We set a six o'clock alarm for Tuesday, October 3rd, anticipating that there wouldn't be much fog in the early morning due to the warm overnight temperatures. We were correct: we woke to 60 degree temps and only wispy fog on the water.
We were underway by 6:40 am, and within 10 minutes we were at the arrival point for the Wheeler Lock. Calling in on the radio, the lockmaster informed us that we'd have a 30 minute wait as he finished locking down a downbound tow. We shut off one engine, left the other in neutral and drifted around above the lock.
I cooked up some corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast, and just as we were sitting down to eat, the Lockmaster called letting us know the lock would be ready for us in a few minutes - 10 minutes early! We hastily ate breakfast as we motored down to the lock entrance, managing to shovel everything down before passing into the chamber. Cold eggs and hash didn't sound palatable if we had to wait to eat!
The lockage went smoothly, and we motored out into Wilson Lake. We only had 14 miles to go down to the Wilson Lock. This was the lock that was so problematic due to the delays (main chamber closed for repairs) and the violent up-lockage we experienced. We followed the tow W.W. Dyer down to the lock, listened to him call in, and were just planning on calling in ourselves when an upbound pleasure boat called in. After he spoke with the lockmaster, and received notice of a 2-3 hour delay, we called in to let the Lockmaster know we were there also. Same reply, 2-3 hours, since they pass all recreational vessels on one round trip after three commercial lockages.
At 9 am we shut down Golden's engines about a mile up from the lock and let her drift around the lake. The lake was flat calm, no winds, no current. Golden just sat stationary, no need for an anchor, out of the way of the working tows as they moved barges in and out of the lock.
At 10:30 we were very surprised to get a call from the Lockmaster saying we'd be in the next downbound lockage. One of the tows, the Lonnie Fugate (our friend from yesterday) was being sent down to the lower side of the lock to work the barges down there, and we were to lock through with her.
We motored down to the lock, then waited a few hundred yards behind the Lonnie Fugate as she entered the lock and positioned herself on the starboard side of the lock as far forward as she could get. Once the water inside the chamber had stopped swirling around from her powerful props, we gingerly entered the lock behind her and tied to the first floating bollard on the starboard just inside the lock doors. We were only about 30 feet from her stern by the time we were tied in.
The lockage down the first step lock went smoothly, though the air was noxious. The Lonnie Fugate kept her engines running; in fact, since she was only tied down to one bollard on her starboard bow she kept one of her engines in reverse for the whole lockage down to hold herself against the lock wall. We kept Golden's engines running just in case any problems cropped up. The fumes from all the engines were a killer.
When the lock doors entered to release from the top step lock into the bottom step lock, the fun began. The Lonnie Fugate went first, moving out of the first chamber into the second. Her prop wash had us bouncing all over the wall, though with judicious use of our engines we were able to hold Golden stationary against the lock wall without a problem. Once the Lonnie Fugate was tied in the second chamber and the waters still, we again moved Golden gingerly forward. In this chamber, the Lonnie Fugate tied to the port wall, while we remained on the starboard wall.
After another uneventful lockage down, our relative positions upon departure made for a bit less of an exciting ride for Golden when the Lonnie Fugate lit up her engines. More fun with prop wash occurred after we had both left the chamber. The Lonnie Fugate immediately went over to the barges along the side of the canal, swinging herself perpendicularly across the channel with her bow pressed up against the sides of the barges. We waited for a few minutes while she held herself there, thinking she'd reduce her prop wash a bit to let us pass. She didn't, despite a few calls from us to let her know we were waiting. Finally her captain (a different captain from the one we'd been speaking to the day before - there's always two on board as they work shifts throughout the day and night) came back over the radio and asked if we were waiting for him. When we said yes, he replied, "go ahead and pass behind me, it won't bother me." Well, it sure would bother us, we thought, but he'd made it clear he wasn't going to throttle back.
Having already passed behind a tow once before, about a month ago, we at least knew what to expect and how Golden would react. Fortunately, the prop wash wasn't too great, and after a violent shove sideways toward the bank followed quickly by Golden rounding up out of the wash, we were by the Lonnie Fugate and on our way with only a little spilled coffee for our troubles.
As we motored down the riverine portion of Pickwick Lake, we passed four different Looper boats, all heading up to Joe Wheeler for the Looper rendezvous in a few weeks. We hailed one of the boats, a couple of Canadians on a Carver Riviera 28 and spoke with him for a while about the Wilson Lock and the Rendezvous. We told him to make sure and find Mike and Valli on Sanctuary I while at the rendezvous, as they'd been bemoaning the fact they hadn't seen any Canadians since they entered the States.
After we passed under the Natchez Trace bridge, we pulled Golden to a stop and shut down her engines, letting her drift in the middle of the channel. There were no other boats or tows in sight, and it was time to go swimming! It was hot - almost 90 degrees and flat calm. We also wanted to take the opportunity before heading into the Tenn-Tom Waterway to check our props to make sure we hadn't picked up anything in the last few weeks and we knew the water in the Tennessee River would be a lot clearer than what we'd find in the Tenn-Tom.
The water felt great - probably 75 degrees and it was a blissful antidote to the hot sun. Mike dove on the props and found nothing, then spent a few minutes swimming around Golden's hull cleaning her waterline. I swam alongside him and kept him company. I realized I hadn't been swimming in a while, and remembered how good it could feel on a hot day.
Back underway, we continued to head toward Aqua Harbor Marina at the head of the Tenn-Tom, a 44 mile run from Wilson Lock. At times we were in Alabama, at times in Mississippi; the border couldn't seem to decide which side of the river to stay on. At one point - at least according to the chart - we had our bow in Tennessee, starboard in Alabama, port in Mississippi. Turning south into the Tenn-Tom we finally crossed into Mississippi, where we'll remain for at least for the next week. The Tenn-Tom is 450 miles long from the Tennessee River to Mobile, Alabama.
At 4 pm, we pulled into Aqua Yacht Harbor (Tenn-Tom mile marker 448), finding a place on the transient dock fairly close to shore (shortens the walk down the long transient dock). The dock master helped us tie in and hook up to cable TV and electricity. The first thing we did was close up the boat and start the air conditioning - it was hot now that we weren't moving across the water.
Mike biked over to the service building, checking in with them regarding our scheduled oil change for the next day. Aqua's diesel mechanics were apparently booked up, so Aqua's called in "Diesel Don" to come and help us out. Diesel Don is a renowned figure down here - we'd heard months ago that if we were to ever have trouble on the Tenn-Tom, contact anyone along the Waterway and have them call Diesel Don. Everyone knows him, and he'll travel anywhere along the Waterway to help out boaters. It'll be interesting to meet the man who's made himself such a good reputation.
We tried hooking up to the Wi-Fi, but Aqua's system was being finicky. I was able to download 2 emails after 10 minutes of fussing around, but couldn't get anything else done. Frustratingly, there's no data access via Verizon here at Aqua - while we had a good cell signal, it wasn't a signal that carried the data product. Arghhh.
We sorted through the food on the boat, trying to remember what we had in the "pantry" (our big storage space under the salon's settee) and creating a shopping list for tomorrow. Aqua has a courtesy car which we hope to take advantage of - perhaps I'll do it while Mike plays in engine oil.
This is Mechanical Mike with those darn statistics. I know that you all sit on the edge of your chair and wait for this:
We filled up our fuel tanks in Chattanooga at Marine Max since it was the best price that we had seen at $2.65/gallon. We took on 183.7 gallons. This meant that we continue to get good mileage, 1.90 nautical miles per gallon for the whole trip, 1.81 for the latest leg, pretty much what we expected in that we had about 1 knot of current against us for this whole leg (up the Tennessee River). We continue to have a good number on the fuel burn at 3.69 gallons per hour for the whole trip and 3.59 for the latest leg (indicating very few slow sections and very few no wake zones). We are not burning any oil, using any antifreeze, there are no leaks anywhere, and the engine room continues to be trouble free. Knock on wood.
On E-mail, we are hearing that Loopers and those making the annual trip south are buying diesel in the Chesapeake for $1.81/gallon at one place, and less than $2.35 seems to be common for most of the east coast. I hope that those prices come to Florida and Alabama soon. We won’t have to refuel until Florida, but we’re heard that we might expect lower prices in southern Alabama (and Alabama has lower taxes on fuel).
We have rented cars and used loaner cars at various stops and when doing so are noticing prices of gas on the street to be $1.99/gallon.
Early to bed after that - long day in the hot sun. We're pleased not to be moving along tomorrow. Even with an oil change and some errands to take care of, it'll seem like a break after the three long days of running back from Chattanooga.