Meandering Magees: Fulton, Mississippi

Day 44 - Thursday, October 20
1,123 miles

From Grand Harbor Marina at Pickwick Lake, we have 450 miles to Mobile, Alabama and we will be dropping (via locks) 414 ft.! We were at the fuel dock at GH when they opened at 8 am (local time) on Tuesday to get a pump-out before starting the next phase of the trip - The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. It connects the Tennessee river to the Tombigbee river, and this man-made waterway has made the Great Loop journey possible. When construction began in 1972, its $2 billion dollar price tag was called a pork-barrel project, but the waterway has produced a positive economic impact of over $43 billion dollars and directly created more than 29,000 jobs.

The Tenn-Tom is 234 miles long - 5 times longer than the Panama Canal. It is the largest civil works project ever undertaken by the Army Corps of Engineers and took 12 years to build.

The first 27 miles of the Tenn-Tom is called the Divide Cut. It is a 280 ft. wide and 12 ft deep channel that has no place to turn off or anchor out. We then entered the Canal section of the waterway, which bypasses the twisty route of the Tombigbee river before joining back to it 45 miles down. We passed under the Natchez Trace Parkway. Mike and I traveled on this scenic byway back in October of 2014 when we were meandering in the RV. It was used between 1785 and 1820 by boatmen who had floated their goods down to New Orleans on the Mississippi river, left their boats and walked back on the Trace. The path had already been established by several Indian tribes.

Our plan was to go 56 miles to Midway Marina in Fulton, MS. We arrived at the Whitten Lock at 1:30 and the lock master told us they were performing some maintenance and we would have a 60-90 minute wait. We shut the engines off and had lunch. Still not into the lock at 3:30, we made the decision to anchor out for the night. We learned our lesson back in Illinois about traveling after dark, and with 3 more locks after the Whitten before reaching Fulton, we were not going to take that chance. Fortunately, there was a great anchorage off to our left that we had watched 4 other boats go into. It had several fingers and 3 boats were in one so we went back to share a space with a sailboat.

We picked a spot and Mike went out to the bow to drop our anchor. It has always been a bit stubborn and Tuesday was no exception. Mike usually gives it a shove with his foot to dislodge it from its cradle before the motor lets out the chain. That didn't work, so the calm and peaceful setting for the other boats was soon filled (and echoing) with the pounding of a hammer against the metal anchor. What we really needed was a sledgehammer, but who has room for that on a boat?

The anchor just wouldn't budge. Greg had to stay at the helm, keeping the boat from getting too close to the shore and Karen and I were of little help. We carry a smaller anchor for those times when both a bow and stern line need to be dropped, so we got it hooked to a rope and put it down. With little wind in the cove, the smaller anchor held us. Greg was then able to go out on the bow to help Mike and they finally got the main anchor to release. So we had two in the water!

The people on 2 of the boats (both Loop boats - Horizon Chaser and The Journey) came over on their dinghys to say hello. I joined Greg and Karen and we took our dinghy to shore, where Greg and Karen went for a walk and I finally got to get in the water to take a swim. Mike's arms were so tired from wrestling with the anchor that he passed on going to shore or for a swim.

The 4 other boats all left the anchorage on Wednesday morning at 7:30 and went through the Whitten lock at 8. Knowing we had 2 anchors to get up, we told them to go ahead. We called the lock master and he said for us to be ready to lock through at 10. This time, it was the small anchor that wouldn't cooperate. Mike and Greg went out in the dinghy for Mike to pull it in but it wouldn't come up. (maybe it's because we are Irish, but Murphy's Law was the rule with this anchorage!) So they came back on True North, we secured the dinghy back onto the swim platform, and brought up the big anchor. That allowed Greg to move the boat just a little so the angle on the rope shifted just enough for Mike to pull up the smaller anchor, and we were off. You have to be thankful for the little things . . .

There were 2 other boats waiting at the lock, so right at 10 am the 3 of us entered the lock where we went down 84 ft. - the largest elevation change we have done. One of the quickest, too, as we came out of the lock at 10:30. Five miles later was the Montgomery Lock, with a 30 ft. drop and 8 miles after that was the Rankin Lock, which lowered us another 30 ft. We traveled with the same 2 boats in this stretch, and at each lock after the Whitten, we all drove right in with no waits. This was some of the easiest locking we have done.

I had a "why didn't I think of that" moment while in the Whitten Lock. When Mike put his rope around the bollard to secure us, there was an oval sticker in the bollard shaft that said "Near Miss".
It is the name of a Looper boat we had shared a dock with back on Kentucky Lake. Kind of like a "Kilroy was here" statement - leaving your mark. I said we had a Sharpie and I could write "True North" on the metal shaft, but we decided we didn't want to take the chance of being arrested in the next lock for defacing federal property!

We were tied up at Midway Marina in Fulton by early afternoon. That left plenty of time to wash the boat, because . . . well . . . you know, it's been a whole 6 days since it had been cleaned.

The marina doesn't have a lot of amenities, but the staff is very friendly and helpful. The local Pizza Hut didn't deliver, so we needed to use the courtesy car to pick up Wednesday night's dinner. The dock master who cleared us to take the car didn't know someone else had it. When he found out, he took off a trailer that was hitched to their other courtesy vehicle, and Karen and I rumbled into town in a big red pickup!
With a storm forecasted for Thursday, we decided to stay put another day. That gave Greg time to think up all kinds of little projects, which occupied our morning. Another trip into town was needed for supplies, and with both courtesy vehicles gone, the marina owner let us use her personal car.
One stop was a marine store and the owner heard us say we were doing the Loop. He did it with his parents when he was in high school. They traveled in the reverse direction!
Another stop was the grocery store where I overheard an elderly lady say to another lady - " . . . Well, I've got to go. He dropped off some turnip greens and I've got to git home and git them cookin' "
(read that in your best southern twang). We just don't hear stuff like that back home. As Karen said, we could listen to these southern accents all day!

A long day for us on Friday as we will be traveling over 60 miles to Columbus, MS, including 4 locks. We've arranged to travel with some other Loop boats that are here and they want to be off about 7 am.