Saturday, May 18, 2013-Grand Harbor Marina, MS

Saturday:  There was rain and thunder storms predicted for the area but we thought we could get ahead of them and we did.  They all went south of us.  We had 3 Locks to go through today: Rankin, Montgomery, and Whitten.  The first 2 we had to wait 45 minutes at each lock on a slow sail boat.  The 3 lock we waited 3.75 hours on 3 Tows.  We finally got through the last lock and we took off in a hurry so we could get to Grand Harbor before they closed at 18:00.  We needed fuel and our slip.  We made good time and got here by 17:05.  We met up with Sam and Cheryl, the people we bought the boat from last September.  They were having a cook out at their boat so we went down there for dinner.  All of K Dock was there.  It was good to see some of the people we met last fall.  Had an enjoyable evening.

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CO’s comments:  A Tow had to blow his horn to get some bass boaters out of the channel so he could pass through on the channel and he also had to slow down because of wake boarders in front of him in the channel.  How stupid people can be.  Tows can not stop on a dime and they can not swerve to miss people. If someone fell in front of him he would run over them.  It doesn’t make any sense to me.

5-18-2013:  Roy El in the Whitten Lock.  We went up 84' and even though we had to wait almost 4 hours to get in there, once we were, the Lock Master locked us up really fast.  We were in and out within 20 minutes.

5-18-2013: Pass Christian Tow

May 17, 2013; Midway Marina, Fulton, MS

Friday:  Happy Syttende Mai everyone!

It was raining at 06:00 but we decided to go for it and see how far we get so we left by 06:10.  We had 4 Locks to go through today: Aberdeen,  Amory, Wilkins, and Fulton.  It rained in the first 3 but just before lock 4 it stopped; perfect timing.  We locked through the Amory Lock about 12:00 and I watched a bird (I think it was from the Heron family of birds) sitting on the inside edge of the lock doors.  The doors had little pockets in them that caught water and fish; at least today it did.  The bird ate 3 fish while we locked through, a nice little lunch.  We got to Midway Marina by 15:10 and by then the sun was trying to come out.  We ate dinner at the little restaurant near the marina.

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W88.41982

CO's comments:  With rain all day long it sure was nice to have a hard top.

5-17-2013:  The heron eating lunch in the lock.

May 16, 2013: Columbus Marina, MS, Mile 335.0

Thursday:  It was another beautiful day on the river system.  The Tenn-Tom is exceptionally beautiful this time around.  Today, unlike the past few days, we had a lot of debris again in the water.  At Mile 316.5 we hit a log that was underwater.  Luckily we have no vibrations.  We had 2 locks to go through today and we hit both good with no wait.  In the last lock, Stennis Lock,  when he started to fill the chamber we could see all the debris and junk that the stirred up from the bottom. Upon exiting the lock we heard another thump and we hit another underwater log.  Thank goodness the marina was just around the corner.

Our generator was not producing 120 volts again this morning; only 90.   I brought our coffee pot over for Elvie to make coffee.  We got underway by 06:40.  We had T at Columbus check out the generator and it worked just fine for him.  It seems that it only works sporadically.  T called an expert on Onan generators and he said that the only other thing it could be were the brushes so I guess we will try that next.

Everyone went to lunch and I stayed on the boat while T checked the generator and I did a load of wash.  After lunch Elvie, Pam, and I went to Walmart to stock up.  We were on our own for dinner.

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5-16-2013:  Kim Jo IV tied up Columbus Marina, MS, after sun down

CO's comments:  None at this time; missed the deadline.

Roy El went by our marina about 07:00. We got a late start because we had to wait for a part. The mechanic got to the boat about 08:15 and he changed all 3 generator filters.  It appears to have taken care of our problem. Keith went to the office and paid the bill while I got everything ready on the boat and we left at 09:40. It was a sunny day and the river was just beautiful again this morning, smooth and calm and hardly any debris to speak of. We made real good time and made it to the Heflin Lock by 16:00 and he had us in and out within ½ hour. We got to our anchorage and tied up to Roy EL by 17:30. We went a total of 70.4 miles.  We ran the generator for about 3 hours tonight and so far all is well.  Elvie cooked tonight.

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W88.22061

CO's comments:  No more brown water and the current has calmed down; all is good!

5-15-2013:  The White Cliffs of Epes

5-15-2013:  Heflin Lock

 

5-15-2013:  Roy El waiting for us to tie up in Cochrane Cutoff anchorage, Mile 287.4

May 14, 2013: Kemps Landing to Demopolis Yacht Basin, AL

Tuesday: To add to our problems of yesterday, Roy, Elvie, and Pam wake up to make coffee and their coffee pot didn’t work. Luckily, I had a coffee pot that worked and they had the electricity. After making coffee, Roy El left about 07:00 and we took our anchor up manually; which was really stuck good in the mud but with a little finesse, Keith was able to get it up while I drove. We were on our way by 07:30. It was another beautiful day on the river with the high getting into the mid 80's. We had one lock to go through today; Demopolis Lock at Mile 213. We had to wait a good hour plus on 3 barges ahead of us. Once the Lock Master got the barges into the lock he got them through in about 15 to 20 minutes each which I thought was pretty good. Roy El stopped at Foscue anchorage at Mile 114 and we went to Demopolis Yacht Basin for the afternoon and night. We had a mechanic look at our generator and he thinks that all 3 of the generator filters need to be changed. He thought that the generator wasn’t getting enough fuel. He had to order 1 of the filters and it should be here by 08:00 tomorrow morning. Hopefully that is all that is wrong and it will not take too long so we can catch up with Roy El by evening. We were both tired and spent a quiet night on the boat. Ordered pizza for supper.

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5-14-2013:  One of the many tows we met or passed today.

5-14-2013:  A Red Buoy washed up on shore due to high water.

Monday: It started out to be another beautiful day.  We made good time and made it through our first lock of the season, Coffeeville Lock at Mile 116.6 by 09:30.  We went a total of 73.5 miles for the day to our anchorage at Kemps Landing, AL.  The Tom-Tombigbee River was calm and peaceful.  We are no longer in salt water/brackish water after going through Coffeeville Lock.  It will be nice not to have to worry about tides any more.

We have been having trouble with our anchor chain since we bought the boat last September.  It was one of those things that started out not so bad but over time it got progressively worse.  Well, our anchor chain was one of those things.   It started out slipping just a little and by today it would not catch and bring the anchor up at all.  Keith had to go out and bring it up manually because it was too heavy for me.  After close inspection of things, we need a new gypsy on our windless, the thing that the chain catches on and rolls the chain up.  The one that is on now is worn down to almost nothing and the links are not catching.  So, that is something we have to get fixed and soon.  It took us several tries and over an hour to get the anchor to hold. 

Tonight it was my turn to cook.  We turned the generator on and it would only produce 90 amps instead of 120 amps required to run things properly.  I ended up cooking in Elvie’s galley and serving over in ours.  What an end to a beautiful day.  Otherwise, we had a nice evening.

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CO's comments:  So far it has been a beautiful trip up the Tenn-Tombigbee Waterway.   It has pretty much been just the two of us and tows on the river.  A lot of markers are out of place due to the high water.  I am sure enjoying our AIS radio.  It lets us know how many tows and how far away they are which is great.  Because of the high water we are constantly fighting the current.  I think next year we will wait until June before heading north and hopefully by that time the current will be minimal.

5-13-2013 Going through Coffeeville Lock with Roy El

Sunday, May 12th; On the move again

Saturday:  Due to thunder storms we stayed in our anchorage a second day.  Had a quiet day; got caught up on most things.  It was my turn to cook tonight. 

5-11-2013 Anchorage at the Tensas River North

5-11-2013 Rafted with Roy El

Sunday: Happy Mother's Day!

Our anchor was set so tight it took me almost ½ hour to get it up and out of the mud after sitting for 2 days with a 44 foot boat rafted to us.  We left early this morning and got off to a beautiful day.  The current is still really strong.  At 1600  rpm’s we could only get up to 6.4 knots, a good 2 knots slower than usual.  There was still a lot of debris in the water until we reached Mile 45 where the Alabama River emptied into the Mobile River.  After that, we had less debris as we went north.  We met a tow with 4 full barges and he was going with the current and he went by us at 9.6 knots, unbelievable.  Keith called him and said he looked like an “Indy Car” and he replied back that he felt like one too.

We got to our anchorage by 15:00 but had a hard time setting the anchor again.  This is the 3rd time I have had trouble so far this trip.  It took me almost 20 minutes to get a good hold.  There is hardly any current in the little area we are anchored in, a big difference from last night.

CO's comments:  The weather is beautiful, the trees are green, but we went from blue, clear, water of the gulf to muddy, brown water, of inland rivers in the spring.  No more dolphins, only misquotes.

5-12-2013 Leaving anchorage at 06:00.

 

5-12-2013 Debris in river with Roy El in background.

5-12-2013 Lots of debris, including trees!

5-12-2013 Anchorage at Old Lock #1