We're Home (RATS) The Black Warrior rules!

Finally, some pics!!

Hi all,
I finally downsized a few pictures, trying to post these sorta in order of occurance.
First, the welcome busses to take us to the RV park landing. I never would have found it on my own!
The boat from the bus--notice how steep the parking ramp is!
A welcoming sign--and a "falling rock" sign too. That's Linda with some of our carry on stuff.

Some more pics, The Wheel and another welcome sign, the DQ from the RV park. I was trying to catch the "No Parking" sign on the table--somehow I don't think they were talking about Riverboats! 🙂
And then the Vest party, here we are in front of our room--as noted by the sign with our names! This turned out to be a good idea, as it kept me from opening the wrong cabin door many times!
S'
David D.

Here's Bruno & Debbie along with some others during the safety drill. The drill was much more organized than the March one. A good sign!
Tony pipping us off with the calliope. We had to back out quite a ways before we could turn around.
Here's a home on the riverbend just across from the RV park.
More to come!

OK final two and it's off to bed, too slow on dial up!
Here's a riverside camp and then the turn around point where the creek to the RV park joins to the head of the Black Warrior river.
Later!
S'
David D.

Great Pictures!

Thanks for sharing David. GREAT PICTURES! I love the one through the bus window. Reminds me of the feeling I get every time when I first see her and know I'm going to be getting on. ONLY 35 MORE DAYS!!!!

Geography 101

Where is the Black Warrior River?

Love that photo alongside the shore with the lines stretched out.

Wesley

Wesley,

The Black Warrior River is in Alabama. The head of navigation is near Birmingham, and the Black Warrior was one of the first rivers to be improved, in the 1920's, primarily to facilitate the shipment of coal out of the rich coal fields in central Alabama. Finished steel was also hauled out of there when the big steel mills were going full blast in Birmingham. Even before that, the river was used by steamboats hauling timber out and returning in the packet boat trade with goods up from Mobile. They moved the timber primarily in barges, I think, not raft-style as on the Upper MIss.

There was originally a system of 17 locks & dams to facilitate slack water navigation up to Birmingport. Through modernization and with the advent of high dams, this has been reduced to 5 locks & dams between Mobile and Birmingport. The Black Warrior enters the Tombigbee River just above Demopolis, AL, and beginning in the 1970's construction began on the improvement of the Tombigbee above Demopolis and the creation of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, or Tenn-Tom, connecting the Tombigbee/Black Warrior and Tennessee River systems. While the Tenn-Tom is used commercially, the movement of coal on that waterway has never materialized as it was projected to have. My own theory about that is the size of the channel and the size and number of the locks.

Parts of the Black Warrior are indeed scenic, but the river is a pilot's nightmare. The river is either shallow at pool stage or in flood and quite swift. The channel is very poorly marked by the standards of the MIssissippi and tributaries. Several bridges are hazardous to navigate, though slow improvement is being made there. From Demopolis to Tuscaloosa, the river twists and turns enough to make you dizzy. The pilots who run it all the time don't seem to mind, but for others who have to go only occasionally, it is a nightmare. The sure haul the coal out of there, though.