Where is Salty?!

Today was a very LONG day...over 63 miles & SIX locks!  From 730a to 6p. Whew!    It was around 50 degrees when we woke this morning before the alarm. The anchor alarm had gone off only once early in the night...the Captain checked the anchor, everything was fine and we were quickly back to sleep.

We got up before 6a and looked for everything we could find to put on to keep us warm including long underwear.  I wore two heavy sweaters, one wool and then my rain jacket which is a great wind breaker. The air feels a lot cooler on a moving boat on the water!

When the Captain called me to duty I had not yet finished layering my clothes...yikes!  I had just found the pair of wind breaker pants I sometimes zip over my jeans when hiking in the cold.  Doggone it!    It would have been nice to have them to wash down the anchor!….....would have kept me dryer.

Walter had heard someone call the lock and we were clear to come on in but still had about 2 miles to the lock and the lock master also said there was a barge coming from down river..... we wanted to beat him. We knew the others who had anchored.. at least 4....... wanted to leave early but it seemed no one else was awake and moving so the Captain proceeded to swing around them all tooting Miss gg's horn.  Soon we were all racing for the lock with a couple of second mates groaning on the radio about not yet having their coffee.  But where was Salty??????  Remember that little boat that visited us last night?

Then we heard a boat at the nearby marina call the lock and say he could be there in 15 minutes. But the lock master told him there were boats already in the lock so hurry up and that boat came back with, “Okay, be there in 10 min.!” I wondered still about Salty?..... but here he came!

And here he is tied up in the lock.

Then, moving fast, came the boat from the Marina, “Priorities”

 All the Loopers were now in the lock with the gates closing.

This is what greeted us coming out of the first lock.

We were so hoping all the remaining 5 locks would be as easy with no barge traffic to wait on but at the very next lock we had to wait until a barge locked up.  So we circled around for one hour and ten minutes....no place for us to tie up and Miss gg can hardly go slow even on one engine!

Here the barge/tow is passing us and we are all headed into the lock.

But where is salty?! Turned out he got to save fuel by tying up at a nearby dock... where it was WAY too shallow for the rest of us! Here he comes!

Miss gg out of the lock & heading down the Tenn-Tom.

Seems the last in the lock, “Salty” in most cases, was the first out.

Then we had one more time of waiting for one hour & 20 min. Where was Salty?  He had run up on a nearby beach to wait!  No fair!

Then finally this guy came out of the lock.  We were grateful his whole tow could lock up in one locking instead of having to separate his load.

And again coming out of the lock first was that little rascal, Salty!  

  Aberdeen, MS....Cars, Trains & boats!

All the others had reservations at a marina for tonight but we had planned on and were really looking forward to anchoring out... we told the others to go ahead while we searched all the anchorages along the way near Aberdeen.  ALL had stumps in them or weeds... just no where to go... then one last area... if we had turned in there we would have been facing directly into the setting sun. That was a dangerous proposition here with all the deadheads (under water stumps) we passed and we were running out of daylight.  So we turned down toward the marina and got the last place on their wall!  Glad for power hook up on the dock tonight cause it's going down to 39 in the morning!  

We have accomplished going through half the locks on our way to Mobile Bay... we have one more first thing in the morning and then we will be stopping in Columbus, MS. ... just a short cruise tomorrow.  Hurray!