No Boat Travel
Today's activities consisted of a mix of chores and relaxation. Intermixed with one more load of laundry that did not get done yesterday, taking care of an issue with our flood policy on the south Jersey house, and grocery shopping was a lot of socializing.
When I returned to the boat around 10:00 from putting the wash in the dryer, Mark, on the sailboat in the slip next to ours, complimented Sea Moss as a nice looking boat, so of course I started chatting with him and shortly thereafter Clark joined us. When Clark and Mark started talking about inverters for the boats, I slipped away to do the insurance thing and do some hand sewn repairs on clothes. Two hours later Clark was still talking to Mark and had made himself comfortable sitting on the sailboat. Since I had completed my most pressing tasks, I joined them.
Mark is a most interesting person. He is a towboat captain and apparently he regaled Clark with one boat story after another. I found him very interesting to listen to as well. He told me he is from Point Pleasant, West Virginia - home of the Mothman. When I told him I was unfamiliar with Mothman, he told me to go read about it, so I did and found the 1966 story of Mothman entertaining reading.
Back in 1979 a tugboat had a mishap with the Rooster Bridge which was just downriver from where we are now in Demopolis, Alabama. The story is an interesting one because the tug went under the bridge, looked to be ready to overturn and sink, and managed to come out the other side in an upright position and keep going. As it turns out, Mark knows the captain that experienced that incident because they both worked for the same tow company. In addition Mark worked as a captain on that very boat that survived the incident. The Rooster Bridge, however, did not survive so well as it was demolished soon after and replaced by a new bridge.
We finally broke away for lunch somewhere around 1:00. Apparently at some point during the day's discussions, Clark learned that Mark also plays guitar. I heard them saying that they agreed that they should get together later for some guitar playing. People often say things like that but one thing leads to another and it just does not happen, so I totally forgot about it. I think Clark did too.
We had reserved the courtesy car for 2:00 which we took out after lunch to go to Walmart for a few non-food and food items. We used our full two-hour slot and a couple of minutes more. When we got back to the marina, I jumped on board to put away the perishables, and Clark took off on one of the two golf carts to trek over to the marina office to pick up our mail that he had forwarded here.
By the time we were done mucking about with one thing or another, the afternoon was gone and it was getting on for dinner time. Before starting to cook, I walked up to the "head" and heard that Mark was in the lounge area playing his guitar. I went to check and verify that he would be there for a while and then went back to tell Clark. No sooner did I tell him than Clark grabbed his guitar, guitar music, and a piece of cheese to tide him over until dinner and headed out the door. It was already 6:00 and we had no way of knowing how long Mark had been playing or intended to stay, so I understood the urgency.
I had my own snack and then walked down to hear them play. I did not stay long because I wanted to cook (and eat) dinner before it got too too late. While there, though, I heard some pretty amazing music. In addition to Mark and Clark playing guitars, Susan from Nuclear Fishin' had her violin. The three of them took turns playing what they knew and while I was there I got to hear a violin / guitar duet from Susan and Clark that nearly brought tears to my eyes since it was a lovely tune so nicely done.
Susan is a professional musician and a music teacher for many years. She played beautiful Irish folk songs and lullabies on her violin. Mark is a self-taught, play-by-ear-only musician who plays bluesy music. He said he has never been able to learn how to read music. He played and sang very well, and I enjoyed listening to him very much. He even played and sang a couple of songs he composed himself - one he wrote for his son literally brought tears to his wife's eyes.
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| Clark on Guitar (with folks from Yachta Dreamin') |
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| Tow boat Captain Mark on guitar |
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At 7:00 I jumped up out of my seat like it had burned me because I suddenly remembered that Jeff said he would call me at 7:00. Then I remembered that he said 7:00 mountain time and realized I had a whole hour to wait for his call. I stayed at the jam session until 7:15 but figured that if I wanted to cook and eat before my call, I better go get busy. The phone rang precisely at 8:00, and I ended up on the phone with Jeff for almost two hours. Eventually I could hear Sierra in the background getting ready for bed and knew Jeff was needed on that end so I finally said goodbye.
By now it was 10:00 and still Clark had not returned to the boat. Jeez I would think four hours would be a sufficient amount of guitar-playing time. I decided I needed to go find him and remind him to come back to the boat for dinner. When I got there, the group was just breaking up for the night. They must have really enjoyed themselves.
By the time he finally stopped chatting with people and got back to the boat for dinner it was after 11:00. Although I had to cook his dinner and then later reheat his dinner, I do not begrudge him his day of socializing and relaxing especially with his guitar since it happens so infrequently. While he ate, Clark told me that after I left more musical folks appeared - another with a guitar and one with a harmonica. Quite a few boaters have multiple talents or so it would appear! After dinner Clark got back to what he was doing hours earlier in the day - trip planning for our journey to Mobile, Alabama.
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