Erben Renewal: The world of microwaves

Back in the World of Microwaves

Between Scottsboro and Florence we made a few brief stops – the trip down river has been speedier with the current giving us an average knot and a half boost. We stopped at Ditto’s Landing, a remote marina on the southern edge of Huntsville (with very shallow water) and then shot on to an anchorage on Wheeler Lake in front of the Joe Wheeler State Park Marina before heading through two locks and into Florence.

The lock gods were good to us. When we turned on the chart plotter we could see a tow a few miles behind us heading for the lock. However when we called, the lock tender said "come on, come on" and he would get us through. The anchor was hoisted in recorded seconds, and we headed for the lock a mile downstream. As we poked our nose into the lake, we could see the tow much closer to us than we had thought. Sure enough, he then called the lock to ask about us but was told we were way ahead and would pass through before him. All of us could see we were just a little bit ahead so it was looking like the commercial guy would get the priority at best or ram us with his barge in the high winds at worst, yet as I said, the lock gods were with us since the tender just said we would go through first. The engines kicked it up and we steamed on in and dropped like a rock. Several hours later we could still see his AIS was in the first lock. About three hours after we docked in Florence we saw him pass us. This was a tow with 12 barges and he takes hours at each lock since he can’t take the whole load in at one time. We delayed him maybe 20 minutes, but he would have cost us many hours between the two locks. We heard the lock god likes brownies.

Waiting for us in Florence on our return was a new microwave – courtesy of the kind Eva and her daughter Patsy who took delivery from the Home Depot to save us a pickup trip. We can’t say enough about the service and friendly tone of the Florence Harbor Marina. The food at the Riverfront Grill didn’t hurt either. It is truly nice to be back in the territory of Southern cuisine and hospitality. We did use the courtesy van for a grocery run and few other essentials as we prepare to head into the remote upper Tenn-Tom stretch of our journey.

P.S. The new micro was installed by ace Steve even though the old one decided to work again the very day the new one was delivered to Florence! Since we have no idea why it acted up and when it might again, the switch was made. It is almost impossible to tell, however, since they are nearly identical – but like the refrigerator, just a tiny bit smaller. That’s called progress – smaller and better. It DOES work!