Wednesday September 20, 2017 -- Decatur to Florence

We left the Decatur docks this morning at 6:15, hoping to put in an 80 mile day to a quiet anchorage that is only 15 miles from the beginning of the Tenn-Tom waterway. We knew that our plan would be dependent on getting through the Wheeler and Wilson locks with no delays. When we were about 3 miles from Wheeler lock we called on the radio, and the lockmaster's response was not what we wanted to hear - we could expect a wait of about an hour and a half. Jvessco, a tow pushing barges had brought half of his barges up, and was returning back down to pick up his remaining barges for the trip up. Once all his barges were locked upstream, he would connect them all back together and leave the lock chamber. Then we and another pleasure craft, "Prime Intrest" could lock downstream. The wait turned into almost 2 hours, but once in the lock, our trip down was smooth and quick.

The weather was great today - although it got a little warm in the afternoon.

The Brown's Ferry nuclear plant.

Lots of rocky shorelines on the Tennessee River.

The cormorants(?) could make great sea monster stories if they were only bigger. They appear, then dissappear for what seems like forever before popping up again. All you usually see is their head and neck.

At the Wilson lock we also had to wait on a commercial tow with barges, but this time the wait was only about an hour. Having lost 3 hours of potential travel, we decided to call it a day and rent a slip at Florence Harbor Marina for the night. The heat of the sun during our wait at Wilson lock had worn me down, and we could use the shorepower there to run the air conditioner. A great meal at the restaurant (the River Bottom Grill) confirmed that stopping here was a good decision!

Sundown at Florence Harbor Marina.

Tomorrow we will leave early and plan on anchoring in Bay Springs lake on the Tenn-Tom. We will run   42 miles to where the Tenn-Tom starts, then another 36 miles or so down the Tenn-Tom, anchoring just before we get to the lock at Bay Springs.

Glenda says:

Well we ended up with another short day.  Oh well.  I spent more time fighting the spiders and for now I think I'm winning.  It was warmer today and circling around waiting on the locks didnt give us much of a breeze.  The marina is very busy but everyone is nice and helpful.  We enjoyed a nice meal at the marina restaurant, then came back to the boat and took Daisy for her walk.  She is always very charming to anyone who passes by.  We sat by the river enjoying the view but Tom failed to tell me about the ceremonial cannon blast at sunset every evening and it almost gave me a heart attack.  His claim is "he forgot".