The Tenn-Tom

This is where we were the first night at Midway Marina. We were next to the boat lift as the transient dock was full. Check out the trees. I was told the cypress trees are living and the gum trees are not. They sure looked strange to me growing in the water like that!

Ginger says "HAPPY HALLOWEEN"! Someone at the marina brought their dog around in a pumpkin costume with human and doggie treats so that was our Halloween excitement!

On Monday AM we left Pickwick Lake on a beautiful sunny day. Very shortly after we turned onto Yellow Creek which is the connection between the Tennessee River and the Tombigbee Waterway, commonly called the Tenn-Tom. This ended our travels on the Tennessee River and we're now in the northeastern corner of Mississippi. The Tenn-Tom connects 12 rivers into a single navigable system. It was originally proposed back in the late 1700's. Many proposals were made to the U.S. Government but none were approved until much later. Work finally began on it in 1972 and it was completed in 1985 at a cost of 2 billion dollars.

The first section is the Divide Cut which is 25 miles long. This waterway opens up into the second section, Bay Springs Lake which has many excellent anchorages. We anchored there in Cotton Springs and took the dinghy to the visitors center. There we learned more about the Tenn-Tom such as we will be locking down 341 feet over the distance of 450.4 miles to Mobile, Alabama.

The last 52 miles is the Canal Section. On Tuesday we went through the first of the six locks in this section. The first one, The Jamie Whitten Lock, is a drop of 84 feet but we had NO trouble with the mast this time. The second lock was down 33 ft. and the third was 31 ft. Our first (but not last) 3-lock day. We've decided we like locking down better than up!

We spent that night at Midway Marina near Fulton, Mississippi. It's a real "back home" kind of place, very laid back and the laundry is 75 cents per load (best laundry deal so far). It's not in a bayou but it sort of has that feeling to me.

On Wed. we borrowed the Jeep Cherokee courtesy car and did Wal-Mart again. They seem to be the biggest deal going in these small towns. In the aft. we took a bike ride to the Jamie Whitten Historical Site located at the bridge of the Natchez Trace Parkway over the Tenn-Tom. Whitten was a congressman from the area for 53 years, from the terms of President Roosevelt to Clinton! We also did a little hike in the park, it was about 76 degrees. Hard to believe tomorrow is November; we could get used to this weather! We plan to anchor out the next couple of days and stop at Columbus, Miss.

Pickwick Lock and Lake

Mansions along the lake shore. Bigwigs in the Nashville music scene?

Pickwick Lock doors closing

Boats leaving Pickwick Lock and entering Pickwick Lake

Last Saturday we locked through the Pickwick Lock, going up 55 feet with more excitement than we needed or wanted. Due to missing bollards, we ended up quite close to the front of the lock where there's more turbulence. Our line wasn't attached quite right and we were moving around so much that the tip of the mast hanging off the bow was scraping the side of the lock - not good! It even got stuck in one of the horizontal channels at one point so we had to drop the line and motor off. The lockmaster stopped the flow of water so we could get re-set on the opposite lock wall. At this point we were facing the other way as our fenders were on the port side. No real damage was done; at least it gave the 5 other boats something to watch while they were locking!

Pickwick Lake is beautiful and huge - 43,100 acres with a shoreline of 490 miles. There are lots of spectacular mansions high up on the shore. We were wondering if they belonged to people from the music industry in Nashville.

We spent two nights at the Grand Harbor Marina on Pickwick Lake. This is a unique marina as it's in two states. The boats are docked in Mississippi, but when you go ashore you're in Tennessee! On Sunday night we had an impromptu potluck with six other Looper couples in the marina lounge. One couple from Ontario is doing the trip for the second time. Others were from Virginia Beach, Vermont, Michigan and Key West. It's fun to hear about everyone's different experiences on the water.

Tennessee River Scenes

We were especially thrilled to see a peek of the sun after all the rain; that's mist coming off the hills not smoke


Ladyfinger Bluff along the Tennessee River


The shoreline in Birdsong Creek in the Tennessee River; click on the picture to enlarge it so you can see the egrets and heron at the shore



Ledbetter Creek anchorage in Kentucky Lake



I felt like we were "living large" on our boat after meeting this couple from Washington State who are taking this 24 ft. sailboat to Florida - what troopers!

8 Inches of rain and a mile of pain!

We planned to hang out in the Camden, TN area as Eric was to mail a package to us there, however, six days was more time than we'd planned to spend. We anchored in Birdsong Creek on Friday and Sat nights, October 19th and 20th. The weather was still sunny and beautiful but the pain in my hip was starting to worsen. (This is a chronic condition where my S-I joint locks up but I'd been symptom-free for 7 months).

On Sunday aft, the wind piped up and our anchor started to slide. We were still in 16 ft of water so our depth alarm didn't go off but the shore was getting alarmingly close to us! We headed over to Birdsong Marina which was less than a mile up the creek. We were thoroughly welcomed and taken up to the office and museum by Mr. Bob (the owner of the resort) in his golf cart. Birdsong is the location of the only fresh water pearl farm in North America and we watched a video and heard a mini lecture by Mr. Bob on their operation. Very interesting but we opted not to go on the full tour, thank goodness, because the long walk up the dock to shore about did me in. Lots of pain now when putting weight on my left leg. That night the local drought ended; the heavens opened and the rain poured down.

It was still raining Monday when we borrowed the courtesy car (actually a red Ford pick-up truck) and drove the 9 mi into town. We decided I needed to see what they could do for me at the Emergency Room of the Camden General Hospital. After spending 2 hours there, I had a prescription for pain pills and an appt. with their physical therapist for the next day. I was dreading the walk down the dock back to the boat; still raining too.

On Tuesday we headed the red pick-up back to Camden (in the rain) for my appt. We decided to do some shopping first. By then I was using the wheelchair at Wal-Mart and the other places we stopped. Paul got pretty adept at pushing the grocery cart with one hand and pulling me along with the basket of the wheelchair with the other. I wasn't too swift with the hand controls! The therapist at the hospital, Quade, tried a few things to help me but I was so sore from all the walking that he couldn't do much besides cause more pain so they hooked me up to the electric stimulation thingee with cold packs and set up another appt. for the next day. Another long walk down the dock and it's still raining!

On Wednesday we took our truck back to Camden (in the rain). No more painful walk up the dock though - I decided to ride my my bicycle instead. With help getting seated from Paul, it really was a much better way to go! We did a load of laundry at the laundromat near the hospital and went to my appt. My therapist in Green Bay had faxed some of my history and suggestions for treatment to this clinic so that was helpful. Quade said he rarely sees my type of problem and apologized for using a textbook with pictures as an aid to treat me but I didn't care - IT WORKED!! So Wed night was our last night in Birdsong Creek: 2 nights at anchor and 4 in the marina.

We spent Thurs night, Oct 25th, at anchor behind tiny Kelly's Island. We're still on the Tennessee River, nearing the end of the Kentucky Lakes. The rock formations along the shore are beautiful. Still a little rain today and only in the 50s - brr!

We anchored again Fri night, Oct 26th, near Wolf Island, just off the channel. We watched a beautiful full moon rise before it disappeared in the heavy cloud cover. I'm still not walking normally, just due to sore muscles I hope, but the pain is much less. No more jumping off the boat when docking for me and I need to be careful to not take big steps to get on and off the boat. They seem to think that's what caused the flare-up. Thank goodness for good medical care and an understanding husband!

We got one channel on the tv at anchor. The weatherman from the Jackson, TN station said they had EIGHT INCHES of rain in the area the past week. That's twice the rainfall they had all summer! More adventures to come - thanks for checking on us!

Tennessee River

I promised Eric not too many pictures of Ginger... sorry Eric!

Abandoned dock just south of abandoned R.R. bridge

Old Louisville & Nashville Rail Road Bridge with span removed at Mile 78.2 on Tennessee River


Grey Heron on Mile Marker 54.2 on KY Lake

We are currently at Pebble Isle Marina near New Johnsonville, Tennessee. We had planned to anchor out but storms are predicted so we thought a marina would be more sensible. It poured last night when we were at Paris Landing Marina, about 30 mi. north of here.

We are still traveling on the Tennessee River which flows through Kentucky Lake. The Cumberland River flows through Barkley Lake. Both of these rivers branch off the Mississippi near Paducah, Kentucky. Like the Fox River in northeast Wisconsin, they both flow north instead of south. We still see the occasional tow pushing barges but nothing like we saw on the bigger rivers. Thursday was supposed to be the last really warm day for awhile; it was in the high 80s again. EVER ONWARD!

Paul's Turn

A scene along the shore of Kentucky Lake and the All-Sail marina in Grand Rivers, KY

We are currently taking it easy on Kentucky Lake anchoring out as much as we can. The area has a lot of bays and coves. I assume they were named for the families that owned the land before the dams were built to create Kentucky and Barkley Lakes. It's interesting to note that the charts identify the locations of family cemeteries but not landmarks visible from the water such as smokestacks and water towers. Maybe it was a political thing.

We're currently at Paris Landing Marina just inside the Tennessee border. We spent two nights at anchor at Ken Lake State Park in a creek that looks more like a lake. Lots of circa 20ft fishing boats with huge outboards (200 - 250 hp). We plan to slow down for about a week after the rather hectic river traffic. We need to wait for the end of hurricane season before we get too far south.

Some statistics: Since leaving Green Bay on 9/12/07, we have travelled 907 statute miles (s.m.) River miles are calculated in s.m. not nautical miles. We've burned 136 gal. of diesel, not bad compared to what some of the trawlers on this trip are burning. We probably burn .75 to .9 gallons per hour.

Going down the Miss. River was a bit nerve racking with the debris and current (about 4 mph) but we could make really good time. We went about 10 mph at 2000 RPM, sometimes as high as 12 mph. I did 90% of the piloting, better for my nerves plus I found it enjoyable and challenging. Had to constantly be aware of where we were in the river since the channel would tend to go from one side of the river to the other. The average depth of the channel was about 15 ft. and 9 ft. along the edges. Using the combination of paper and electronic charts made navigation fairly easy. I used the auto pilot to steer, but learned quickly not to cut too close to buoys in bends in the river because it can get shallow quickly. We saw several whirlpools in the Miss. River, but they didn't affect us; I think our keel helped us.

So far we have gone through 13 locks: 10 down and 3 up. The last was 57 ft up at Barkley Lake. The worse were the two up on the Ohio River. We were told to float rather than tie off. They are old locks and had a lot of turbulence. It's difficult to control a sailboat with the mast sticking out on each end.

To date we have anchored out 10 nights, stayed at free town docks 6 nights and been at paying marinas 20 nights. The transient rates are generally $1 per foot or less. Two places have charged us as a 47 ft boat instead of a 40 ft due to the overhang of the mast.

We were really surprised at the number of sailboats on Kentucky Lake. Em may have mentioned a marina at Grand Rivers, KY that was 100% sailboats. There were about 200 boats, many 40 ft or more. We have some bridges to the south with a clearance of 52 ft.; we need 54 to 55 ft. so we won't raise the mast until we get to Mobile.

More later - pls

Kentucky Lakes

The Carvers and us at the Lodge at Kentucky Dam State Park

More updates - I really am almost caught up! We had a fun day in Grand Rivers, KY on Tues Oct 9th. We rented a golf cart from the marina and tooled around the town. Got lunch at Patti's Iron Skillet and ate way too much! Did a little shopping and got organized again. Wed the 10th we left Green Turtle. We went from Barkley Lake through the canal to Kentucky Lake where we'd reserved a slip at the Kentucky Dam Marina. It's really a pretty area; I was expecting fall colors but it's still very green here. Weather cooled off a lot; it actually feels like fall. The Carvers' friend, Bob, was here to meet us. David treated us all to lunch at the lodge at the state park and Bob gave us a tour of the area, as he grew up near here. Then it was time to say good-bye and it's back to the two of us (and Ginger of course). David and Aasta were great boat guests and a lot of fun to have along.

Thurs Oct 11th - Did some bike riding and housekeeping/laundry and engine maintenance on the boat. It's just 65 cents/foot at this marina. It's got to be the houseboat rental capital of the area and they're huge! The one in the slip next to us is 82ft with a hot tub on the upper deck. Funny thing is there's one washer/dryer and two showers/restrooms (one each for men and women) for this whole place. You Menominee boaters have it made! We plan to head out to an anchorage on Saturday.

Happy Birthday to our son Kyle who turns 29 on October 12th. He's the jazz musician in Brooklyn, NY whom we haven't seen since last Christmas.  Here's Kyle doing his thing on the drums.

Heat Wave on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers

Em and Ginger trying to catch a breeze


Sunrise near Cairo, IL


Typical tow pushing a barge on the Mississippi with hitchhiking birds

Thurs Oct 4th
We left Kimmswick, MO at 8:45 am not entirely sure of our destination. We just needed to get as far as we could down the Mississippi. The weather turned really warm for October even this far south (high 80s). Two boats that were ahead of us stopped for the night at the Kaskaskia Lock. We kept going and anchored at Rockwood Island just off the channel. Not great but there was a beach to take doggy to shore. The current was amazing to us; at anchor you felt like you were still moving as the water was flowing past our boat at about 4 mph. It's good to have a reliable outboard on your dinghy or you'll be a long way down river in a hurry trying to get to shore! We put out a second bow anchor just to feel more secure.

Fri Oct 5th
Left our anchorage about 9am. Passed by Cape Girardeau and went under the new suspension bridge. It was a fairly uneventful day with no locks. It was really hot and muggy where we anchored in Little Diversion Channel about 3 miles south of Cape Girardeau. We were really close to the shore which we thought was great for the dog but the mosquitoes were nasty so we had to eat dinner down below where it was 86 degrees! We had three little fans to use but we don't have a generator so no A.C. for us. We all tried to make the best of it but I wasn't a real happy camper!

Sat Oct 6th
Left the anchorage about 9am. There's supposed to be record high temperatures again today - oh joy! We could only go about four hours when we had to anchor for the night because there wouldn't be any suitable place to stop further on. We anchored at Boston Bar near the I-57 Bridge just north of Cairo, IL. The current wasn't as noticeable here. We saw what I thought were dog tracks when we took Ginger to shore but heard some coyotes on shore after dark so I guess they weren't dog tracks. It was only 82 in the boat tonight and not as buggy in the cockpit so things are looking up. David and Aasta are being real troopers about all of this - I'm the whiny one!

Sun Oct 7th
We set our alarms for 6am and left at 7am as we have to make about 60 miles today. Near Cairo is where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers merge. Now we're on the Ohio and going against the current; luckily the current isn't nearly as strong as on the Mississippi. There was a lot of barge activity around Cairo. Paul is usually the one to contact them on the VHF radio - I think we may actually be understanding their lingo a little better! Two locks to go through today - now we're locking up river. The first was the #53 Lock near Olmstead, then the #52 Lock 23 miles further on. They are both very old and not well maintained; they are to be replaced by the new Olmstead Lock in about 2013. The locktender had us "float" in the lock which is very tricky in a sailboat with no bow thrusters like the big guys (you did good, Paul!) We went past Metropolis, IL where Superman is from but didn't get to see his likeness on their water tower from the river - darn. We got to Paducah, KY about 5:30 pm and tied up at their little dock overnight. We watched the Packers lose to "da Bears" while sweltering again. Both heads (toilets) are about to the max now; no facilities here it's just a tie-up dock but we were able to go up to a coffee shop/bakery/deli in the morning and use their facilities so we felt closer to civilization. This should be our last night of roughing it - yay!

Mon Oct 8th
Left Paducah at 8:40am for Green Turtle Creek Marina in Grand Rivers, KY (I called it the Promised Land). We got onto the Cumberland River just past Paducah. It's much narrower and very scenic. We saw egrets, heron, turtles and deer along the way. One more lock to go through - the huge new Barkley Lock where we went up 57 ft. We used a bollard there to tie up which works much better than floating! We were all happy to get to Green Turtle Marina and take a real shower even though the facilities weren't quite what we expected. There.... I'm mostly caught up!!

The Mississippi/Missouri Confluence and St Louis

We left the marina at Alton, IL Tuesday, Oct 2nd and locked through the Mel Price Lock with no wait (this is very unusual; our longest wait is about 2 1/2 hours). About 5 miles down river the Missouri River joins the Mississippi; lots of turbulence there. It's hard to imagine the Lewis-Clark Expedition paddling against the current in these waters. It was a different river then, however, with no man-made dams. Four miles from there we went through the Chain of Rocks Lock after a long wait. The picture of the pelicans was taken there. The locktender at the Mel Price asked us where our Packer sign was (he was from Superior, WI). Since we had neglected to bring one along I had to do a hand-made one (see picture). I must have jinxed them as they were 4 -0 but lost their next game!

Seeing the famous arch as we passed St. Louis was very cool. The city has no facilities for pleasure craft to tie up so we just passed by. There's lots of barge traffic around St. Louis but Cap'n Paul got us through just fine.

We docked at Hoppe's Marine Service at Kimmswick, MO mid-afternoon. It's quite a well known place for "Loopers" to get current river information from Fern Hoppe. We were tied up to an old barge/dock with electricity but no other facilities for $1/ft. We spoke to a couple from Scotland who sailed their boat across the ocean and are now doing the Loop. They've lived aboard their double-masted sailboat for about 12 years!

Our second night there our guests for the week were "delivered" by their son, his wife and little Kate. We had a nice dinner out and tried to sleep despite wake from barges and a train whistle that seemed to be right outside our windows (I should say "ports"). I teased them that we wouldn't look this clean or smell this good for quite awhile. (And they thought I was kidding!)

More updates later today.... we're moving on again!

The Mississippi River

We're here in Alton, IL practically under the new Clark Bridge - it's very dramatic at night. It's a very nice facility with a pool (too chilly) and hot tub (very pleasant) the rate is $1.30/ft. I'm writing this as I do laundry - it's a "catch-up" day; grocery shopping is planned for this afternoon. The photo of the marina is from the Grafton Marina; check out the size of that yacht we're next to!

It was interesting Saturday to see where the Illinois River flows in to the Mississippi. We definitely noticed an increase in the current and the river widened considerably. There were quite a few sailboats out as there was a strong breeze from the south. On Sunday we rode our bikes (they're strapped on top of the boat now with the mast - we're quite a sight) 2 miles down river to the National Great Rivers Museum; very interesting. It's at the site of our next lock, the Melvin Price Lock and Dam. It's definitely the largest lock so far; there are actually 2 chambers; we'll be in the smaller of the two.

We plan to leave here tomorrow and meet up with Paul's cousin David and his wife Aasta (from the Evansville, IN area) on Wednesday. There won't be many facilities like this marina along the next part of the trip so we'll be roughing it. I'm trying to soak up all the modern conveniences while I can!