November 25th

Easy day so we are up at 6:30.  Started motors at 7:15.  Pulled away from the dock at 7:30.  Into Grover Wilkens lock at 7:50.  Beautiful morning but very cold.  Ice all over the boat!

Out of Wilkens lock at 8:00 and into Amory Lock at 8:50.  I noticed a squeal from the alternator belt on the starboard motor at 1200 RPM.  This is the first problem I have had with the boat this trip.  I ran at lower RPM for a while and then very gently increased revs and it went away.  I am hoping it was just the freaking cold!

Out of Amory at 9:05 and into Aberdeen lock at 10:35 with no delay.  Out at 10:50,

Lots of plant life in the river

Darrell called around 11:00 AM to tell me how great the Gran Prix race from Brazil was going.  After he called me with a second update of the exciting conclusion to the 2012 season, I asked Missy to take over the helm for a while so I could fire up the gen set and watch the race on TV.  She is a real trooper and helps me out whenever I need it!  We took advantage of the gen set and made lunch (toast with humas).

Taffy has the run of the boat!

We arrived at the John Stennis Lock at 1:00.  A barge was just going into the southbound chamber so we are set for an extensive delay.  We did not get in until a little after 2:00 and then out at 2:20.

Another familiar sight on the river.

We have to pick up the pace to get to Pirates Cove Marina before dark.  We passed 1 southbound and 3 northbound tows.  Pulled into the marina right at sunset.  Nice people but no bells and whistles again.  We are looking forward to watching Dexter and  Homeland in bed together.

November 24th

Up at 6 AM.  Very cold, 25 degrees.  After my daily pre-trip inspection, I walked Taffy.  Only down side to Grand Harbor Marina is the distance to grass for the dog.

Cruising at 7:30.  7 miles later we were in the TennTom Cut.

It was so cold on the bridge we decided to motor from the lower helm.  Much nicer!  We fired up the gen set to warm our feet and make hot tea and hot chocolate!

At 9:50 we spotted a kayacker!  This guy has to be crazy to be out paddling in this weather!

at 10:30 we spotted a deer swimming across the channel.  He or she was very determined!

When I first noticed something in the water I instinctively thought it might be a dolphin.  In Kentucky  Not!  

Swim Forest, Swim!

Why did the deer cross the river?

Arrived at Whitten Lock at 11:30 (84' drop), entered at 11:45, out at 12:15.

Into Montgomery Lock at 12:50 and out at 1:10.

The 1st Mate is Very Important during locking procedures!!!

Into John Rankin Lock at 2:00, out at 2:15.

The Captain will not allow Taffy out on deck during locking!

Into Fulton Lock at 3:05 and out at 3:25.

All 4 locks were ready for us today.  How cool is that?  We hope our luck continues.

The Captain has to stay alert at all times!

Arrived at Smithville Marina at 4:30 with 15 minutes of sunlight to spare.  Scott is still running the marina after his dad died in a tornado two years ago.  There are no bells or whistles here but you will never find a nicer guy anywhere!

Dinner on board: peanut butter and jelly....Ymmmm!

November 23rd

Up at 6AM.  Cruising by 7:15.  We have 101 miles to go!  I throttled up as we were pushing against the current.  This time of year we only have 10 hours of sunlight so it makes it tough to go very far in a vessel that cruises economically at less than 10 miles per hour.

Still Chilly!

We arrived at Pickwick Lock at 3:30 and the lockmaster had the chamber ready for us.

Up we went for the first lock through of the season.  The first two days of our trip were up river on the Tennessee.  Once we got through Pickwick Lock, we motored 10 miles further up and then turned into the TomBigBee Waterway.  From there on we are running down river.

We were at Grand Harbor Marina at 4:40 with sunset at 4:45.

 Jeff fueled us up: 130 gals equal $535.00.  It is expensive to run hard!  We hope to run slower and cheaper from here on.

We borrowed the marina courtesy car and went to dinner at the Broken Spoke Restaurant.

We had been then in June with Rachael and loved the place.  We were not disappointed with our return and they have great food and great entertainment.

These two were so good we purchased a couple of their CDs.

On the way back to the marina the warning light indicating a low tire came on.  We found a gas station with air so we were able to get back with no problem.

I hit the sack but Missy had work to do on the internet for Medtronic so she stayed up until 1 AM.

November 22nd

Up at 6 AM.  Lots of last minute details (filling water tanks, stowing stuff, throwing trash into the dumpster).  Pulled out at 7:45.  Chilly morning with some fog.

Pulling out of Kentucky Dam Marina.

Aye Sea No Snow is running great!  EVERYTHING WORKS!!

Did I mention that it was chilly??

We observed a cruiser heading south in front of us but they slowly pulled away and we lost sight of them around 2 PM.

Lots of room in the channel in Kentucky Lake!

This ferry was a familiar sight from our trip north in June.

We were hoping to go 90 miles to Cuba Landing Marina.  There were closed for Thanksgiving but gave us permission to tie up and use their electric power.

Taffy is very at home on the boat.

For a while we thought about stopping at a shorter distance but decided to crank up the speed a little since everything was running so well and we just made it with a little light left.  It was kinda dark as we pulled into their channel but my spotlight picked the buoys up well enough so we had no trouble finding our way in.  We plugged in and cooked pizza for dinner.  It was a Great Thanksgiving despite missing the kids on a Holiday.

November 21st

I spent half the day doing an oil change on the two Perkins diesels and the Westerbeke gen set along with other preventative maintenance.  The rest of the day I was washing the spider poop off the boat.  Missy spent the entire day cleaning the inside of the boat from end to end.

We drove into Paducah for provisions and then had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant (it sure was not like eating in Venice but nice never the less).

Did I mention Missy hates spiders??

November 20th

Missy and I drove down to Kentucky Dam Marina to start our cruise toward Florida for the winter.  We checked into a motel near the marina so that we can start cleaning first thing in the morning (did I mention Missy hates spiders?).

Sept 14th, 2012

Missy and I drove down to check on the boat.  It has been a busy summer and we had great plans to bring the boat up to St. Paul but the weather and our availability never were compatible.  We left late in the morning and arrived at Kentucky Dam Marina at 1AM.  I went down to inspect the boat and it was infested with spiders!  Missy does not like spiders. I spent a half hour getting as many of the webs cleaned up and then went to get Missy and Taffy.  Did I mention Missy hates spiders?  To say she was not happy would be an understatement.

I then spent an hour washing the outside of the boat.  It was disgusting.  The slip we were in was right next to a huge overhead light.  That freaking light attracted a zillion bugs which in turn attracted a million spiders.  Did I mention that it was disgusting?  It was so filthy I could not go to bed without scrubbing the heck out of the side facing the light.

I slept in until around 9AM and woke up not feeling very well and with a sore back.  Sometimes I am just not smart enough not to overdue things.  So we just hung out the rest of the day then drove home on Sunday vowing to get back to the boat sooner.

No pictures for this posting as that would be disgusting!