Mobile River

We’re getting closer to Mobile Bay and plan to arrive tomorrow. While we’ll be finished with the river portion of the Loop for this season, we won’t be done with rivers for good—we still have about 300 miles on the Illinois River to complete next fall.

The Mobile River is wider and shallower than the Tombigbee/BlackWarrior, with sloping shorelines that are more lush. It is mostly wild, interrupted by the occasional cabin or industrial facility, such as this large power plant with candy-striped smokestacks.

We also saw this UFO (unidentified floating object), which turned out to be a research buoy.

And we had one obstacle to get past today; this railroad bridge has only five feet of clearance when closed, and our mini-mast is ten feet above the water. We had to wait for a train to pass, then call the bridge to have it lifted just a bit so we could get under.

We’re anchored in Big Briar Creek, a beautiful side channel which we have all to ourselves, except for a brown pelican fishing nearby. We love watching pelicans catch their food, as they awkwardly dive-bomb out of the air, making a huge splash.

Bonus Question: There is a decorative knot on our steering wheel that indicates when our rudders and outboard are centered. Can you name it? (Answer below).

Answer: The Turk’s Head dates back to at least the 15th century, and is so named for its resemblance to a turban.