After breakfast we took the dinghy through the old lock and talked about what it must have been like bringing the paddle wheelers up and down the river a hundred years ago. Lock One is one of the older federal navigation projects in the United States. Congress authorized improvements to the Black Warrior – Tombigbee River System and 17 locks were constructed, each numbered consecutively, south to north. Work began on Lock One in 1893 and ended in 1909. Lock operations continued until November 1960 when a new channel bypassed it, cutting off four miles of river traffic. The lock upriver at Coffeeville replaced Lock One. After snapping a few pictures, we beached the boat at the ramp and walked up the incline to explore the park. Here we met Don Johnson, the park host, who hails from North Dakota. He had been traveling in his converted camper van for the last eight years and was invited to be the campground host for the winter. He’d just arrived six weeks ago after spending several weeks hiking the Appalachian Trail. Don has done lots of adventuresome things over the years including canoeing down the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers from Bismark, ND to New Orleans, LA and on another trip traveling up the Hudson River into Canada, again beginning his journey in North Dakota.
At 10 am, we brought up the hook and left the anchorage on our way to Three Rivers Lake. We had spent several days at Three Rivers in late April / early May when the devastating tornadoes ripped through Tuscaloosa, Alabama and vicinity.
It was a great traveling day with sunny skies, a nice breeze from the north and temperatures from 75 to 85 degrees over the course of our trip. There were no alligator sightings even though we were always on the lookout. The traffic from the commercial barges and the big cruisers so anxious to go south seemed to have resolved itself now that a few days had passed since the locks further north opened up. We did not meet a single barge going north on Friday and the only cruiser that passed us was the trawler, Tropical Breeze, home port Cape Coral, Florida. Captain Gale and the captain of Tropical Breeze visited quite a while on the marine radio about traveling the loop and getting back to Florida.
We noted the water level was, of course, much lower than it had been when we’d come through in May during the spring flooding. When we arrived at Three Rivers around 4 pm, we discovered a few sandbars that had not been visible on our previous visit. We found a great place to anchor but not without going in just a bit too far and stirring up the mud in a very shallow area.
Gale was anxious to find out if he could still catch bass after coming through the last lock. He wasn’t sure if the possible brackishness of the water and the minor tide would make any difference. Within minutes of lowering the dinghy and finding a fishing spot, he had his biggest “boated” bass on the line. Another one, just as big, shook off the hook. He encountered two more night herons in the channel and went back to get Maureen to show her the birds. There was an immature black crowned night heron on a branch on one side of the narrow channel and an adult on the other side. We thought they might have been related. 
The evening was cool with a good northerly breeze and the temperature dipped down into the upper 40’s overnight – perfect cuddling weather.
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