Its been fun, but not fast!

After brunch & a nap last Sunday we sat Monday out because of the rain. Tuesday dawned bright and sunny with perfect temps and low humidity. You couldn’t ask for a better day to travel, and travel we did. Well for 15 miles before we had to pull off and relax for a few hours. This time however the rest stop was not for food, nor was it part of our plan.

From our anchorage in Second Creek we started our day by locking down through Wheeler Lock and traveling the 15 miles to Wilson Lock. When we arrived at Wilson the lockmaster informed us that there was a tow coming and we would have to pull over to the auxiliary wall and wait for him to bring the tow (a double) up. The reality was that the tow had not yet arrived at his lower gate and he could have taken up down and brought the first cut of the tow up; but part of travel on the rivers is living by the lockmasters rules and so we waited for two and a half hours. I used my time well by whooping Larry at a game of Gin.

From Wilson Lock, which is at Florence, AL for those of you who are trying to follow along on a map, we had a delightful run down to our anchorage on Pickwick Lake. The next morning our start was delayed a bit by morning fog but as soon as it burned off we were treated to a second “top ten” kind of day as we began our run down the Tenn-Tom Waterway. I am always a little awed by the waterway; it is an amazing bit of engineering

The first section of the Tenn-Tom is known as the “divide cut” where the earth was cut and hauled away to connect the Tennessee River to the Tombigbee River. The Tenn-Tom Waterway was the largest earthmoving project in history, requiring the excavation of nearly 310 million cubic yards of soil, by comparison only 210 million cubic yards were removed from the Panama Canal. The Tenn-Tom is also much longer than the Panama Canal.

Once through the divide cut we arrived at Bay Springs Lake where we had planned a stop to relax and enjoy the beautiful clear water of this natural area. Alas the chilly nights had made the water too cool to be comfortable so we had to content ourselves with exploring by dinghy. One item from our exploration was not especially welcome as we found a sign advertising a future development of some sort; not sure of the details but the sign clearly said “lakeside cottages”, boo-hoo. Most of this land is owned by the Corps of Engineers but apparently they can grant leases or sell some of the land and development follows. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with development but it is just so peaceful and beautiful there and we hate to see it change.

Today we moved on down the waterway to Midway Marina at Fulton, MS and visited with our friends Bill & Donna who live here. Tonight it seems as though a front is blowing through with strong winds from the north and a rapidly falling thermometer. Tomorrow will be a short travel day down to Blue Bluff Recreation Area where there is a free dock for boaters to use when visiting the town of Aberdeen and then on the Columbus, MS, one of our favorite stops.