We started our day quite late this am. We got to the fuel
dock around 10am and after fueling up and chocking on the bill; we left Grand
Harbor Marina headed for Wilson lock. I guess I can't really complain because we were told the bill to fill up the boat in the picture below came in at $10,000.00.
We entered Alabama part way through this
run and then weaved in and out of Mississippi and Alabama for a time. We are
currently anchored at Six Mile Creek in Alabama.
The highlight of our trip today was going through Wilson
Lock and dam. This is one of the most significant structures on the Tennessee
river. The Dam was named after President Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President
of the US. It is 137 feet high and 4,542 feet long and the oldest dam on this
river. Construction started in 1918 and finished in 1925 and at its peak there
were 18,000 workers and an average of 111 railcar loads of equipment and material
delivered every single day. This dam was once the world's largest. Now it ranks
sixth in the US but still pretty darn impressive when you are sitting at the
bottom of this thing.
The low light of today's trip was being passed by a tow. You
know you are a slow boat when a tow can pass you :) gone are the days of taking
pictures of the GPS, we now are running our usual speed of 8 mph and sometimes
that's a struggle. The tow that passed us, obviously arrived at the lock just
before we did. The lockmaster very nicely let us go into the lock with the tow,
which is not usual. He also had us go right to the front so we would exit the
lock first and not have to wait for the tow to get moving.
In keeping with the Jim and Mimi drama we had a mechanical
failure as we were exiting the lock. The chain that controls our steering
broke. Not just in one place, but 2 spots. The first under the helm and the second
being under the sink. Why? How? Who knows, perhaps it's divine intervention ,
reminding us how lucky we were yesterday. Fortunately we have two engines, so
even without a steering wheel, turning this boat is a relatively easy process.
Just put one engine into neutral and the boat automatically turns towards that
side. In fact when we dock or anchor we do not use the steering wheel at all. Jim
of course fixed this in short order. I must say it is awfully nice to have a
mechanic on board. But now I have to clean up everything he took out of the
cabinets in his haste to get to the root of the problem. Remember those
pictures of early in the trip when we hit the big waves? Well the boat looks
like that again! Like a two year old had a tantrum in here. I find it very
amusing to see that it takes 2 min to throw all this stuff out of a cupboard,
but 1hr to put it all back in order. Ah well, I have lots of time to kill.
This anchorage is quite lovely and the anchor is not stuck
in a tree, so we should both sleep well. Tomorrow we will get to Rogersville
Alabama. This was our one and only scheduled stop for this trip and we will be
there 2 days ahead of schedule. Imagine that! Good night all and Thanks Mommies for having
our backs on the prayer thing. How lucky are we to have two moms praying for us
on top of all our friends and family. We love you all. Oh and just for the curious amoung you, it is currently 79◦F and I am sipping on a glass of wine called "layer cake" It does not get much better than this.
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