It is a long way down!
Well we went through our biggest lock yet. The James Whitten Lock was an 84' drop. We traveled at first light with our friends to get to the next marina in daylight hours. We had 3 locks to get through with a total of 148' down towards sea level.
Gate opening close to the bow.
When we go to the Midway marina, we were in line to get to our slips as there were a few boats ahead of us that travel 8 knots rather than our 6-7 knots. Included was O'Tug, Tug Leelou and Patriot. We saw many looper boats with people we had previously met, including Silver Linings. There were doctails and a bonfire which we declined to participate in since we had ribs and artichokes cooking in the galley. Since we had an early departure fo the neck run we had a quiet night on the boat.
Leaving at 6:30 am from Midway Marina, we were heading out with several other boats. After three locks taking us down another 76' and another 50.4 NM run we made it to Columbus Marina. Steve the dock master was instrumental in getting all of us in to our slips. The entrance is shallow unless you stay in the marked channel. It is marked with red and green poles. The marina was great with two courtesy vehicles. We signed up for both of them and had a vehicle for men and one for women. Walmart here we come!! On Tuesday, Brenda and Sonny and Hal and I went to dinner at Harvey's and enjoyed a nice meal. The weather was overall cold, rainy and miserable for most of the last few days. We can't wait to get to water climates.
Anyone need to make a phone call?
Since there were so many looper boats leaving Columbus Marina early it was organized that we all left at first light to get in to a 7:15 am lock opening. David headed out first, with us following and then all the others. Altogether there 15 boats in the lock. The lock master said it was the most pleasure crafts he had in at one time. The day was cold so we had the generator running to keep the heat on. We dropped another 57' today and went 51.7 NM. At first we were going to stop at a different anchorage but it was early and felt we could move on. The North Cook's Bend had O'Tug, Tug Leelu and Patriot. There was plenty of room but we decided to go to the south opening. Lestique and SISU were there but again there was plenty of room for all of us. It was deep and wide. We dropped anchor at 4:50 and had a quiet night.
White Cliffs at Epes.
Our travels so far.
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