Monday, November 24, 2008 - Foscue Creek Park, Demopolis AL

Towboat Thelma Parker II working on the Tombigbee River, Nov 23, 2008.

Towboat Thelma Parker II pushing a load down the Tombigbee River below the Demopolis locks, Nov 23, 2008.

The Thelma Parker II

What a beautiful towboat - ya gotta love the light from those red decks reflecting off the white walls and the under side of roof overhangs above. Here's a short blurb about her I grabbed from Parker Towing Company's page on their vessels.

This 140 foot by 35 foot twin screw towboat was purchased by Parker Towing Company, Inc. in December, 2004.

Built in 1974 by Mainstream Shipyards, Greenville, MS., it is powered by two 16 cylinder GENERAL MOTORS E.M.D. model 645 diesel engines, delivering 3,800 horse power through 3.79 to 1 FALK reduction gears. Originally named the FRANK H. PEAVY while owned by Greenville Towing Co., Inc. It was transfered to William Leasing Company, Greenville, MS in March, 1979 and renamed SHELLY MOTT. Sold in May, 1982 to TPC Transportation Company Inc., St. Louis, MO. and renamed SNO SHEEN. Sold in February, 1989 to Peavey, MS and renamed GREENVILLE. Sold in March, 1996 to American Commercial Barge Line, Jeffersonville, Indiana.

It replaces the original M/V Thelma Parker which was destroyed by a devastating fire while transiting the Tenn-Tom Waterway on October 18, 1998. It is presently in service on the Warrior-Tombigbee River, Tenn-Tom, Tennessee, Ohio, Upper and Lower Mississippi, Intercoastal East Waterways and Mobile Bay.

She appears to be in good hands today.

Night camp

Site 45 - 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

Sweet, Rich Hickory Milk

Hickory was another favorite. Rambling through the Southeast in the 1770s, the naturalist William Bartram observed Creek families storing a hundred bushels of hickory nuts at a time. "They pound them to pieces, and then cast them into boiling water, which, after passing through fine strainers, preserves the most oily part of the liquid" to make a thick milk, "as sweet as fresh cream, an ingredient in most of their cookery, especially hominy and corncakes." Years ago a friend and I were served hickory milk in rural Georgia by an eccentric backwoods artist named St. EOM who claimed Creek descent. Despite the unsanitary presentation, the milk was ambrosial - fragrantly nutty, delightfully heavy on the tongue, unlike anything I had encountered before.

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