While crossing a set of RR tracks near home I see the pictured locomotive parked on a siding not far from the crossing. Do these railroad guys spend that much time away from home that they would have to have such a warning posted on the front of the locomotive or do they just have a warped sense of humor?

12/7/08

It's been pretty quiet here at Columbus Marina. Friday night being the busiest. Five boats came in after dark with the last two arriving after 10 p.m. None stayed too long. They started leaving at 5:20 a.m. Saturday and were all underway by 8 o'clock. That wouldn't work in Pam's world! No boats came in either Saturday or Sunday.

We spent Saturday and Sunday cleaning and getting the boat in shape to sit for a month.

I thought I'd give a little recap of our travels to date:

1303.8 miles travelled

166.4 engine hours

155 generator hours

7.7 mph average

1.1 mpg

35.2 average miles per day travelled

28 locks passed through

1218.6 gallons of fuel purchased

Monday morning we'll pump out. Drain the water system and head home to the cold!

12/2/08 to 12/5/08 Grand Harbor to Columbus, Ms.

You know you're in the South when the commercial playing on the radio ends with the narrator saying "Tell em Pork Chop sent ya". I think I hear banjos in the distance!

Tuesday dawned with sunny skies and 24 degrees. A great boating day!

We travelled with River Gypsy, a 40' Sea Ray Sundancer from Scotsboro, Alabama. Our first lock was the Whitten Lock which dropped us 80'. Quite impressive as you can see by the picture.

We did 2 more locks before completing a nice day of travel arriving at Midway Marina around 3:30 p.m.

One little bit of excitement came as we neared the Rankin Lock. Our third of the day. If you have ever travelled on Tourist with us you know that I scan the channels on the VHF to monitor commercial traffic as well as lock chatter. (Pam says I'm just nosey!) While scanning I picked up a conversation between the Rankin Lock and the Chippewa, a commercial tow who we had just spotted ahead of us much closer to the lock. They were talking about us locking through with the towboat since he was only 85' wide and the chamber is 110'. When a lull in the conversation came I jumped in and spoke for both boats saying that we would be willing to lock with the tow if it was OK with them. It was, and after the Chippewa got secured in the lock River Gypsy went in followed by us. We went past the tow to the front of the chamber where we rafted off of River Gypsy. We had a smooth ride down and exited without incident. Except for just missing being hit by the lock gate opening. It missed our bow by two feet!

While at Midway we went to dinner with the folks from River Gypsy at Pizza Hut. It was kids eat free night...need I say more! We also went to Wally World while in town. Is that living the high life or what!?!

We had hoped to see Gary and Erlene from the Wildcat who used to boat out of Midtown and now keep their boat at Midway. Unfortunately they were back in Illinois but expected back any day.

The time came to continue our travels and after slipping the dock lines and heading South I got a call from Gary on the VHF. They had gotten in late at night and heard me talking to the lock and recognized the name Tourist. We had a short visit before we had to get set up for the lock. Hopefully next time we can see them.

It's days like this that I like being Captain. Cold, windy, and raining. Pam put on her foulies and PFD and went out on deck to loop the bollard. What a trooper! We spent the night at anchor and on Friday we continued on to Columbus. http://www.columbusmarina.com/ Tourist is now safely tucked into a 60' covered slip between a Viking sportfisherman and a vintage Chris Craft Roamer. We'll get her ready to sit for a month and head back to the real cold!

Stay tuned in for a special about two veterans travelling with us...

11/28/08 to 12/1/08 Clfton, Tn. to Grand Harbor Marina (Counce, Tn.)

Friday morning we pulled out of Clifton Marina and continued North on the Tennessee River. Our day presented 2 options for distance to travel. One was to go all the way to Grand Harbor. The other to anchor half way, before Pickwick Lock and Grand Harbor. Since we have time to kill we chose option #2. We anchored outside the channel at Diamond Island which was just downriver from Shiloh Battlefield. We were amazed to see several fish surfacing and then rolling back under water all around the boat. They had yellow bellys and were about 2' long. No swimming tonight!

Saturday we travelled past Pittsburg Landing (Shiloh Battlefield) which was the Union headquarters during the battle and also the landing area for steamboats bringing in Union reinforcements. At 12:15.m. we arrived at Pickwick Lock just behind a towboat. We tied off to the long wall of the lock after the Harley Hall pushed into the 1100' chamber. Harley locked through and they lowered the water back down 55' for our lockage. You can see by the picture the force at which the water comes out of the chamber. It sends out a series of waves a mile back down river. We locked through and continued around the corner to look for the junction of the Tenn-Tom Waterway. We left the Tennessee and entered the Tenn-Tom @ 3 p.m. arriving at Grand Harbor Marina @ 3:05. Grand Harbor is a 1st class Marina with friendly staff and connected to Grand Harbor Resort. You can check them out @ http://www.gograndharbor.com/.

Sunday brought drizzle and temps in the upper 40s'. After a relaxing morning (BS'ing in the Marina with Chip Lucas the harbor master for me and checking e-mails and sleeping in for Pam) we borrowed the courtesy car and headed off to tour Shiloh Battlefield. Just to keep our priorities in order we decided to have lunch before touring. At Chips' suggestion we went to the next road past the entrance to Shiloh and turned right. We followed the road until it ended into a rock parking lot beside the river with an older looking structure set back from the water. We could see no signage but took a leap of faith and went in. What a pleasant surprise! We were at the Catfish Hotel Restaurant. Nothing fancy, but great food and Southern hospitality. You guessed it, we both had catfish. It turns out we got there at the right time because by the time we were finishing the line to get in was stretching out the door. http://www.catfishhotel.com/

With full stomachs we headed back to Shiloh.

The Battle of Shiloh. April 6 & 7th, 1862

Union forces led by Gen. U.S. Grant defeated the Confederate troops led by Gen. Johnston in a bloody 2 day battle that went back and forth with heavy losses for both sides including Gen Johnston who as it turns out was the highest ranking Southern officer to be killed in the Civil War. Because of the heat at the time the dead were buried in mass graves by the Union forces following the battle. The Union dead were later transfered to individual graves in a cemetary on a hill overlooking the Tennessee River near Pittsburg Landing while the Confederates were left in the mass graves which can still be seen today while touring. It gives you an eery feeling to travel over the same ground that claimed so many lives, so long ago.

If touring Shiloh I would reccomend seeing the movie at the visitors center (you have to stop there anyway to pay the $5.00 admission fee) before touring the site. You can get out and walk throughout the tour to see the various memorials and cannons that dot the battlefield areas. Just watch out for the deer! They're everywhere around the grounds.

Monday dawned with a mix of rain & snow and temps in the 30s'. Since we are still in slow motion we decided to spend another night at Grand Harbor where we have internet access and cable tv. Could be a Monday Night Football night!