Tombigbee into Alabama

We're continuing to progress and this phase is bgining to wind down. Today we will reach the half way point on the Tombigbee River, and pull over at Demopolis, Alabama for two nights in a marina. I ordered some parts, and need to go to the store there and get a few supplies for the last 10 days of the trip. Had some interesting weather day before yesterday. A cold fromt came through and just about blew us off the river. Winds hit 45 mph. We ducked into an absolutely beautiful, protected creek for the afternoon and stayed the night. The temp dropped and by sundown, it was flat. Yesterday made about 80 miles including 3 locks. It went well and parked in a slough on the backside of an island with 3 other boats last night. The rivers have not been what I had hoped. It has been difficult to access the history and towns. The past 3 weeks we have descended the Illinois, Mississippi, up the Ohio and Tennessee and now down the Tombigbee, and what is striking is the remotenes. There just isn't much habitation, and the towns are far enough off the river to make them inaccessable from the river. And the nations wireless infrastructure is certainly lacking. Our cell phone coverage and therefore internet access has been really limited. Still about 280 river miles from Mobile where we will leave the boat, but will chip 70 off of that today, and we don't need to be there until a week from Tuesday, so lots of time.

Muddy river but lots of southern pines on the banks

Looking down river

We've seen some strange things, but a phone booth on the shore of the river takes the cake. I think it is an indication of the marginal cell service

84 foot drop and the lock is opening at at Whitten 

Wood chips being loaded on barges

Mississippi - the State not the river

The past several days we have had some pretty amzing weather and great anchorages working our way up the Tennessee River,  through Kentucky Lake and Pickwick Lake. Yesterday at the end of the day, we turned the corner into the upper reaches of the Tombigbee system and anchored at a place called Zippy Cove. Quiet and serene. We've pretty much lost the other boats we were traveling with and are on our own, except last night another boat in our anchorage was a loop boat, from St. Ignace in the UP. Weather has moved in with rain for the next 36 hours, but it is flt, and traveling in the rain for us is not an issue. The sailboat guys don't like it though. Came through Pickwick Lock mid afternoon yesterday and past Counce, Tennessee where my brother used to live and keep his boat. Today we are in a series of canals, reservoirs and will hopefully transit sveral locks working our way through northern Mississippi.

Layered limestone banks

Lots of relief and bluffs

Quiet anchorage at Beach Creek Island, Tennessee

traveling in the ealry morning mist

Lots of beautiful homes above the flood levels

Other homes on stilts, built in the flood plain

Pickwick Lock up 55 feet

Pickwick Lake

A barge loaded with wood chips on Pickwick Lake

Pickwick Lake at the corner to the Tombigbee. The Bouy marked the corner

Grand Harbor Marina. Looks pretty fancy. We anchored in a quiet bay around the corner

This morning in the rain

Guys fishing in the mist yesterday

The Ohio then the Tennessee

Descending the Mississippi was not particularly pretty. The water was ugly, full of debris, whirlpools and flotsam. Dodging the crap in the water felt like Han Solo on the Millenium Falcon in an asteroid field, then you hit a whirlpool and your in a black hole. After Hoppies "Marina" of sorts we got close to the junction of the Ohio and stopped at a great creek off the Mississippi beneath a railroad bridge and it was delightful. Going down river, on an engine check, I saw the raw water pump was leaking so had to change that out at the end of the day. The next day we shot on down the river and turned the corner to start the ascent up the Ohio. I feared the current would be heavy against us but it was really minimal and what a delightful afternoon it was on the ride up to Paducah where we tied up to a city dock with 5 other boats, including our two buddy boats still with us. Found the Paducah Brew Werks and my new favorite beer, Zombie Dust, a real hoppy IPA. The next day began the ascent of the Tennessee River past the Kentucky Lock into Kentucky Lake. This area continues to be a major transportation hub for barges and tows. At the lock we waited 2 1/2 hours for a tow to go up and another to come down the lock before we could get through. We finished the day by crossing over to a marina on the Barkley Lake side of the reservoir, to Green Turtle Bay marina. The weather turned to crap with lots of thunder, lightning and rain so we holed up two nights there. It was a nice enough spot, but we both would rather anchor out. This fall trip has not been conducive to anchoring. There just haven't been a lot of anchorages, but that will change now going up the Tennessee and down the Tombigbee. We left Green Turtle yesterday and said goodbye to our buddie boats for now anyway and are now on our own. Had a nice anchorage alone last night and a pretty, misty morning departing today. Tomorrow we hope to lock through the Pickwick dam and enter the Tombigbee sysem. We also made plans for the end of the trip and will leave the boat in Mobile in two weeks, and fly home on November 6.

Misty departure this morning on the Tennessee

Mississippi flotsam

Railroad bridge anchorage off the Mississippi

Down river speed on the Missisppi

This tow was pushing 35 barges, 7 long and 5 wide

Tied up in Paducah

Frozen food section in Kentucky

Colors changing on the Tennessee

Looking down Kentucky Lake

On the Mississippi

Over the last 5 days we have descended the Illinois River and are well on our way down the MIssissippi. The rivers are in flood stage from all the fall rain. The Illinois ws full of barges and tows pushing them. It is also surprisingly void of population. I expected small river towns, but they were few and far between. Also, not much for cell service so minimal internet coming down that river. It's better now on the Mississippi. We have been traveling most of this distance with a couple of other boats, both sailboats, with their masts off. One of them is a catamaran with a group of three older guys , and the other is a couple several years younger than us, we have become good friends with. Coming down the Illinois, we tied off at free walls in Joliet and Havana, with a stay at SpringBrook marina in between, anchored out one night behind Buck Horn Island, rafted up with the other couple, and stayed at the Grafton Marina, then Hoppies lasat night. Hoppies was destroyed by floods and ice a year ago and is pretty third world. Cindy thought it was comparable to the apocolyptic community in the movie "Waterworld". It's at Kimmrick, Missouri, a nice little town full of craft shops. Today we are going to put on over 100 miles, and get close to the bottom of our stint on the Mississippi, start the slog up 50 miles of the Ohio River before the locks into the Kentucky Lkes and the Tennessee/Tombighbee waterway.

Traveling in the fog, leaving Grafton

Our buddy boat, Mon AmourMon Amour and Encore

Mon Amour and Encore, our other buddy boat

Passing St. Louis

The Arch, not as impressive as the Stutue of Liberty

Big tow of 12 barges. Each Barge carries the equivalent of 40 semi trailer trucks

Budwiser plant

The big tows are analagous to the huge semis with the cabin in back of the cab

Smaller tows are like a regular tractor/trailer rig

My speed on the Mississippi yesterday at 90% throttle. It's flat water speed would be 9.5 mph

Wine tasting at Grafton

Typical lower Illinois River

At Havana Illinois

Not sure of this "castle" but it looked cool

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Mon Amour in the lock

Down the Illinois

Into the locks

As I write this we are in the Illinois River system woking our way through the 8 or so locks to get us to the Mississippi. It's a mess. The locks are now open but there is a backlog of traffic, both tows and barges and "PC's" Pleasure Craft which is us. We have the lowest priority. We stopped at a free wall at Joliet Fiday night and at Spring Brook Marina last night and have been traveling with a really nice couple from South Haven, Michigan on a demasted sailboat. Friday night we went out with them to celebrate Chris' birthday, had a nice meal and drank a Zombie Dust beer, an excellent IPA. Yesterday we traveled with a group of 8 boats through the Brandon Road and Dresden Locks, and things went reasonbly well. Lost one boat, that went aground yesterday, a sailboat. Another boat pulled him off, but he then tangled his lines in his prop and had to find a diver to clear them. I sure don't envy that guy. The water here is about as ugly as I have ever seen. Dead carp, and all kinds of detritius floating in it. This seems to me to be the colon of middle America.

The Channel above Marseilles Lock

Channel lined with tows and barges

Crap Pile coming through south of Chicago

Calumet River canal south of Chicago

This guy has a tight squeeze coming the the channel

Lining the canal is all this limestone

In the Dresden Lock

Leaving Spring Brook this morning. The top deck was icy