| Date: | Friday, August 29, 2003 |
| Today's Route: | Bobby's Fish Camp, Bladen Springs, AL to Grand Mariner Marina, Mobile AL |
| Today's Mileage: | 125 |
| Total Mileage: | 1305 |
| Hours for the day: 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM | 10 Hours |
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| Bobby's Fish Camp, "Serving the best catfish in the South since 1956." Folks here are friendly, but we were warned not to go swimming. They told us there used to be snakes around the dock, but not any more--the alligators ate them. The fish camp's proprietor is named Bobby Dahlberg, and as Coleen's mother was born a Dahlberg, she of course mentioned that fact. Turns out that Bobby's ancestors came from Sweden in early 1890s to this part of Alabama, where they learned English, worked at what jobs they could find, and wrote letters home to Mama in Sweden. | Bobby's daughter Lora Jane has copies of letters written by Nils Dahlberg to his mother, describing life in Bladon Springs in 1891-1892, including the mob lynching of a murderous anarchist moonshiner who really riled his neighbors. In describing these events to his mother, Nils observed that Alabama was a lot different than Sweden, where prisoners at least went to court before they were hanged. He told her that as hangings were common, he expected he would see more of them. |
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| Fueling up at Bobby's, getting ready to leave. | We, of course, had the catfish last night for dinner. The catfish was caught in this river using traps. See the next picture. |
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| "LaVere Walker has spent most of his life fishing for catfish in the Apalachicola River, which flows behind him in the above picture. He has built these catfish traps for many years. His greatest tool being his wife, Thelma. Due to the loss of his left leg while cutting timber, he relies on her to carry most of the heavy loads." |
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| Coffeeville Lock & Dam, Coffeeville, AL. 34' Lift with floating bollards. In at 8:05 AM - out at 8:30 AM. | Coffeeville Lock & Dam, Coffeeville, AL. |
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| Coffeeville Lock & Dam, Coffeeville, AL. | Fishermen at the Coffeeville Lock & Dam, Coffeeville, AL. |
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| Coffeeville Lock & Dam, Coffeeville, AL. | Coffeeville Lock & Dam, Coffeeville, AL. |
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| Coffeeville Lock & Dam, Coffeeville, AL. | Coffeeville Lock & Dam, Coffeeville, AL. |
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| Another dredging operation. | The tug on the right ran aground. The tug on the left is trying to pull it off the beach. |
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| A swing bridge. |
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| We finally arrive in Mobile Bay. This was an extremely high commercial/industrial area. | This is a floating boat yard. Large freighters would float inside this floating chamber. Then they would let the water out in order to do any repairs on the bottom. |
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| Another floating boatyard; this one with a freighter inside. | |
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| A large freighter leaving the dock. We had to wait till the tugs pulled her out - approximately 45 minutes. | There were quite a few shrimp boats on the Gulf. |
