July 29,30,31, 2007

July 29, 2007 – Hello from Clifton Marina at Clifton, TN. Left out this morning at about 7:00 AM and we arrived here and are tied up at 5:00 PM which surprised us as we were planning on stopping at Pebble Isle for today but we passed there at noon and decided to go on a little further while everything was working fine. The scenery along the Tennessee River was quite spectacular the further south we went. We would have bluffs on first one side and then the other. The rocks were limestone, sandstone and some shale and the limestone had weathered till it had holes in it everywhere and then trees were sprouting out from the holes and fissures in the stone. It was beautiful in summer and it could only get better if you were coming through the area in the fall. We passed under several bridges today including I-40 running east and west through the state. We also saw a little change in what was growing along the river. Shortly before we went under the interstate bridge we began to see what appeared to be small cypress trees in the river’s shallower and marshier parts. We also passed numerous day beacons which at night are lit showing the rivers trail that had osprey nests in them and all along we searched all the dead trees looking for more eagles nests. There of course were numerous RV Parks and summer homes all along the river. For the farmers reading these we also saw lots of corn growing in the river bottom land on the opposite side of the river from the bluffs. One had and irrigation system set up. We also saw a few towboats pushing lots of barges and thankfully they were all headed downstream except for one and that will probably be the one we have to wait for at the locks tomorrow.

If anyone happens to be going south along the Tennessee River I would also say to you don’t neglect the small marina we are in. It has all the amenities and room for only a few transient boats so be sure to call ahead. It has a small restaurant and a courtesy car if needed to get emergency supplies and also do laundry.

Shorty is now headed south toward Crystal River, FL on the last leg of the Great Loop Cruise and it is still just as exciting as the first few thousand miles.
July 30, 2007 – This morning we got pretty early and were on the river by 8:00 AM headed for Pickwick Dam which was fifty miles up the Tennessee River. We arrived at the dam about eleven and then after querying the lockmaster found out that we would have to wait for a tow which was coming through going down the Tennessee River and that this would take about two hours. It took a wee bit more than the time he estimated and we left the lock about 2PM and were headed five miles up the Tennessee River where we turned south on Yellow Creek which is part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway going south to mobile. We decided to stop for the night at the Bay Springs Marina which is three tenths of a mile from the first lock on the Tombigbee and hit it first thing in the morning because we have a series of locks which are very close together tomorrow and thought we might have a better chance by getting there early in the morning. The scenery on the way today was once again spectacular with bluffs on one side of the river or the other with so many layers of rock and so many colors, enough so that even a colorblind person like myself could see them they were so bright. They had layer upon layer of limestone and some places they had holes in the walls where there were swallows flitting around about on the water below. We met a couple of tows which passed us going the right way which was opposite of us going downstream. We saw one cave fairly high up on one of the bluffs. We had one disappointment today and that was the Shiloh Military Park which fronts on the Tennessee River. They need to provide a dock so that you can go up the hill and see the park on foot. We had planned to stop at least an hour but with no place to land we had to slowly pass it by and hope to return sometime to see it by car. In the river in front of the park there were numerous boats which had divers and diver flags up which were searching the riverbed for relics from the war. We slowed down and gave them some room. The area is being discovered all along the way by the rich and even in some of the small towns there were condos on the shoreline or on the top of the bluffs. It is a shame that the only thing people can do is spending all their money on personal assets instead of doing some good works to help others. I know quit griping because if I had the money I would do it too, no way, I would just get a bigger boat and do this trip again and see other places that I did not go to this time. A person who has done it four times said he has never stopped the same place twice.

We thought we were really going to suffer in the heat last night but it turned out to be pretty good sleeping. When I woke up in the middle of the night I covered up with the sleeping bag which felt good. And in the day when we are traveling it is nice because we have all the windows open and the screens back and the air and most all the flies or whatever just flow through and out the back door. If they don’t flow through they die an early death by fly swatter. They put us in the shade this evening in a covered slip and said something about rain so I will check the weather when I finish this. I am not aware of any change in the weather until the end of the week.

July 31, 2007 – We left Bay Springs Marina this morning and were just three tenths of a mile from the first lock and dam so we called and were really fortunate that there were no towboats going through the lock or waiting so we had to wait just for them to fill the lock and to lock us down. The locks are now going south so we go in with the lock full and come out at a much lower level and the first one dropped us down 84 feet to the next level of the Tombigbee Waterway. We then proceeded to do pretty good and our timing was on and the locks were just a few miles apart. Then we caught up with a sailboat and then we started having to wait for them to lock down with us. This caused us to have a major slowdown in our day. We still managed to make it through six locks and are now sitting at Aberdeen Marina in Aberdeen, MS tonight. We are just about a mile from where we go through our first lock in the morning which is the Aberdeen Lock.

Our last lock today brought a big surprise. Just before we entered the lock it started to rain. We thought nothing of it because it did not look like there was going to be much from it. We tied off in the lock and then the storm hit. It had formed pretty much close to us and then the bottom dropped out and it poured down rain. The rain came down in sheets and if you can imagine this is happening while you are enclosed in a lock with no escape. Then the wind started to blow and the lockmaster came on the radio and said to hang on because the winds 40 feet above us were forty miles an hour and gusting higher. The rope from the boat to the bollard was strained and as tight as a fiddle string and you could here the cords stressing out. I did not think it would hold but it did and the wind was blowing so hard when the lockmaster released us and the rope was so tight we could not lift it off the bollard we had to just cut it and go on. We will have to do another piece of rope for the bollards for tomorrow. That was not all, the storm was blowing the rain so hard that it was peeling the scaly mud off of the walls and it was landing on the boat and both Gary and myself. We looked a mess when it was over and everything is drying on the back of the boat. We just washed it all off of Shorty and I cleaned most of it up that came in through the window where I hold on to the rope that encircles the bollard.
That was our adventure for the day.

The scenery is again changing and it is growing hotter each day with less of a breeze but it is still a very beautiful shoreline all the way along. We are mostly in a canal but then it widens out in front of each lock. We are seeing more and more cypress trees and swampy areas and less and less bluffs and rocks as we are now going downhill toward the gulf.

We also ran across Steve and his boat Molly Inez today just a few miles before we came into Aberdeen so we are sitting here swapping stories and problems and the heat and a lot of other things. There is one more boat behind which should arrive at any time unless they decide to anchor out for the night. That is the sailboat that was in the lock with us today when the storm hit in the lock.

So much for today and the sun is beginning to set and hopefully it will hurry up and get behind the trees and then a small breeze would be nice. But I have a feeling it is going to be another airconditionerless night with the fans running full force. Somehow it manages to cool down to the low 70’s each night so far and I end up covering up in the sleeping bag.

June 30 to July 28, 2007

June 30 to July 28 – Well for the last month I have been visiting with friends, spending time on Shorty and organizing the charts and all for the last leg of the journey to Crystal River, FL. I have been living under my concrete shade tree long enough and been studying the weather along the leg ahead and made the decision to move closer to the end and if a hurricane does approach I can always go to plan B which is to load Shorty on a trailer and move him inland until the hurricane passes. I was going to wait for September or October before I started south but if I did I may as well store him here at Green Turtle Bay and go home. But that is not easy either because I would miss the boat and all the friends here as well. There are several people here who are going south a little later in the year and some have started now. The sailboat named Molly Inez left the other day headed for Curacao in the Caribbean by way of the Florida Keys, Bahamas and etc. Another is preparing to leave this fall for Corpus Christi, TX and around the other side of the Gulf of Mexico. I have been here long enough that it is time to take the Velcro off the dock and start moving again. Seeing people leave for their destinations makes me want to make my way toward mine. They have been really nice to me here at Green Turtle Bay at Grand Rivers, KY. There have been quite a few people on the Great Loop Cruise who are staying here awhile and then moving further south as far as Mobile, AL to see what the weather does. I have been doing some day trips while I have been here to see places that I have worked at along the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers because the Marina has a courtesy car. I have introduced some of the people to Barkley Lodge which is 30 miles by river and about the same by car. This is a beautiful state owned lodge and park and marina on the Cumberland River. Others have gone up the Cumberland to Nashville, TN and said I was right when I told them it would be a nice trip. The geese that were sporting down now have their feathers and are stretching there wings to fly. The Turtle Lady brings her day school group down to the place where I am moored and lets the children feed the turtles bread they get from the restaurant above me. Every morning when I wake up Herman the Heron is sitting on the dock in front of me fishing for his morning meal in the pastel light of dawn and working with the fish he catches until he gets them turned around and can swallow them head first. Some friends took me and others along to a bay just up the way called Smith Bay on Kentucky Lake which is a refuge and closed during parts of the year for the Bald Eagles who have their nests there in some old dead trees. One in particular can be viewed from the boat and it has two eaglets that are busy making their parents supply them with food. One has already started to get its white head and the other is just brown feathered. I don’t know whether it is true or not but someone said they will be three years old when they start to get the white feathered head, this is something I will research later after the trip is over. It has been as always a very serene and thoughtful time when I have been tied up for a while. In some ways it is much like being in a monastery where you can be alone with your thoughts and being without TV and newspapers for most of the time helps a person not to become so involved in all of the trials and tribulations of this world but see life in a much simpler way. Of course it is hard because of the internet and cell phones and all not to be connected to the world outside but there is much more time to just be alone with your thoughts. I can see why writers will just go off somewhere to write a novel or book where they are not bothered by anyone