30 October 2014

This morning it was cold, which means fog. Lots and lots of fog. We waited until the fog had burned off on our side of the lock and then I called the lock-master to ask how it was. He said he couldn’t see the RT 4 bridge, which is less than ¼ mile downstream. So we waited.

At 9 AM I called again, he said the fog had cleared and he was ready for us. So we pushed off the dock and headed to the lock. When we got close, we saw Willow and Half Moon starting to pull up anchors and also head toward the lock.

(We had met Half Moon at the Pickwick Landing Marina, he was one of the boat crews that caught us that evening. Charlie is a solo sailor going down the river to South America. We passed Willow yesterday on our way to Bay Spring Maria. You should check out their blog at svwillow.com )

Witten lock is the highest with an 84′ lift, one of the highest on the East coast. Willow and Quo Vadimus cruised into the lock.

While in Bay Spring, we were told about one of the lock-master’s at Witten Lock. He was on duty and we chatted while waiting for Willow to get tied off. Once they were set the lock doors closed.

A few moments later the doors re-opened to let Half Moon in. Nice work by the lock-master, we’ve met others that wouldn’t have bothered and made the boat wait. So it looks like the guys on the Tenn-Tom are much nicer than we met on the Illinois. Doors closed again and we dropped down. At 10AM we headed down river. Since it was going to be a short day for us of three locks and 18 miles we cruised down the river at sailboat speed, about 5 knots.

It was a beautiful day, very calm and pretty nice. We saw lots of Heron’s again and an eagle. They have been setting up eagles here for the last 10 years, they are finally catching on, and we see them on a more regular basis.

About 11 AM we made it to the Montgomery lock and our locking karma held. The chamber doors were open and we settled into the lock. A quick drop of 28 feet and we were on our way.

At 1 PM we cleared the third and final lock, Rankin Lock. We said bye to our sailboat friends and headed to Midway Marina in Fulton, MS

We got docked and were in the loaner car by 2PM. Goals were simple, some food shopping, pick up some fabric notions for the quilt that Susan is making and then CHINESE FOOD!! Good Chinese food has been elusive on the trip, our last successful meal was in Milwaukee.

Because there were a large number of boaters coming in we were asked to return the car as soon as possible. So we got our food to-go and had it for dinner. House special lo-mien, orange chicken, shrimp rolls and boneless spare ribs. It was very good and if you are in Fulton, MS it’s a good choice for dinner.

Ithaka had landed while we were out, so I went down and talked to them for awhile. We have met lots of interesting boaters and I’ve enjoyed talking to them.

Entertainment for the evening was getting caught up on Nurse Jackie. We are behind a few season, but with the Netflix DVD’s we can watch episodes now and again.

While we were watching, another 5 boats came into the marina. It was a very busy place!!!

We bundled up for the evening, since the temperature was going to drop. Hoping that the fog wasn’t going to be bad in the morning.