Alabama in the Rain

The weather changed!  We left with it raining steadily and it didn't let up until late afternoon. We are glad for the radar.

We were in MS last night at our dock and now the TN River is running through Alabama.

As we left the marina to return to the river a large barge was in front of the inlet and it appeared to me an island in the rain... we saw three tows this morning all going the opposite way... which might have meant traffic at the lock near Florence, AL.

This tow passed us as we were entering the channel.

Here is our rainy day view!

I was so excited to see color after hours in the grayness that I snapped this photo.

Is it possible that there were no building codes along the river here? This house was just two doors down from the last photo.

This is the Florence Alabama Bridge

After passing under this bridge we turned to the port side to get into the channel leading to the Wilson Lock. We put on our rain jackets as we would be locking in the rain.

At the last minute the lock made a change so we would not have to wait. They allowed us to lock up with two tugs boats... because of this Walter had to scurry and change our fenders from the Starboard side to the Port side where the lock master wanted us.

I had lots of photos of the two locks we went through today but I suppose all are probably tired of them so believe it or not I did delete a bunch. Here in this picture we have risen 84 ft. The barges had already locked through and were waiting just outside the lock gates for the tugs. The big tug started pushing with every thing he's got and finally the barges start moving... I could see why it is also hard to slow them down once the barges build momentum.

We had to wait a good while but oh!  So thankful they allowed us to lock with the tugs because they told us the lock would close for repairs right after we got out.  

Here the tugs and barges are way out on the Wilson lake now and we heard the horn blow for us to untie and depart.

Got a glimpse of blue sky peeking out! Hurray!

Here is a perfect example of how NOT to lock! The mid aft cleat is just outside the sun deck door so here I am. I look serious because I was …. you must watch the line and make sure your boat doesn't move off the wall... there is only one floating bollard to hook to for the length of a small boat in these barge locks.....so all depends on that line!

What was I thinking?! Had the damp weather moistened my brain?... I guess so! Because it was not long before I had to jump up and start pulling with all my might to get the boat back close to the wall... in the meantime, because the stern had swung in the dinghy had scraped the wall!  So Walter had to push against the lock wall with a boat hook to keep the dinghy far enough out while I tried to pull and tighten my line.  Sadly, a dear friend just wrote and said she thought we had become masters at locking!  Oops!

After this lock we were then in Wheeler Lake.

Joe Wheeler State Park was all around us...very pretty.

I hope the Captain thinks I made up for my stupidity in the lock by lassoing both the forward cleat and the stern line cleat on the dock here which is at least 4 ft below our deck.. only then did someone come by to help but we had it all “tied” up by then.

Up the Tennessee River from Mile 215 to Mile 277, through 2 locks and into 3 lakes all just today. We are now at Joe Wheeler State Park dock. The Captain said we can have a lazy morning and walk some of the nature trails here... so glad to be able to walk... need that exercise! Then we will be off again...going UP the TN and eventually to Mile 460 at Chattanooga.

Can I go Home?

Today I stood on the foredeck when we entered Pickwick lake. The water was as gray as the sky over us.... wind making a rolling sea below us.  My feet were firmly planted as I rose up with each small lift our good ship made and down again with her.  The wind felt so good blowing in my face..... I wrapped my sweater tighter around me and wondered, can I go home again?  Was I meant to be a sailor?..... a sun shy girl like me???

Hardly a girl at 72, however, if the sun ages one fast then I think the vigor of the water makes you feel alive & young.

Leaving early this morning we were cruising on a lonely quiet river. This is the Bible belt and I suppose the good folks were in church and the not so good were still in bed????  Or were they out cruising around 1/3 of this Great Land?

I thought this was the cutest house high above the river.

Biggest tow today... this one pushing 18 barges!

and here's another with not so many but fully loaded oil barges....we could tell they were loaded as they were sitting very low in the water.

We passed a section of the bank of the TN River that must have had very high water recently... we saw many land slide areas and this house had dirt slide out from under the slab it was sitting on.....

We had one lock to go through today and after seeing so many barges today we thought there would surely be some wait before we could lock up river.  The Captain called the lock and there was no wait time! We did have to speed up the last 10 min. to get there before he shut the gates as another boat had already gone into the lock.  I was left piloting the boat at a higher speed than I have ever done while Walter put down the fenders...egad!  But he was back in time to guide Miss gg into this lock.  Here we are heading for the lock.

Other boat already in lock.

In the lock and water filling from underneath making eddies and swirls so we hold tight to the line around the floating bollard.

To give you an idea of how big these locks are, here is the other boat ….... a 50 ft home made welded steel boat.

I had no trouble finding this Bright yellow floating Bollard!

Here Walter is holding the stern of Miss gg off the lock wall... the fender put there to do this job is falling into big square cut outs or recessed bollards for the barges.

After rising 52 feet the lock gate is opened and we are moving out.

Pickwick Lake

We are just off the lake at Grand Harbor marina.  We only had a little rain while cruising today.  After we brought back a pizza from town (free loaner car!) and were snuggled in here at the dock the rain came.  Weather looks good tomorrow.  We will continue going UP the TN river.

The Beautiful Tennessee River

The first thing we came to outside of our marina was Hickman Lockhart Memorial Bridge.   But it appeared to be a Railroad Lift bridge and they usually don't have such names.

After we passed under it we saw that there were two bridges... the railroad bridge and a highway bridge behind it.

We passed three tows today but only showing one here. They appear to be coming right at us but we got around them okay. 

This is a LONE large tree continuing to grow in the midst of the water marking the entrance to a creek.

I liked this house along the river because it would afford you much exercise going up and down all those steps!

“Humbug”, the Nordic Tug with our friends, Pete & Carolyn aboard passed us looking good!

Here is what looked like a non-working dredge with the cutest little tug behind it.

Loved the rock walls along the land beside the river.

Did not like them hiding a green marker among the greenery on the river's edge!  The second most important equipment on the bridge is our binoculars.....when Captain Lenny said we would need them I didn't realize how much!

These houses were all on stilts because of the river rising I suppose.

The forecast is calling for thunder storms tomorrow in the afternoon so our plan is to leave early in the morning and try to get through the lock at Pickwick Lake before the rain starts.  We had a long 8 hour day coming past our planned anchorage by about 1 1/2 hours and have stopped at Clifton Marina.  Just look at the parking job the Captain has done here!  That is "Humbug" behind us and there got here way ahead of us!

We know there may be possible delays ahead so we are pushing to be well on our way to Chattanooga, TN, before we might have to slow down due to weather or other problems.   However, even with the past slow downs this has been THE most amazing journey!

A New Plan or What Happened to My Vacation?!

We are so excited as our daughter, Joanna, said she would meet us with the Grand Wonders in Chattanooga!!  So we are no longer taking our time along the TN River. This little side trip which we are thrilled to make will take us 500 miles round trip up the Tennessee River and off our planned navigation.  The Captain has been down loading additional charts & studying them for this trip ever since we stopped at our marina tonight.

A foggy morning in our pretty cove.

Returning to Kentucky Lake and the TN River.

Some big houses along the Lake.

This is the Ned R. McWherter Bridge.   We went under US highway 79 here.

This is the only barge we saw today and it was stopped outside of the channel.

A cute little car ferry... as you can see the leaves are just starting to change.

Railroad Bridge to NO where!

An abandoned dock in the middle of the lake.

While I was piloting the boat I took this photo to show you how calm the water was today.

Walter tying on a fender (bumper) to be ready for docking for fuel.

The Captain telling the 1st mate to get back to her duties of piloting the boat!!!

Grass on a sand bar?

Here we are threading Miss gg through a maze of markers on our way to a dock.....we were told it was very shallow outside the markers.  It was so twisty that we even lost sight of the marina one time.

This was a planned stop as they have the cheapest diesel but we found out about their huge overnight discount for Loopers so we decided to stay for the night.

As we were tying up along came the motor vessel “Humbug” with Carolyn and Peter from Rhode Island and across from us on our dock are Gold Loopers who also just pulled in.....that means they have done the loop already...they said it took them 10 yrs!  But they also went 10,000 miles to places like all around Lake Superior and ALL the way UP the Mississippi River!!  Whew!   I can't imagine all the barge traffic for the entire length of the MS.....

We are happy to be safe at Pebble Isle Marina near New Johnsonville, TN.