Ten-Tom (101) 34◦33'.831 N 088◦20'.159 W

We have now left the Tennessee river and are heading our way south again. There was some fog this am, so we took our time getting underway. I did get a picture of the fisherman out in the river this morning right near the Rock piles as well as a clear picture of the Rock Pile when we left the anchorage. 

7am view of fisherman

One of the three rock piles 

We did a quick stop at Grand Harbor again to top off our water and fuel because there are not a lot of places to stop along the Ten-Tom. We only needed 50 gal of fuel and since I did 4 loads of laundry this morning we needed a greater amount of water, around 100 gal or so. I did not get to post last night's blog until we got to Grand harbor as there was no cell or internet service where we anchored last night. As my note said the internet service will be spotty for the next 10 days or so since we will be going through some very remote terrain. If we do not post, please do not worry as the Ten-Tom is quite safe. We will post whenever we get a chance.

So on to Ten-Tom (101) I am posting a map here to help orient you. 

Map of Ten-Tom. Red section is where we are at

The Ten-Tom is a man made channel  originally proposed in the 1700's but it was actually not completed until 1985. Now that is a long planning stage! This makes the Ten Tom the youngest body of water we will navigate during our trip.

Mouth of Ten Tom

There are various discharge areas that look like cool waterfalls 

Discharge area

 The canal was built for economics as the freight that travels across this canal saves about 1 billion dollars in transportation costs per year. It joins the Tennessee River to the Tom Bigbee river hence the name Ten-Tom. It is quite narrow for the most part, but occasionally widens when it crosses a lake. 

Ten-Tom

This canal is mostly in the state of Mississippi until the last little bit when it crosses into Alabama. Currently we are in a small bay in Bay Springs Lake. The lake is reminiscent of lake Kippewa where I grew up. It has many little bays and apparently an awful lot of shore line; although not quite as much as lake Kippewa. 

It can take as little as 6 days at our speed to cross the Ten-Tom and lower Tom Bigbee river, but we will be slowing it down quite  bit now to enjoy the sights and sounds, so we anticipate taking 10 to 14 days to get to Mobile.  It is only 4:40pm right now, but since I have a signal I thought I would post while I can. Jim and I will go explore the area after we get the nightly checks done.  Night all. 

Our back yard for tonight