3) Kentucky Lake/Tennessee River
Day 21
After a restful 3 days in Green Turtle Bay, it was time to move on. We caught up on laundry, provisioning, dinner with new friends and long walks to stretch our legs. We even found a cemetery that had headstones dating in the late 1800's. Love that history!
We left at 7:00am to head onto Kentucky Lake and eventually the Tennessee River. Only met one tow! All went well but we did deal with high winds, 29 knot gusts, that were annoying! Saw an old abandon dock that looked like something out of the Old West. We tried to anchor twice but found that the charts and our depth gauge did not agree so headed into Pebble Isle Marina to tie up on the fuel dock for the evening. 4 other Looper boats are here. What I find so interesting is all of the houseboats that are at this marina. Most of the covered docks are for huge houseboats.
Heading out early again tomorrow to keep heading South.
Day 22-Clifton, TN
Shorter day today, 63 miles. It was very scenic along the Tennessee River. We saw a lot of houses on stilts. Summer cottages were covered pole barns without walls. Rock formations that reminded us of the Wisconsin Dells. And we tied up at Clifton Marina just as the rain began. End of a good day with karaoke with Brand New Day, Surprise, HOMES, Sea Surfer and Dorothy's Gale 2.
Day 23-Clifton Marina to Safe Harbor Aqua Yacht
More amazing houses on the river.
We left Clifton Marina on a rainy cool morning to travel 56 miles at 7 knots and one lock. The Tennessee River curves and winds around with so many amazing houses along the way. Most seem ready for a potential flood by being on stilts and or cement walls. The highlight of my day was I catch the floating bollard at the Pickwick Lock and Dam on the first try! 14 locks and this was the first time I got it on the first try! That is HUGE! Especially since the next 3 days we have 10 locks, 3-4 per day on the Tenn-Tom. Pray for me!!!!
Check the map out! We have traveled far. Mobile, AL is where we will have our mast put back on. It's been quite the adventure. Tomorrow I am going back to my history roots. We are getting a courtesy car with another looper couple to tour the Shiloh Battlefield-a major battle of the Civil War.
Day 24-Nice relaxing day. Went to Shiloh National Battlefield with 2 other Looper Boats by van. (Felt strange to be riding in a car after 24 days on a boat).
We had passed the battlefield by boat and saw where the Union troops landed to advance on the Confederate Army. Then to stand on land and see that same spot was amazing for this history geek! I won't go on and on about this battle, because I could, so I recommend looking it up. You won't be disappointed!
Heading out to tomorrow with 3 locks ahead of us. UGH!
Day 25-Down the Tenn-Tom
Left at 6:00 am to head down the TomBigBee Canal to 3 locks with 7 other boats. The canal was 25 miles long and was so peaceful but nothing to see except trees. Then we tackled 3 locks. The first was a 84' drop, the second was 33' drop and the last one was 31' drop. Talk about stressful! And tomorrow we have 4 locks! Again tows behind us, coming at us, ugh!
Day 26-4 locks-UGH
Up at 5:15 am to find out if the LockMaster will let all 14 boats in our Flotilla through at 6:30am. We find out the best news. No tow traffic for 3 hours. So we creep out of the Midway on the Tenn-Tom Marina with steamed up windows to head to the first lock. We wiped the windows many times as we approached the first lock. As we approached the wall with the bollards on the starboard side, via headsets, I was able to get Kim to stop at the 3rd bollard, I grabbed it and pulled us in. Whew!
14.7 miles later we approached our second lock. More boats joined us so we now needed to raft. Our buddy boat, Journey, for the last couple of days, let us raft off them. YAY! Their boat is huge and it worked well for us to raft. We also rafted off them for the last two locks. 22.5 miles later at 7.5 knots we got to Columbus Marina (MS) to stay for two nights. Time for a much needed break.
Day 27-We took a rest day at Columbus Marina and woke up to this.
Took the courtesy car to Kroger and Tennessee Williams house. Ended the day with a nice dinner.
Day 28-Rainy morning. We left by 6:30 am out of the slip to find ourselves aground in the shallow channel outside the marina. Kim was amazing and he quickly got us out of that situation. Immediately we were in a lock and all went well. We are so much better getting through the locks now. We have two today and then an anchorage.
There are so many things to see along the way. Huge houseboats are everywhere and random phone booths.
We are currently anchoraged in Warsaw Cut on the Tenn-Tom in Alabama.
Day 29-Left our peaceful anchorage just as a tow passes by in the distance, went through one lock and then spent the rest of the day cruising on the TomBigBee Waterway. 73 degrees, sunny and a nice warm breeze. Landed at Kingfisher Bay Marina for the next two nights. We have 2-3 days left on the river systems and then we will be in Mobile, AL!
This is my job at each lock. After I catch the bollard, tighten up the line, I smash the bajeebees out of the lines with my feet as the boat goes back and forth pilling the lines as we drop into what seems like the abyss.
Another covered slip at KingFisher Bay Marina. Great in a storm, not so great for Starlink.
Our Flotilla of 14 boats leaving the Demopolis Lock. One more lock to go!
DAY 30!!!!!
We left Kingfisher Bay Marina at 6:00am. We heard the National Anthem as we passed 50 fishing boats getting ready to start a tournament on the way to the lock. A tow also was in the mix. As Kim pulled up to the floating bollard for me to grab, it wasn't there. An empty hole. Kim quickly backs up to #400 and we secured our boat to the bollard. Then Frost Free came to raft off us. This was a first of having someone raft off us. All went smooth. 8 hours at 7.5 knots we worked our way down the very snakelike Black Warrior River. We got to Bashi Creek to our anchorage for the night. Anchor down and stern tied to a tree stump. 2 maybe 3 more days and we will be on the Gulf of Mexico. Quite the journey!
Bashi Creek Anchorage
Day 31-November 19, 2023
Left our anchorage at 7:00 am to go back on the river in a foggy morning. We managed to squeeze 7 boats into our small anchorage but it worked.
Coffeville Lock and Dam was lock #26 for us and the LAST LOCK FOR MONTHS!! Do I sound excited? Yep! Patron shots were had in celebration!
We snaked our way down the river to our anchorage. Good Day. All couples came to our boat for docktails. We learned that one Captain played drums and toured with Three Dog Night and a captain's wife was a biochemist/ski instructor/started Red Bra Regatta, a woman's sailing race in San Francisco.
And then there was this amazing sunset!
Day 32-November 20
We woke up to the 4 boats in front of us totally flipped around. The wind and current flipped them in the opposite direction. Anchor lines tangled. Yikes!
Zoom in and you can see cows on the beach. Calves at the water, cows by the trees.
Short day along the TomBigBee River that merged into the Alabama River, that had us on the Mobile River. We are anchored on the Tensaw River for the night. Storm is predicted so we could be here for a couple of days. 7 boats anchored.
Day 33-November 21
At 6:30 am my cell phone dings and it is Rick, my brother, texting How's the weather? Are you safe? I know it was a long night on anchor as our boat swung this way and that way. It had rained a lot. So I pull up doppler radar for Mobile, AL and saw red, green, yellow and a tornado warning alert. That got our attention. Thankfully our little river that we were anchored on was well protected by the winds. The storm passed over Mobile and headed northeast. At 8:00 am we decided to finish the first part of our journey out to Mobile Bay. One boat, Frost Free, decided to stay one more night but the rest of us took off. Rainy day but uneventful until about 3 hours into the trip and we start seeing huge logs, trees, deadheads everywhere. The storm had washed the debris from the shore. We were in the lead so I had to radio the other boats where the logs were so they did not hit them. If that wasn't enough, we reach Mobile Bay and encounter tows, barges, some moving some not. I have to talk to them, relay what side they want us to pass on to the flotilla and watch for logs. Whew! And we did it! We are tied up at Turner Marina to stay for a few weeks to get the bottom of our boat ready for salt water, mast stepped, and a few other minor boat jobs. Most important is that we will have a much needed rest.
There are pelicans everywhere. They are fun to watch dive in the water for fish. I saw my first dolphin but was too busy at the time to get a picture. I also talked to the US Coast Guard.
Mobile Bay was so busy with cargo ships, military ships, The US Hospital Ship, Comfort and more.
The map below shows the shipping lane we went through. The green ships were flashing meaning they could move at any minute.
