Monday, December 17, 2007 - Foscue Creek Park, Demopolis AL
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Sunrise at Site 42, Foscue Creek Park, Demopolis AL, December 17, 2007 (Brrrr - open the door & shoot)
It sure is nice not having to deal with the snow and ice I escaped this winter.
I wondered why the great little Titan Ceramic Heater with Thermostat #TCM16W-U I picked up at Wal-Mart a couple of weeks ago was having a hard time keeping the temperature up in here. When I was looking for a ceramic heater to use instead of propane when I'm hooked up to shore power this one was recommended to me by a friend who has used a couple of them for supplemental heat for his house for years. It's great but won't heat the RV all by itself at 25 degrees so when I got up this morning I supplemented it with my Olympian Wave 6 catalytic heater. Now we're nice and toasty warm.
One of these days I need to figure out what is causing shore power to interfere with the Kyocera KR1 Mobile EVDO WiFi Router I use with a Verizon USB720 USB EVDO Rev A modem for broadband access. To get get the WiFi working I have to shut off shore power and run it off the house batteries. What a pain. For the period I'm online I'm without my ceramic heater and my laptop recharging brick. I end up running 2 hours online followed by 2 hours off line to recharge the laptop. There is a caution in the KR1 manual about setting it up too near a microwave oven or some other source that dirties the power. Maybe it's the old power converter that is causing my problem. I removed the microwave oven before I left on this trip so it can't be that.
Night camp
Site 42 - Foscue Creek Campground, Demopolis AL
- This is a well maintained US Army Corps of Engineers campground with level paved sites, most with full hookups
- Many sites overlook the water of the inlets off Demopolis Lake on the Tombigbee River
- There is good biking on the park roads
- The campground is pretty full Thanksgiving week and is generally booked solid the weekend of the Demopolis Christmas on the River festival in early December.
- Poor Verizon cell phone service - access is via Extended Network, roaming
- No Verizon EVDO service - access is via the Extended Network and service varies is slow but reliable
- Only 3 miles to Wal-Mart and other services in Demopolis AL
- Find other references to Foscue Creek
- List the nights I've camped here
- Check the weather
- Reserve a site
- Get a map
Rice Toss
After the dinner our hosts conducted us to the beach. Among the presents was a large supply rice for the fleet. It was put up in straw sacks or bales containing about 125 pounds each. By the pile stood a company of athletes or gymnasts chosen from the peasantry for their strength and size and trained for the service and entertainment of the court. At a signal from their leader, who was himself a giant of muscle and fat, a sort of human Jumbo, they began transporting the rice to the boats. It was more frolic than work. Some of thembore a bale on each hand above their heads, some would carry two laid crosswise on the shoulders and head, while others performed dextrous feats of tossing, catching, balancing them, or turning somersaults with them. I saw one nimble Titan fasten his talons in a sack, throw it down on the sand still keeping his hold, turn a somersault over it, throw it over him as he revolved, and come down sitting on the beach with the sack in his lap. Beat that who can. If you imagine it "as easy as preaching," try it the next time in a gymnasium. But let me advise you, first make your will.
The Logbook of the Captains Clerk, John J. Sewell, Lakeside Press, 1995 pg 256