OLD MAN RIVER - HOORAY FOR THE COAST GUARD

On our second day out, we leave the Tunica dock early in the morning and are excited to anchor at mile 620. The river is up, so we are able to anchor in side areas off the river. This particular anchorage has land craddling it like a horseshoe. We are well protected from the barge wakes. Of course it is windy and cold - we encounter a good amount of fog on our way to the anchor site. Josh manned the helm and I stood on the bow looking for boats, logs, and land that we might run into.

Where do the trees meet land?

Wind and fog make interesting photos.

Like rock striations.

The sunset at our anchorage.

The anchor site is comfortable and relaxing. We get into bed early because we are exhausted and we leave a night light on in case Will needs to eat at night - which he does - or just to light our way if needed.

I wake up at 5:45 am (yes, I'm surprised too) and notice that our nightlight is barely lit. It hits me that I forgot to turn off the refrigerator - the largest and quickest power drain on the boat that I knew all about and completely forgot. I rush out into the 40 degree air and turn off the fridge and anything else we didn't need. Getting back into the sleeping bag (we have two we zipped together, it worked really really well) I have to wake Josh and tell him what happened. We decide to wait until the sun comes up to investigate.

At 8ish Josh gets up and gets dressed in his weather fighting layers and begins to check the breaker panel and the batteries. He tries the engine - he turns the key and there is absolutely no sound. Nothing is trying to turn over - there is no ooomphf in the engine. Our batteries are dead. Without our batteries we can't use the VHF to call the Coast Guard, we have water but no water pressure, and no cabin lights. Josh suggests that we have to sail the boat to the nearest and only other marina on the Mississippi River - Greenville Yacht Club - 90 miles away downriver. I agree with Josh.

To get out of the anchor site and to help us along our adventure, Josh gets our dinghy in the water and I help him get the motor on it. I look up out of our anchor site and see a tug.

Not just any tug, a tug with buoys on it.

A Coast Guard Tug.

We get all excited! We have to get their attention, and although we probaby have the right flags to use, I don't know where they are. So I tie a bright orange fleece pullover to a boat hook and start waving it in the air. They stop and come over. Josh tells them what happened and they bring a battery charger onboard. They begin to charge one of our batteries; it was down to 10% charge.

This whole situation was meant to happen. The stars aligned and the sequence of events was already written. This particular Coast Guard vessel and crew only managed Natchez, MS to Greenville, MS. They weren't even suppose to be in the area. They were only going upriver to Memphis, TN for an emergency dry dock because of damage to their vessel. If we had waited any longer, we wouldn't have seen them. If we tried to get out earlier and was already downriver, we couldn't have communicated with them or even really stopped to talk face to face with them. See, meant to happen.

These guys are great. They are talkative, make jokes, and keep our spirits warm. They give us coffee and 2 hours of their time and expertise. We are able to get the engine started and head off to Greenville Yacht Club. The Coast Guard wants us to check in with them when we get to our destination. I just think they are the greatest!

So we start our 90 mile treak at 11am. Josh has to eventually steer in the dark. We are thankfull for GPS. Even with both of our eyes and a mega-flashlight the buoys are difficult to see. We can see the barges just fine, but the buoys are a "blink and you missed them" icon in the dark.

Through several anxious hours we get to Greenville Yacht Club. Josh notices that one of the cabin lights is dim . . . the batteries are not getting charged. We will have to worry about it tomorrow. We tie up, power up on shore power and basically collapse. It is 8:30pm.

Greenville welcomes us.