Down the Tennessee River

We began this long day under a bleak early morning sky.

We would be locking DOWN today rather than going up.  It looks a lot different... you don't enter a big dark deep lock but a lock with water at the level you are traveling in and then after you tie up to the floating bollard, the lock master lets the water out of the lock to the level of the river beyond the dam & lock.  We will continue locking down until we reach Mobile Bay.

When we were 20 minutes out from the lock Walter called the lock master on the radio and we heard the good news! “We will be ready for you Captain when you get here”... no waiting for tows today!

The sky was brightening as we approached the Nickajack Lock.   It's the chamber in the middle to the right of the orange wind sock.

Exiting the lock after dropping 39 feet.

Then we entered Guntersville Lake and skies began to cloud up again.

The sky over us made us think that the bad weather forecast for tomorrow might come early!

We thought this was an interesting house with a little round room on the end.

This train bridge looked lower than it was when we first went under it... maybe the water was higher today? But we passed under it with plenty room... can you see the bridge master in the middle of the bridge?  He said something to me as I stood on the bow but I couldn't hear him.....probably reassuring me we could clear it.  

Today, it was hard to stay awake with the low clouds and not much happening... but as the Captain said, “A boring day can be a good day on the water”.   So when I finally saw some color I was excited...here is a tug boat working on the side of the river.

And his itty bitty baby brother was also helping... cute, eh?

The only tow moving on the river that we passed today going the opposite way had a load of scrap metal and perhaps grain in the covered barges behind it.  You know it's full sitting that low in the water.

This was a lovely home but I sure wouldn't want to be this close to the river!!!

Rain is suppose to come for the next two days. We had planned on anchoring out..... it's one thing to be securely anchored when the rain/wind comes and an entirely different situation to try to anchor IN the rain!   So check back with us as we make our way down the river again tomorrow........ maybe.