about persistence.

The cliffs near Demopolis

The city of Demopolis has an interesting history. Demopolis, Alabama lies at the confluence of the Black Warrior and Tombigbee rivers. It is situated atop a cliff known locally as White Bluff. Demopolis was founded after the fall of Napoleon's Empire and named by a group of French expatriates. These expatriates wanted to recreate the area in France from which they left, especially the grape and olive plantations. They determined that the soil and climate of Alabama would be idea for their endeavor.
They petitioned the U.S. Congress to sell them property for land to colonize and in 1817 Congress granted approval to allow them to buy four townships in the Alabama Territory at $2 per acre, with the provision that they cultivate grape vines and olive trees. By July 14, 1817, a small party of pioneers had settled at White Bluff on the Tombigbee River, at the present site of Demopolis, founding the Vine and Olive Colony. The name Demopolis in Greek means "the People's City" or "City of the People". It was chosen to honor the democratic ideals behind their endeavor. Demopolis is one of the oldest continuous settlements in Alabama. The Grape and Olive Plantations did not work out, but imagine if it had of.


When we got to Demopolis, AL, we got fuel at the fuel dock and then headed over to our assigned slip. As Anna Marie, the dock master, helped us get tied up she told us that there is usually a meeting at 4:00 for those planning to lock through in the morning. We plan on locking through in the morning, so a little before 4, I headed up to the meeting room. Along the dock, I spotted Trilogy, one of the Ranger Tugs we held up in the locks. I thought this may be interesting. But guess who else showed up at the meeting, Odyssey, Sweetstuff, and Time Out (three other boats we went through the locks with). Turns out most of them really like to run only a half MPH faster than us, so they were perfectly ok with the lock timing. Trilogy said he liked to run about 15 MPH for at least an hour a day, but he was ok with the timing as well. After the Demopolis Lock, the next Lock is over a 100 miles away, so Trilogy will have plenty of opportunity to run off and leave us. We’ll see how it goes and who we see at the next fuel stop, Bobby’s Fish Camp.

Lesson Learned:The tortoise can catch the hare at the fuel stops.

I will update the map pics and add more pics when we get better internet service.  

At the Demopolis Dam