January 14th. and 15th. Sunday and Monday

Good-bye Tennessee – Hello Mississippi! Savannah, TN looked pretty neat from the water. I could see some antebellum homes on the hillside. One in particular looked like Tara (as in Scarlet O’Hara). We dropped the hook just a hair south of there. Pickwick lock and Pickwick Lake are for tomorrow morning. We stopped early, which was quite a nice change. While the Capt. worked on his Blog in the galley, Pat, Victor, Lionel and I went to the top deck and had a drink while watching the sunset. What a nice spot. It was actually warm enough to be out without a jacket.

First thing Sunday we passed Shiloh Forest National Park, which was home to the Mound People back in the 1200’s and also the site of a Civil War Battle. I think that would be must see on another trip here. We then conquered Pickwick Lock and entered Pickwick Lake, which is the terminus of the Tennessee River for us. The lake is beautiful with lots of little creeks, the cruising guide says it is a great place to gunk-hole and I could see why. We only ran about 8 miles of the lake before we made our exit to the Divide Cut.

The Divide is a man made waterway to make a passageway from the Tennessee River to the Tombigbee. It was actually suggested to be done back in the 1700’ to save time (by about 600 miles). It finally was approved, completed and open for boating traffic in 1985. Quite an accomplishment. It sort of reminded me of the St. Lucie/Caloosahatchee Canals.

Mike (our very first River Angel) called yesterday just to see how it was going. What a terrific guy. We really enjoyed talking with him (although I really think he called to ask the Captain to explain his Anchor incident) Ray, one of our other River Angels also called after we left his area to see how it was going, and Capt. Shawn another River Angel has been in contact thru the blog. How nice is that?

We anchored last night in a cove at Bay Springs, MS. Gorgeous! Lionel did a bit of fishing (no catching, though) from the front deck. It was an early stop - Our next lock was the monster lock with an 84 ft. drop, with four or five more locks within about 20-30 miles. Didn’t want to be caught in between.

Again, though overcast it was a real pretty night. We had hors d'oeuvres and a couple drinks while watching a non-existent sunset. There were five baby ducks in the cove. It was interesting to see how the all went under the water together and popped up together. How Cute!

Woke up this morning to a rainy, foggy day. Much cooler. I think the promised rain and cold weather finally caught up with us. The Whitten (84ft) lock was awesome. I find it amazing how the Corps of Engineers (or anyone for that matter) could make something like that actually work. It was quite easy to lock though – no turbulence as all.

We are now in the Tenn-Tom waterway headed for Mobile, Al. It is a waterway that runs fairly straight. Actually the Army Corps of Engineers made a straighter sailing line of the (what they call) the Old Tombigbee. The Tenn-Tom has a levy on one side, but the other is (or appears to be) natural shoreline. Dense woods, creeks and coves. I even saw a Beaver Dam in one of the creeks. The land is pretty flat here, only an occasional hill. No more palisades – I miss the beauty of them, but this is very pretty as well. An occasional house appears behind the dense growth of trees every now and then. We’ve seen flocks of geese, cormorants and loads of blue heron. Had no idea we’d see that many heron this far north. We have seen them since the beginning of our trip. Even saw a couple bald eagles today.

Lionel was the point person for most of the locks today. It was rainy and cold out. Generally a miserable day. However, Bob was looking out for his younger brother and made sure he dressed for the weather. At one lock, I came around from the poop deck with my camera to take a picture of the lock and here Lionel was looking just like the guy on the fish sticks box. He had on a yellow slicker, yellow rain hat and a life vest over it all. Struck me funny – boy did he look cute. He said Bob thought it was funny too! Of course, I got a couple pictures – Bob tells me he did too – it was just too good to resist. Now if I hadn’t killed the digital I could have sent them. Oh Well!

We had a pretty exciting anchoring experience today – I’ll let the Capt. fill you in on the details. Lionel insists after tonight that we start looking for a place to anchor by 3PM.

All is well – looking forward to more exiting adventures tomorrow!

Dam! We're Lucky.

Today was a pretty good run. We left Wolf Island about 7:20 in the morning a light breakfast and we were off. The hook came up in record time. We only had a short way to the Pickwick Lock and dam. On our transit from Kentucky Lake to Pickwick Lake we lucked out: when we called the lock the women handling the lock informed us to hurry on down and she would lock us thru now or else it would be about a 3 hour wait. When we got in it was a huge lock and we made our biggest jump yet locking up 45’. On the Pickwick side, we saw a tow with 15 barges leaning against the lock wall waiting for us to clear. Good timing.

Our run down the lake was relatively short as we jumped off onto Yellow Creek and into the divide cut, a 27-mile canal dug by the Corps of Engineers to link the Tennessee River with the Tombigbee River. Then onto Whitten Lake, a deep-water lake at the mouth of the Tennessee Tom waterway.

We are anchored in a small cove just above the first lock and it is a doozy. Tomorrow is lock thru day. We hit 5 locks in a 30 mile span and drop approx. 200’ the first lock is the biggest at 84’. Then they are about 30’ each from there on.

We put the hook down early today so we can get a lump on the locks tomorrow. Grilled pork chops with sweet potatoes and green beans. Umm Good

Capt. Bob

My Log - Actually back logged!

January 12, 2007 Friday

At anchor at MM 125 on Kentucky Lake/Tennessee River. Have been derelict in getting my log updated. I believe we made our first 102-mile day when I mistakenly got everyone up early. We’ve had several occasions pulling up the anchor that we’ve had boulders, tree trunks and this morning a huge clump of clay. In fact, the other morning we had a boulder and two tree trunks. It usually takes about an hour to get the hook up, even with the windless. Imagine how difficult (if not impossible) it would have been without the windless. (Bob told us that Mr. Bibber purchased the windless in Scotland)

Finally made the exciting turn into the Tennessee River and left the Ohio River behind us along with Indiana. The very last lock (Smithfield) on the Ohio was pretty hairy. A tug with his barges was going in the chamber next to us when the wind and tide caught him – he lost control; crossed over to the chamber we were assigned. For a time I thought we would be squashed between the barges and the wall of the lock. Thank God, Bob is always in control. He maneuvered us out of harms way and into the other chamber. I was on the bow to take pictures, but never captured our near miss. We were too mesmerized with the chain of events to think to take pictures. We picked up the Tennessee River shortly thereafter. Our turn was at Paducah, KY. MM 0 for the Tennessee River and MM 990 something for the Ohio River. We traveled a long way on the Ohio, starting at MM 9 in Pittsburgh on Dec. 23rd. A short way down (actually up) the Tennessee we had to go thru a lock. This time we locked up about 35 feet, but had to wait about 2 hours for a tug to go before us. It was windy as heck – tried to tie up to a mooring buoy, actually after several attempts, finally were successful. Not a comfortable place to be – Achievement was bucking and bouncing with the waves, wind and current slapping her around, Capt. finally decided to untie and do some doughnuts until time we could get thru the lock.

Coming out the other side was a beautiful site. Kentucky Lake, one of the largest man made lakes in the world. The water was cleaner, not as much debris, and had lost the coffee and cream color of the Ohio. The lake is surrounded by islets, creeks, islands, hills and is gorgeous.

We went to Kentucky Dam Marina for the night, arriving about 4:30PM. Next day (in the Marina’s courtesy van), we all went into town for supplies. This trip has not been a pleasure cruise – the main goal being getting Achievement home as quickly as possible – so an opportunity to drive on land and see some of the town is a real treat – even if it’s not any of the touristy spots. I know we will never have the opportunity to do this trip again, but if we did, we’d take our time and visit some of the river towns. Lots of history here and I would love to see it and meet the people. Everyday I think about how fortunate we are to be here.

We wound up staying at the Marina for two nights and left late the second day. Boy did they have Great Showers! One of the inconveniences is not being able to take a shower every day. Moreover, when you do get to take one – it’s get wet – turn off the water – soap up – turn on the water- rinse off and get out.

We left Kentucky behind today and are now in Tennessee, about 2/3 of the way. The next State will be Mississippi. The river here is even more beautiful than in Kentucky. We read in the cruising guide that there was a Heron Rookery at MM 189.9 on the northern shore. Victor and I from the poop deck, and Lionel and Bob from the Wheelhouse looked, but never saw it. Guess it’s a seasonal thing!

We made about 87 miles today, dropped the hook after dark – looking for an island, which we did not find. Today, though cloudy has been the warmest day yet. The temperature on the poop deck read 70 degrees. Tonight is the first night we have not had the space heater on. Getting South! Hooray!

The other day Bob climbed the mast to replace our anchor light bulb, tonight Lionel did (Yep! It blew again). Made me nervous, but he did a good job and Bob stood by to help him down. Those two are something else.

Tomorrow the weather calls for 100% chance of rain and a high in the 50’s. We’ll see if they are correct. I hope not!

January 13th. – Saturday

The weatherman was wrong. The temperature on the poop deck is reading 72 degrees. Although it is overcast, we have not had the first drop of rain.

Captain Shawn said on the blog that this was his favorite part of the trip – Wow! I can see why. Every time I think the scenery is some of the most beautiful I’ve seen – it outdoes itself and becomes even more spectacular. I can only imagine how it must look during the summer or fall. We are starting to see more green now and yesterday started seeing cypress trees. Today there have been many anglers on the water – not sure if it’s because it is a Saturday or the weather is comfortable. Probably a combination of both.

Did you know that in Kentucky Lake they set traps and dive for mussels? A few days back we actually saw some divers in the water. They use the meat for bait and the shell for cultured pearl industry. In fact, at Birdsong Creek MM 105 they have the Tennessee River Fresh Water Cultured Pearl Farm in America.

The hills (I still think they are mountains) are awesome. The sheer rock faces have a variety of hues, outcroppings of trees, an occasional small waterfall and some have homes precariously perched at the top. Some of these have massive stairways that are hundreds of feet high, leading to the water or ledges in the rocks. I couldn’t imagine having to (or wanting to) climb them.

Up until a few days ago I was taking photos with Lionel’s digital camera – I could download and label the same day. Weeelllllll – after dropping it a million times, it finally had a critical fall! Yep! I killed it. Thank heaven’s Lionel (though a bit upset) did not kill me. So now I’m taking pictures with my Minolta (not digital) and probably will not be able to remember where any of them were taken. Victor has a great eye and has been taking some great photos. He is (and should have been) the designated photographer for the trip. I have been told to “Stand away from the cameras!” Geeze – you would think I break them or something!

We will be approaching Savanna, TN shortly so have to pay attention to the surroundings now…..

Saturday, January 13th

Hello everyone. Didn’t get a chance to post yesterday. It was a long and overcast day. We had left Kentucky Dam Marina and anchored about 20 miles or so up lake. Well we went to pull the hook yesterday and it wouldn't come up. We tried everything but it would not budge. We finally used the weight of the boat to run over the hook and rip it out of the bottom. When we got the hook to the surface it was just huge gob of clay the size of a small car. We were going to start the pumps and hose off the gob but Mercedes quit.

We then lowered the hook down into the water and proceeded on our way. A little slower then usual but we were making way. It took about an hour to get it clean and properly stowed. After that it was up river all day. We made a decent days run of about 80 miles. We stretched the day a little long and found ourselves running after dark. In fact it was so dark-thirty by the time we approached our designated anchorage, a small island. We almost ran right over it. But all was well.

Mercedes died again plus our anchor light blew. Lionel had cooked up some pork loins on the bar/b so we broke for dinner and fixed the problems after. Victor made Pistachio pudding for dessert. And believe it or not, the Capt. is losing weight.

We pulled the hook early this morning. It seems everyone was up early. Mercedes was or should I say has been, acting funny and last night was no exception. She surged all night like she was going to shut down but never did and as soon as everyone got up she just hummed along like nothing was wrong. Temperamental Bitch.

Our run today was almost the same as yesterday with the exception that we put the hook down in the daytime. We are about 10 miles above the Picwik Lock and Dam. Behind Wolf island. Not far from Savannah Tennessee. We will be getting on the Tom-Tennessee waterway shortly after we join Picwik Lake. From there on we will be in Mississippi for about 200 miles then bop back into Alabama for the run down to Mobile.

Pat made a meatloaf for dinner and Lionel is cooking it up on the grill. He is the grill king.
Capt. Bob

Thu. 1/11/07

We have slipped out of Kentucky Dam Marina and headed on up towards home. The people at Kentucky Lake were just the greatest every one went out of there way to see to it that we were taken care of. Nothing was too big a request. A super place to visit or stay if you are in the area.

We got in about 20-25 miles this afternoon, it felt good to be back underway. The boat needs to be moving. We ran aground this evening, well sort of anyway. We were checking the charts for a place to drop the hook and this little cove looked promising. We snuck up on it with me at the controls and Lionel reading off the depth sounder. Well the bottom came up kind of fast, it went from 20 to 1 in about a boat length and she came to a stop, 120 tons of steel dead in the water. I put her in reverse but nothing happened, then I applied the throttles and kicked up a plume of mud but she backed off and we swung around and anchored a little further out. All is well.

Patrick is doing up some southwest chicken for dinner w/ pudding for dessert, a little wine and we are good to go. Mike from Campbell’s towing if you are following this blog, and we hope you are, post a comment and include your mailing address please. Thanks for the comment Shawn it was good to hear from you. And Jim I was thinking of you when we went thru Evansville. I heard you mention the place many times. It looks like dinner is ready. I'll talk to you all tomorrow.

Capt Bob

Wednesday, January 10th

Today has been slow day. We are still tied up at the marina. We took the loner van into Paducah KY to do a little shopping. We picked up most of our supplies but not all. We have some things coming in tomorrow. So we will spend tonight here and pull out tomorrow. They say it's supposed to rain the next few days, not what we wanted to hear.

Mercedes started acting up today. We turned her off when we went to town and when we got back she started to spit antifreeze all over the engine room. Lionel and I pulled the cooling tank off and re soldered a hose connection but when we reassembled it, it leaked again. We tore it down one more time and did a real good solder job on her only to find after we put it back together that it was leaking from a different spot. It was late .we came in to have dinner and will tackle it tomorrow. It’s a very small leak but we have to pull the tank off again.

I see all the new pics on the blog. Victor is now the official photographer for the trip.

Capt. Bob

We're on the Tennessee!

We are tied up at Kentucky Dam Marina we have made the turn onto the Tennessee River. We are truly heading south. Yesterday was a milestone: we had one of those mythical 100 mile days (102). We got the hook down and enjoyed a great Tilapia dinner thanks to Patrick, and 4 bottles of wine. Well we were celebrating our 100 mile day. After dinner and dishes we broke out the Uno cards and a bottle of black Sambuca, Patrick never scored a point but was hilarious to watch.

We were anchored in a very swift section of the river and I listened to logs careening off the hull all night. When we got up this morning we had a Paul Bunyan sized tree snagged in our anchor chain. It took the good part of an hour to free ourselves with cowboy Victor doing his best Roy Rogers imitation of a steer roper.

But on down the river we went. We only had 30 or so miles to the Tennessee and 20 plus to the Kentucky Dam. But we had one lock left on the Ohio and that proved to be our challenge for the day. The tow boat Jean Pierre with two barges went by as we were wrestling with the tree, and since he was pushing only two empty barges we could not pass him (he was moving pretty good). When we got to the Summerland Lock the lock tender assigned the tow the land side chamber and told us to wait for him to enter then take the river side chamber. This was very unusual because the river side chamber is bigger and it has a long lead in wall which the tows use to get into shape for the lock. Weeeeeell The wind was blowing like stink, the current was also running pretty good also and the tow got out of control, he started to come across into my side and trap me against the wall. The radio blares out that he was now taking the river chamber and I was to get out of the way. The engines roared, she backed down and we scooted out from under his stern and over to the landside chamber. With nary a word from the tow Capt. or the lock master. Even though it was his fault for sending the tow there in the first place.

But on we went. We started taking water over the bow for the first time down by the Tennessee turn off. When we got to the Kentucky Dam we were told it would be an hour to an hour and forty five minutes to lock thru. He had a tug with barges that couldn't both fit in the lock at the same time. We don't know how they did it but they locked them thru separately. We made a couple of attempts to tie up to the big mooring pillars they have in the river for the barges, and when we finally got it done it was too hairy so we let it go and just did donuts in the river. The lock itself was the smallest we have been in but it was the largest change in height. Up this time about 35' after waiting so long we decided to go for the marina instead of anchoring. They have a courtesy van so we can re-supply. We need a few things.

We'll be heading on down or should I say up the river tomorrow. The Tennessee runs toward the Ohio so we are really going up river now. That will change when we get into the Tom-Tenn which is slack water, then on to the Black Warrior and Tom Bigbee rivers which flow to Mobile bay.

Capt. Bob