The Tenn-Tom

After leaving Aqua Yacht Harbor on Thursday, we headed south on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway which runs south to Mobile Bay. It is known as the Tenn-Tom and has 12 locks each of which is 600 feet long and 110 feet wide. The first lock, Whitten Lock, is the fourth highest in the United States and we went down 84 feet. The picture shows the nine story high lock doors opening. Late that afternoon, we docked at Midway Marina near Fulton, Mississippi—kind of the middle of nowhere. That evening we had a good fried catfish dinner at a small restaurant adjacent to the marina. It was all town folk there as we were the only transient boat in the marina. Friday dawned another hot sunny, day. We covered only 54 miles but transited four locks before arriving at the Columbus, Mississippi Marina . We borrowed the Loaner car and drove around a little to see this quaint southern town which has some old historic homes and the Mississippi University for Women. The first public college for women in America. After the Civil War, a group of Columbus women decorated graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers buried in Freindship Cemetery. This event started out as Decoration Day and was later adopted as National Memorial Day.

A new restaurant, Woody’s, was adjacent to the marina so we had dinner there. It was quite a nice place with white tablecloths and much more of a gourmet menu that one would expect at a marina restaurant. Today, Sat., it was again, hot and sunny. I don’t think I’ll be wearing the jeans and long sleeve shirts I brought expecting at least cool mornings and evenings somewhere along the way. I think we are to far south for that now.

We almost had an extra passenger when we left the Columbus Marina. The cat shown in the picture hopped up onto our bridge this morning and settled in for a time. Ned coaxed him off but he was quite a jumper and a few minutes later he was back. He had a cute personality, but no tail! Today we traveled 65 miles, and did two locks. Another slow day with fishermen out on the weekend. Tonight we are at an anchorage about 54 miles north of Demopolis, Alabama. The first mate thinks this river stuff is getting old and she is ready to get to Mobile Bay in a few days. First Mate