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| The beginning of the Tenn-Tom at M450 in Pickwick Lake |
The Tenn-Tom Waterway is a series of canals and locks that
connect the Tennessee River, the Tombigbee River, and the Black Warrior River.
It is 450 miles long and has 12 locks. Most of them are less than 40 foot lift
(or since we are going downstream it can honestly be called “drop”). We will
travel from elevation of 414 feet above sea level to 0 feet at sea level in
Mobile.
This was a huge canal project. More dirt was moved for this
project, liking the Tennessee River to the Gulf of Mexico, than the Panama
Canal! The idea of this canal first floated in 1792. French explorer Marquis De
Montcalm traveled these parts and had an awful time with portages, hostile
Indians, and mosquitos. According to “The Tenn-Tom Nitty-Gritty Cruise Guide”
by Fred Myers, the Marquis was thoroughly pissed off and sent off an angry
letter to the King saying if he was so darned interested in exploring this area
he needed to pony up the funds for a canal to make it possible to explore. No
response.
The idea resurfaced several times since then until the Army
Corps of Engineers got approval to begin. The shovels started moving dirt in
1971. It opened finally in June of 1985. Total cost $2 billion. Fred Myers
says, “Now you can cruise between the Gulf Coast and the Midwest without
risking life, limb, and hull on the Mississippi.
Speaking of the Mississippi, the AGLCA Forum reported from a
couple who traveled on the Loer Mississippi to New Orleans instead of on the
Tenn-Tom to Mobile. They reported very few, almost no fuel stops because there
are no marinas and any fuel available is designated for commercial vessels and
not available to pleasure craft. Since there are no marinas, they had to
improvise overnight stops. They reported paying $50 to tie up along side a tow
anchored for the night. They had to crawl through the tow boat’s window to pass
through to get to shore. Sounds like fun!
The Tenn-Tom starts at Mile 450 in Pickwick Lake right by
Agua Marina. Mile 0 is in Mobile AL. At the north end it looks different from
other waterways we have traveled so far, probably since it is man-made. The
sides are made of rip-rap which looks like old crushed up highway pieces. There
are two levels on the berm, all covered with grass with trees on the top of the
berm. After the first 20 miles or so there is a levee on the west side and the
east side is river bank with woods and shallow parts.
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| Upper part of Tenn-Tom |
Critter alert: One September saw a coyote! In the photo (which I don’t have) the little guy looks a little mangy meandering along the top of the first berm on the starboard side. We were way in the back so he was gone by the time we got there. This was about 20 south of Pickwick Lake.
We anchored out for the evening
on Thursday 11/8 at Five Fingers, Mile 412 after running for 38 miles with 1
lock, Whitten Lock, one of the biggest we traveled through so far. Not the
largest, that was the Wilson Lock on the Tennessee River at over 90 feet. The
Whitten Lock has an 84 foot lift. It drains very fast. I think the entire lock
took about 15 minutes to go down that large depth.
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| Whitten Lock |
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| Whitten Lock |
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| Whitten Lock |
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| Turkey at Whitten Lock |
We finally figured out a
good way to control the boat in the lock. We use two lines from the forward and
aft mid cleats. Now we don’t move around so much in the lock! I am not sure if I showed these pictures before.
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| this is how we handle the locks now |
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| Boating is such hard work |
Several of us are using chart
books we borrowed from folks who already did the loop and in each chart book
this spot is noted as one of the most beautiful anchorages on the trip. So we
decided to stop here after traveling from Mile 450. Boy, were they right! So
beautiful.
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| Five fingers anchorage at M412 on Tenn-Tom |
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| Five Fingers anchorage at M412 on Tenn-Tom |
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| Five fingers anchorage at M412 on Tenn-Tom |
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| Five fingers anchorage at M412 on Tenn-Tom |
There are many little inlets off the main waterway. We were 4th
boat and lagging pretty far behind so the first three boats went in and out of
little coves until they found the most beautiful and it was truly beautiful.
The trees are just changing down here. The water was flat like a mill pond. The
shore was 30 feet away so very convenient for Rusty.
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| Kermit and Rusty in the dinghy going for a walk |
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| Rusty going for a walk at M412 anchorage. Judy and Michael from One September are in the dinghy watching us! |
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| Of course Rusty needed to go swimming! |
So we did our anchorage thing,
tying up 4 boats together, putting on the generator (which works reliably now),
and resting before dinner. We tied up around 3pm so we took Rusty out right
away while the sun was still high. Then we all relaxed until dinner.
We turned the generator on at
about noon because Kermit felt the urge to make beef vegetable soup. It was
fabulous!! When you cook on the water, especially at anchor, you must be
creative. So he couldn’t make the 10 gallons of soup he might have made before.
He had to be creative with ingredients. Not enough canned tomatoes? Use
spaghetti sauce. Not enough vegetables? Raid Rusty’s dinner vegetables. It was
just great. The best he ever made. Just to be clear, Kermit hates to improvise
this way so it distressed him a little but the results were great.
Rusty needed a final potty break
so we took him out at 7pm just before bed. [Seriously we were all in bed by
8:30pm. It is called Loopers Midnight!] Everyone shined their spotlights on the
shore in front of the boats and Rusty pooped bathed in light. He was much
embarrassed. No pictures - too dark.
It is the first day of hunting season
so Kermit wore bright colors and talked loudly to avoid being mistaken for a
deer!! We are constantly reminded we are in the middle of the country.
As he returned from the potty
adventure, he noticed the sky. Everyone came on deck to share this wonderous
view. Turns out Deanna on Sareanna is a night sky expert. We could see a
million stars and the Milky Way. I don’t think I have seen the Milky Way since
I was a little girl but there is was bright as can be. Deanna pointed out
Jupitor bright as can be, Casiopea which is a W, and Andromedia and a few
others. We will get her out there again to point out some more. We didn’t stay
out long because it was very COLD. We turned off our generators and went to
bed.
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| Morning potty break at Five Fingers M412 on Tenn-Tom |
Friday 11-9 we left Five Fingers
anchorage at 8am promptly and headed down the Tenn-Tom. We are now traveling
with two other boats, Irish Attitude who we have met many times since Green
Turtle Bay, and Done Dreaming from Canada. Two locks today: Montgomery (30’)
and Rankin (30’).
Another sunny day, thank
goodness. I am getting pretty sick of cold weather.
We stopped at Midway Marina in
Fulton, MS. It has a neat story. The owner, Ginger and Gerald Conner, were
loopers who traveled by this marina and liked it so well they bought the marina
and stayed! We met Ginger. I think Gerald died recently. Ginger made us stop in
the town and see the new park the town recently built. It was a park but she
was really proud of it!!
We stocked up on groceries at
Wal-Mart, our new favorite grocery store. None of us ever shopped at Wal-Mart
before for many different reasons but we all agree they have the best and most
reliable food while traveling. Unfortunately you don’t get to see the town but
you get fresh produce. So I guess it is a tradeoff I am willing to make.
As we pulled into the marina, we
were met with a huge wave of these little tiny bugs, sort of like gnats but
smaller. So small they went through screens but not no-see-ums because they
didn’t bite. In the morning the outside was completely covered with these
little bugs. It looked like poppy seeds. It was disgusting. I threw cup after
cup of water to get them off the outside gunnel and half a roll of paper towels
to wipe off the seats and instruments. Ick…
Dinner on Friday night at the
Midway Marina Restaurant. Catfish of course. Even Kermit ate a few filets with
a ton of tartar sauce. So crispy and not greasy at all. Although it seemed to
go straight through Kermit that night and the next day!
Midway Marina is just a short
distance from the next lock and we planned three locks on Saturday so we left
really early – 6:30am. Fulton Lock (25’), Wilkins Lock (25’), and Amory Lock
(30’). Surprisingly these shorter locks took just as long as the big Whitten
lock to drain. Kermit was the leader this time and he sweet talked the first
lockmaster so the lockmaster called the next lockmasters and they opened the
locks for us right away.
Critter alert: Hunting season
opened this week in Mississippi. Consequently we saw several deer crossing the
Tenn-Tom. We also heard gun shots!!
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| Deer crossing the Tenn-Tom 10/10/12 |
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| Deer crossing the Tenn-Tom 10/10/12 |
We arrived at Saturday night’s
marina at 1:30 – a 6 hour day to travel about 40 miles which is a good day’s
work. We are staying at Aberdeen Marina. The landscape here is weird. People
describe it like the swamp where Pogo lives. Someone said that in our group and
another person asked who is Pogo. Can you believe it? Who hasn’t heard of Pogo’s
famous line: “I have met the enemy and he is us.”
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| going into Aberdeen Marina, Aberdeen MS |
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| going into Aberdeen Marina, Aberdeen MS |
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| going into Aberdeen Marina, Aberdeen MS |
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| going into Aberdeen Marina, Aberdeen MS |
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| going into Aberdeen Marina, Aberdeen MS |
It really does look like I would
imagine Pogo's world to look like. There are tree stumps and trees all over. The path
from the main waterway travels around corners and up and down. It is narrow and
marked with signs on the trees that says, “Aberdeen Marina this way”! This
marina had the best price for gas at $3.88 but the gas pump doesn’t work so we
missed out. And we need gas!!
The marina offered us two cars
(their personal cars) to go to dinner tonight on Saturday night at Atkins Steak
Restaurant in Smithville MS. An interesting place, the ceiling is covered with
4x8 plywood held in place with silver colored metal structure, the walls are
plywood, and the food is terrific, although it is weird to eat steak without red wine. Judy and Michael picked up friends Jay and Sandy from Virginia Beach today. They will stay with us for about a week. They seem really nice.
Tomorrow we are off to Columbus
MS where we will probably stay for a few days to rest from all this travel we
have been doing.
Can you imagine making the Aberdeen Marina approach at night? ( Are those DAYMARKS all Charted?).
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