Thursday, December 20, 2007 - Foscue Creek Park, Demopolis AL

Towboat Heloise passing Foscue Creek Park, Demopolis AL, December 20, 2007

A new day dawns

The birds come to life and begin to sing and flit about looking for breakfast. Deer get up from their overnight bed, stretch, pee, have a look about, and lazily move off grazing as they go. Great blue herons take up position in the weeds watching for breakfast. Fish jump. Insects buzz. Horns honk. Trains whistle.

Barges quietly slip by

I'm still here at site 42 in Foscue Creek Park just outside Demopolis AL. Barge traffic on the Tombigbee River is a constant fascination to me here. This morning Heloise nearly snuck by me un-noticed. Sitting in the green chair concentrating on photographing an acorn at my feet I happened to glance up just as Heloise was passing by, pushing her charges up river. Quietly. Most unusually quietly (at least I think so - maybe the quiet ones are getting by me). River tugs (towboats they are called) tend to throb like a huge, low speed, locomotive. You can feel throb at some visceral level. Heloise doesn't throb; she must be sporting some great throb attenuation technology.

The links to Heloise point to Dick's Towboat Gallery, a fun site to explore.

Why do we push coal up and down the river?

Why are barges of coal being pushed both up and down the river? How does this make sense? Am I seeing the same product going both ways or are these barges carrying different grades of coal? I suppose it makes some kind of business sense but shouldn't there be a way to eliminate some of these miles? At least in the interest of efficiency and fuel consumption if not the environment?

An all day soaker

Today is turning into a day of quiet soaking rain - much needed in these parts. I'm spending it editing some of the better photos I've taken the last few days. Later I hope to catch up on some web page editing I need to do here.

Night camp

Site 42 - Foscue Creek Campground, Demopolis AL

• This is a well maintained US Army Corps of Engineers campground with level paved sites, most with full hookups
• Many sites overlook the water of the inlets off Demopolis Lake on the Tombigbee River
• There is good biking on the park roads
• The campground is pretty full Thanksgiving week and is generally booked solid the weekend of the Demopolis Christmas on the River festival in early December.
• Poor Verizon cell phone service - access is via Extended Network, roaming
• No Verizon EVDO service - access is via the Extended Network and service varies is slow but reliable
• Only 3 miles to Wal-Mart and other services in Demopolis AL
• Find other references to Foscue Creek
• List the nights I've camped here
• Check the weather
• Reserve a site
• Get a map