August 1, 2007

August 1, 2007 – Today was a very short travel day. We are spending the night in the Columbus, MS marina. We did this so we could get Shorty’s oil changed which we needed to do to stay in the 100 hour range between oil changes. We went through the Aberdeen Lock and Dam this morning early and then rolled on down the river. The country has gotten a lot swampier and when we come to wide parts in the channel we are seeing more cypress trees and more cypress stumps with second growth which we think looks like little bonsai trees growing. We passed a few commercial operations and docks on the river. We also came around a bend shortly before reaching Columbus and there sat the The Delta Queen paddle wheeler that traverses the rivers of the country in lots of different areas. Very surprised to see her on the Tombigbee Waterway. The gangplank was leading to the shore and at the end of it there was a tent set up and it could have lead from the shore to one of the antebellum homes on the plantations down here. Would like to have heard the old steam calliope as we did when she used to come to Clarksville on the Cumberland River ever so often. It used to echo up and down the river valley and everyone took off work to see her go by. Tomorrow morning we start a long day by going through the John Stennis Lock and Dam and then a couple more and after the long day we hope to be in Demopolis, AL.