What a Difference a Day Makes!

We left Joe Wheeler State Park on Thurs., and the weather was picture-perfect! Blue skies, no wind, warm temperatures, traveling with the current for a change, and locking downstream with no turbulence. Snow Cat just floats like a leaf as the lock empties. It doesn't get much better than this. I am glad we appreciated Thursday as we drove from the flybridge all day. We returned to Grand Harbor Marina for the evening and fueled up. We used a whopping 23 gallons since Florence last week!

 We have been seeing white pelicans since Lake Michigan...and we are never close enough to get a good picture. This is the first time we have seen what looks like babies!!! Take my word for it; they're pelicans!!

We went under the Natchez Trace Parkway that passes over the Tennessee River. It looks like the roadway goes into the trees! The Trace was once an Indian trail and then became a road between Natchez and Nashville, traveled by scouts, pioneers, and merchants.

Friday was very different! We never saw the sun. The wind howled, rain fell, and we drove from inside since it was COLD. However, we had to be on deck in the three locks we did today.

Now for the map to help you understand the waterway…….

We are heading south to Mobile, AL, 450 miles away. We are traveling down the Tenn-Tom Waterway, which connects the Tennessee River with the Tombigbee River. It is 253 miles long, with 10 locks and, with two additional locks farther down, will lower us 414 feet to sea level. The idea for the waterway was first proposed by the French in the late 1700's as a way of connecting these two navigable rivers. Construction never began until 1972 and was completed in 1985. 

Vessels going from Pensacola, FL, to Chattanooga, TN, would travel only 771 miles via the Tenn-Tom Waterway instead of 1,541 miles via the Mississippi River when north bound. This mammoth undertaking moved more earth than was moved in the construction of the Panama Canal, but is relatively unknown throughout the US to the general public.

After we left the Tennessee River we went through the "Divide Cut", a 25 mile long canal. Then the waterway is a series of dams and pools.

We went through three locks today with several other boats we have been seeing off and on since the Trent-Severn Waterway and the Illinois River. After happy hour and dinner, we are all snug in our boats with the heat turned up, wondering how cold and windy it will be tomorrow! We are heading SOUTH, aren't we???

In this lock we were using the first floating bollard, which brought us quite close to the gates.

When we exited one lock, the river was blocked by this tow and barges waiting to enter the lock. The tow captain had to drive the front barges into the shore in order to stop and wait! Then we had to wait until he straightened them out before we had enough room to pass.

 The fall foliage helped brighten the otherwise dreary day.

When the dams flooded the surrounding land, creating lakes, many cypress trees were not cut down ahead of time. Submerged stumps are a major problem when anchoring or straying from the marked channel. This picture was taken from our boat while we were tied up at Midway Marina, after doing 56 miles.

Tomorrow, Saturday, we are hoping to do 4 locks, and 60 miles. I'll be wearing my turtleneck with many layers!!!

See...I do have a turtleneck on board. But tomorrow it will be covered by a hooded sweatshirt and a windbreaker!