Grand to Grand

Tuesday 5/19/09 Well we've completed the 541 miles of waterway between Grand Mariner Marina in Mobile and the Grand Harbor Marina in Counce, Tn. at the Jct. of the Tenn-Tom Waterway and the Tennessee River. Five days of travel, 12 locks that raised us 348', and countless times of slowing to a no wake speed so we didn't uproot a dock or flip a fishing boat over. The last leg from Columbus to Grand Harbor covered 115 miles and we did 7 of the 12 locks in one day. The last was the best, the Jamie Whitten Lock at Dennis, Ms. which lifted us 85'! All in 20 minutes from the time we pulled in until we passed the upper gates on the way out. For years I've read and been told that the locks were very persnickety on the Tenn-Tom and it wasn't a pleasurable experience. We've found that to be just the opposite. They don't put up with any nonsense but almost all thanked us for traveling the waterway, notified the next lock that we're coming and in a couple of cases notified a marina that we were planning on stopping. Try getting that out of one of the locks on the Upper Miss! Additionally the floating bollard type of lock is Pam's favorite kind. One rope tied off to the pin and she has time to do her nails on the ride up. The last leg of the waterway is the man made section that actually connects the Tennessee and Tombigbee Rivers. Pretty much a rock lined canal cutting through the hills. Periodically you come to a spillway on the side of the canal that looks like those big concrete anti tank blocks that were used in WW ll. Kind of interesting and attractive at the same time.

Since the Mississippi is running above flood stage between St. Louis and Cairo, Il. we've decided to slow down a bit and enjoy this area for another day and then slowly make our way down the Tenneessee to Green Turtle Bay Marina. Kentucky Lake should be crazy over the holiday weekend so we'll probably try to find a cove or two to anchor in and watch the part time boaters go nuts before heading in to Green Turtle.