Kim Jo IV: October 20, 2012, Columbus Marina, MS

Saturday, October 20, 2012

October 20, 2012, Columbus Marina, MS

10-18-2012 Friday: We got an early start again; 07:00. It was cool, about 60 degrees, and hazy but it turned into a beautiful, sunny day with the high in the 80's. We only had 3 miles to go for our first lock; Fulton Lock, we went down 30'. Shortly after the lock we had an engine alarm go off and the volt meter on the starboard side went down to zero so I drove and Keith went down to check things out in the engine department. Every thing looked OK, he wiggled a few wires, and came back to the bridge. By then, the RPM’s on the starboard side also registered zero. We called a few people to see if it was OK to keep going and it was decided we would go to Columbus and have it checked. Terry, our mechanic, thinks it is a loose ground wire and he will check it out tomorrow, Saturday.

When meeting our 2^nd tow of the day at Mile 382.0, we saw a deer swimming across the waterway right in front of us, got a picture. We locked through Wilkins and Amory Locks, our 2^nd and 3rd locks of the day, with Integrity from St. Petersburg, FL. There were 13.5 miles to the next lock and Integrity left us in her wake. By now, the starboard engine alarm went off again. We got to the marina by 14:30 and it was pretty full of loopers already. Elvie and I went to Walmart to pick up a few things. The marina sponsored a get-together tonight for all the boaters; there were about 35 attending. Everyone brought a dish to pass and T, the owner, furnished the meat. It was a very enjoyable evening. About half of the boaters were "Gold" loopers.

We have a discrepancy in the Port and Starboard meter readings, we think the Port is correct. We are wondering if this discrepancy has anything to do with our engine light going on. Every time we take a reading the gap gets larger; today there was a difference of 4.07 hours.

N33.52139
W88.48165

Date: 10-19-2012, Saturday

Roy and Elvie, of Roy El, took their car and ours to Panama City, FL, today. We will leave our car at Pirates Cove Marina. After we get the boat to Pirates Cove we will leave it there and drive the Lincoln to Wisconsin and Montana over Thanksgiving. Roy and Elvie will be back tomorrow along with their friends, Carl and Greg, who are going to cruise with them the rest of the way down the Tenn-Tom. All 4 of them will be at Kim Jo IV for dinner tomorrow night.

I went to Walmart with our neighbor boaters from "Sea Biscuit" this morning. They will finish their loop in Sarasota, FL. Keith stayed at the boat waiting for Terry, our mechanic, to get here. He will also be seeing several other boaters with problems, he is a busy guy and very helpful.

CO's comments: Wonderful 2 days on the river. We now have our problems fixed and they were minor. Ready to get going. More details later.