November 16, 2009

We are South.  Mornings are chilly--typically in the 40’s, but the afternoons are gorgeous!  Sunny, very little breeze and temps in the low to mid 70’s.  No bugs and no humidity.  Does it get better than this???

We left Cuba Landing, TN with my new coffee mug in hand, at 7:35 a.m.  Early for us.  The water was calm--there was a lot of debris afloat, and soon we passed an Army Corps of Engineers Dredge Boat.  After that the water wasn’t nearly so stirred up.  It is important to the tow boats that the channel be kept deep by dredging.  The bottom of the River is in constant motion with weather and traffic, in addition to the current, moving things around.  The rule that says “the deepest water is on the outside of the curve” has certainly proved to be true here.  And if one meets a tow on a curve, guess who gets to decide which side to take?  The pleasure craft (us) ALWAYS asks “How would you like me to pass you, sir?”  Even the ‘small’ tows we’re seeing here--typically no more than will fit in a lock chamber, so that is 3 deep and 3 across--have mimnimal maneuvering ability.  We get out of their way!   By the way, that is an inclusive ‘we’.  I now have driven YA past tow boats all by myself--with Fred not even in the room!  Like anything else one learns, the only way to do it is to do it.  Yikes.   I did surrender the helm when we came around a corner, knowing there was a tow there, and discovered an anchored barge in our path.  As Fred noted, that way neither of us was so nervous!

By 2:00 p.m. we were tied up at the Clifton, TN Marina--which, by the way, is for sale.  It’s a nice little spot-- about 90 yearly boats and space for a lot more transients than were there with us.  Matter of fact, there was one other.  We’re a tad behind the Looper Crush--last week Cynthia  at Clifton said there were 20 baots here nearly every day!  Cynthia makes burgers, but we opted to take the courtesy car to the local truck stop and get a pizza.  Yum.  

Again we were underway bu 7 am.  The Temmessee’s current is trying to push us back to the Ohio River, so we’re only moving along at about 5.5-6.3kn. (that’s  only 6-7 mph) so it’s slow going. Gave us lots of time to enjoy the unusual houses along the way, and by 3 pm,  we reached Pickwick (a tricky lock--the wind blew us all over the place!) where the Tennessee River turns north (the section we are in) and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway continues south.  We opted not to follow the Tennessee east to Chattanooga and Knoxville, even though that is a wonderful area to cruise.  There is always  next year! So we’re continuing to move south in the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, which Fred Myers (author of guidebooks for this area) calls “The Waterway that almost never was”.

Connecting the shallow, winding Tombigbee River with the Tennessee would give commercial traffic an option other than the lower Mississippi to move goods to and from the Gulf of Mexico.  The idea was first proposed in the late 1700’s, and was debated and discussed for nearly 150 years before Congress gave the go-ahead in 1946.  Work began in May of 1971.  It would be June of 1985 before the twelve locks and dams were operational and the  ribbon was cut to officially open the Tenn-Tom Waterway. The project involved moving more earth than digging the Panama Canal!  When it was done, the total cost was over 2 billion dollars.  

Both the Black Warrier and the Alabama Rivers flow into the waterway as it moves along the 450 miles from Pickwick to the Gulf Port of Mobile, AL.   Lots to look forward to!

Our first stop was at Aqua Harbor where we celebrated entering a new leg of the journey with a dee-lish shrimp scampi dinner.  The other best thing here was that the exhange library in the Marina Office had two Stuart Woods novels that we’d not read!  Add those to the Sunday NYTimes Crossword that isn’t done yet, and we’re set!

The first 24 miles of the waterway is the 200’ wide, arrow straight Divide Cut.  As we looked at map of the squiggly lines of the Tombigbee running alongside, we were happy for the Cut.

The end of the cut is the widest and deepest spot on the whole project.  150 million cu. yds of dirt were moved out of this 175 foot deep and 1300 foot wide hill-y section, and then the terrain changed as we entered Bay Springs Lake.  Lake equals dam, and after spending the night in our first covered slip at Bay Springs Marina, we headed for Whitten Dam.  

The vertical drop between here and Mobile is over 400 feet.   Whitten Lock is the first major step in that drop.  At  85 feet, this is the 9th highest single lift lock in the U.S.  The rest of the locks will be identical--to each other, not Whitten--and will take us down a mere 30’ at a time.  Three of these locks later, (a total of four for the day) we turned into the Smithville Marina.   Here Jesse, a WWII vet who has a certificate commending his support of the WWII monument finally (he says) built in Washington DC, and his golden retriever hold the fort.  Neither moves too fast, but they are a great pair.  We know we’re in Mississippi now, as we went to Mel’s Diner for  dinner, and heard everyone refer to it as “My-els”.  

Friday, after two locks, we carefully followed the path into the Aberdeen Marina where we were met by my Central High School in Aberdeen, SD classmate Jan and her husband Dan. Jan and Dan moved to Aberdeen MS from Aberdeen WA, making Jan probably the only person on the planet to have lived in three cities named Aberdeen.    [Factoid:  Jan must live in Abdrdeens in ID, OH, MD, NC, and NJ to cover the US; then of course there is Scotland...) 

Our visit was delightful, including a driving tour of Antebellum (pre-Civil War) homes--of which many remain in Aberdeen, and dinner in nearby Columbus MS at Woody’s on the Water--the restaurant at the Columbus Marina.

Two more locks on Saturday brought us to the Pirate’s Cove Marina, where we parked, paid, ate, slept and left.  At 7:05 a.m. we were inside the lock with two other boats.  It was so foggy that one tied up below the lock to wait for some clearing..  The other boat disappeared ahead of us immediately, as we proceeded with great caution.  I stood on the bow where the visibility was slightly better, and with our headphones, Fred and I could ommunicate easily.

The fog burned away before 8 a.m. and we had a lovely run at 8.5 knots--that is nearly 10 mph, folks!  We decided to make it an easy day and by 1 p.m. we’d deployed Knute, our trusty anchor to grab the muddy botttom of a delightful cove in a State Recreational area.   There were fishermen as well as families picnicking on the shore. Around 4 o’clock 3 other boats came in and in the morning we made a parade to the next lock.

The waterway now has connected with the river, and we are about 1/2 way to Mobile.  There are twists and turns, tow boats with barges, and patches of debris in the water.  We crossed into, out of and back into Alabama--the Tombigbee is like a snake!    Monday’s destination is Demopolis, AL, significant for a couple of reasons.  First, it is the latitude marker for ‘south of’ in the hurricane season.  Our insurance company says that season ends Nov. 15--today.  So we can continue on.  Second, this is the last marina before Mobile, 234 miles to the south. Knute will be busy for the next few days.

Two more locks and we’ll be only 100 ft. above sea level, back in salt water and dealing with tides again.  The Great Loop is closing!