Meandering Magees: October 2016

Friday, October 28, 2016

Sweet Home Alabama - Demopolis to Mobile

Day 51 - Thursday, October 27

1488 miles

True North and our travel companion boat Lucky Ducks left our anchorage on Monday morning at 8:15 local time. We had one lock to go through before Demopolis - the Howard Heflin, with a 36 ft. drop. We got to the lock about 10, but waited in the lock for two boats that were a few miles behind us. We’ve been on that end of the situation where a lock waited for us so we were OK with it. Fortunately, there was no wind so keeping the boat lined up in the lock was not a problem. One of the boats we waited for was Miss My Money. Isn’t that a great name? He told us it was the name of the boat when he bought it, and after he did all the repairs and upgrades he decided the name fit and kept it!

The drop in the Heflin Lock went fast as we went down in a continuous motion. In other locks, we would drop a foot and stop, drop a foot and stop.

We pulled into Kingfisher Bay Marina in Demopolis at 3:30. The dock master - Anna Marie was standing on the dock, radio in hand, talking us through the entrance channel (where dredging was going on). She was very nice and ran a very tight ship - or should I say marina! Kingfisher Bay is right next to Demopolis Yacht Basin and has the same owner. The Yacht Basin has seen better days, but the fuel dock is still located there. And the ice chest. Karen and I took a courtesy golf cart over to the Yacht Basin fuel dock to buy a bag of ice. Kingfisher has new docks and more modern facilities. We stayed 2 nights. Tuesday night we went to dinner with the couple from Lucky Ducks at the Red Barn. All 6 of us crammed into the Buick Century courtesy car that had to be back by 6 and the restaurant didn’t open until 5.

Demopolis is another staple on the Loop - everyone stops there. It marks the halfway point on the Tenn-Tom Waterway to Mobile. And it is the last marina until Mobile Bay, some 216 miles away.

We called the Demopolis Lock on Wednesday morning and found there was tow traffic that had priority so we waited an hour and then took off. It is nice to be able to do that and wait at the dock instead of idling in the water in front of a lock.

The lock master blows a whistle when the doors are closed and the drop or lift begins and again as a signal when the doors open. We have heard whistles that sound like the noon and 10 pm sirens in Ludington. And we have heard short blasts that go on and on as if a little kid has his hand on the buzzer. I prefer the familiar sound of home.

This time we were the first of 8 boats heading out of Kingfisher Bay at 7:30 am. The Leader of the Pack. Can’t you hear the motorcycles revving in your head? (that’s when I fell for the leader of the pack.) Maybe you have to be over 50 to get that reference to the 1964 hit “Leader of the Pack” by the Shangri-Las. When Greg turned around and saw the boats behind us, he had a more current musical reference -

“Loopin’ in the USA” - a take-off of the Beach Boys classic “Surfin’ USA”.

This stretch of the Black Warrior/Tombigbee Waterway was very sparsely populated. We traveled a little farther than originally planned and anchored with Lucky Ducks at Turkey Creek. This really wasn’t a side creek or cutoff from the waterway. It was just a wide stretch with a sandy beach and good depths right up to a few yards from shore. We kept our AIS transmitter on all night so any passing tow barges would see us off to the side. Our entertainment that night was watching two middle-aged guys in a small Boston Whaler type boat pull up to the shore and make camp. They struggled a bit with getting the tent up. Then they came over the radio to ask if either of us had any bug spray. Lucky Ducks did not but we did, and offered them a can. They climbed back into their boat to come the short distance to get it, but had difficulty getting the boat off the shore. That took a while - more entertainment for us. They finally got it free, motored over and we gave them brats for dinner. The ketchup and mustard got passed over to them. We told them to keep the bug spray but not the condiments!

We were ready to leave the anchorage on Thursday morning by 7:30 local time but fog kept our anchor down until about 8:30 when a passing tow assured us the visibility was good and getting better.

Our original planned 3 nights out on anchor between Demopolis and Mobile turned into 2 nights with long days of running. We felt bad passing up Bobby’s Fish Camp, a 150 ft. dock that has power and water for those that get there first. Once the 150 ft. are taken up, the rafting off of boats begins and at peak Looper season, rafting 3 and 4 deep is not unheard of. Bobby’s is like Hoppies on the Mississippi, but without Fern’s briefings.

Going down the river with Karen is like traveling with a botany book and Audubon guidebook as she knows her fauna and fowl. I’m learning a lot! It’s all God’s creation and it is beautiful.

Coffeeville was our last lock on this leg of the Loop - the western inland rivers. When we were lowered the 33 feet, and the doors opened at 10:35 local time, we were at sea level! (To be honest, sea level didn’t look any different from my position on the bow than the other elevations.) We had dropped 414 ft while on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. Even though we were still 116 miles from Mobile Bay, we would now start dealing with tides. This was a woo-hoo moment for the crew of True North. One source of anxiety before beginning the Loop was the locks. (would we know what to do, could we keep the boat straight and tight to the wall, how do you tie up to a bollard, and what exactly is a bollard, etc.) We came out of Coffeeville having slayed that dragon. We’ll stare it in the face with the confidence gained from experience again in upstate New York in the spring of 2018 - God willing.

Our long day on Thursday ended when we set our anchor in the bottom of the Tensaw River at 6:15 local time, just before dark. The Tensaw feeds into the waterway (now called the Mobile River) so we went several hundred yards upstream to spend the night.

The big milestone moment will come on Friday when we enter Mobile Bay. As Mike said, all of his planning and charts went as far as Mobile. I think this means a trip to the marine store for more charts! Just as Coffeeville was our last lock, our entrance into Mobile Bay will mark the end of being on inland rivers until the Hudson. After Mobile Bay we will be traveling on the intracoastal waterway in the panhandle until we cross the Gulf to Dunedin, Florida, near Tarpon Springs.

When we left back in September, I don’t think any of us thought we would do these 1488 miles, plus the 40 more to Mobile, at 10 mph. (We do crank it up every now and then for a few minutes to get the carbon out of the engines.) That is not in the mindset of boating on Lake Michigan. But our prop issue on our second day turned out to be a blessing (albeit an expensive one!) as we were forced to travel at that speed. We discovered we liked it and continued at that pace after the props were replaced. Our trip is an adventure, not a race. And we are enjoying it!

Sunrise on anchor at Warsaw Cut

The white cliffs of Alabama

Dinner at the Red Bard with Jim and Terri Dawson - a.k.a. The Lucky Ducks

Notice the "cow" tablecloths

Two young guys we caught up with at a lock.

They are taking "Varmland" to New Orleans

We never got to ask what the name of the boat means

The Leader of the Pack out of Demopolis marina

Looping' in the USA

We started seeing gators! As the lead boat, we would radio to those behind us where to look

Turkey Creek anchorage

Notice how close to shore Lucky Ducks is. A perfect place to be able to jump in and swim to shore

but after seeing the alligators along the way, my jumping in days ended.

The next morning we joked with the campers that we were glad to see they hadn't become gator bait!

It took them a while, but they got their tent up

Bobby's Fish Camp

To celebrate hitting sea level (and tides and heading to salt water) after the Coffeeville Lock,

Mike wore his Salt Life T-shirt on Thursday

The Redneck Riviera

We didn't name it, our No Wake Zone chart called it that

It is probably loaded with boats on a summer weekend

We passed the ThyssenKrupp Steel Mill-

the largest in North America

Sweet Home Alabama - Demopolis to Mobile

Day 51 - Thursday, October 27

1488 miles

The drop in the Heflin Lock went fast as we went down in a continuous motion. In other locks, we would drop a foot and stop, drop a foot and stop.

Demopolis is another staple on the Loop - everyone stops there. It marks the halfway point on the Tenn-Tom Waterway to Mobile. And it is the last marina until Mobile Bay, some 216 miles away.

“Loopin’ in the USA” - a take-off of the Beach Boys classic “Surfin’ USA”.

We were ready to leave the anchorage on Thursday morning by 7:30 local time but fog kept our anchor down until about 8:30 when a passing tow assured us the visibility was good and getting better.

Going down the river with Karen is like traveling with a botany book and Audubon guidebook as she knows her fauna and fowl. I’m learning a lot! It’s all God’s creation and it is beautiful.

Sunrise on anchor at Warsaw Cut

The white cliffs of Alabama

Dinner at the Red Bard with Jim and Terri Dawson - a.k.a. The Lucky Ducks

Notice the "cow" tablecloths

Two young guys we caught up with at a lock.

They are taking "Varmland" to New Orleans

We never got to ask what the name of the boat means

The Leader of the Pack out of Demopolis marina

Looping' in the USA

We started seeing gators! As the lead boat, we would radio to those behind us where to look

Turkey Creek anchorage

Notice how close to shore Lucky Ducks is. A perfect place to be able to jump in and swim to shore

but after seeing the alligators along the way, my jumping in days ended.

The next morning we joked with the campers that we were glad to see they hadn't become gator bait!

It took them a while, but they got their tent up

Bobby's Fish Camp

To celebrate hitting sea level (and tides and heading to salt water) after the Coffeeville Lock,

Mike wore his Salt Life T-shirt on Thursday

The Redneck Riviera

We didn't name it, our No Wake Zone chart called it that

It is probably loaded with boats on a summer weekend

We passed the ThyssenKrupp Steel Mill-

the largest in North America

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Columbus, Mississippi

Day 47 - Sunday, October 23

1248 Miles

We were up before sunrise on Friday morning to leave Midway Marina with two other Loop boats. We waited at the dock until we could actually see the things we needed to unhook - water hose and electrical hose. With The Journey leading the way and Tiger behind us, our little Looper parade entered the Fulton Lock at 7:30. The temp was in the low 40’s and the wind was howling, which made it very difficult to keep the boat tight to the wall in the lock. Mike’s arms strained to hold our rope on the bollard, while Greg was constantly having to work the gears to keep the boat straight. It got easier after we dropped down into the lock and the wall rose above us to block the wind.

Along with beautiful scenery, we have seen all kinds of birds and animals on the river. An eagle, a fox, geese, herons, an armadillo, turtles and lions and tigers and bears, oh my! (not really on the last 3).

And so much for my fear of writing our boat name on bollards in the locks. Someone beat me to it. The people aboard a boat named Rendova left a little drawing in 3 of the locks we went through on Friday. They had probably been doing it in every lock, but it was the first time we had seen their signature as there are 2 sides to tie up to in a lock (port or starboard) and multiple bollards to throw a rope around, so you are never in the same spot in every lock.

But who am I kidding - Mike would never let me leave our name in permanent ink on government property!

The sun came out and it slowly warmed up as we made our way through 3 other locks: Wilkins, Amory and Aberdeen. At the last lock, our group of 3 became a party of 5 as Reveille and Valentine joined us in the lock. We were amazed as the guy on Valentine threw a line out into the water and fished while we were dropping in the lock. He later told us that he has caught a catfish in every lock except that one and he cooks them for dinner!

We each have our positions when in a lock. Greg is up top driving. I am on the bow, Karen is in the back and Mike is in the middle, holding the rope around the bollard. Karen and I don’t do much in the lock, except making sure the front or back doesn’t hit the wall (the bumpers do all the work) and give a push off when exiting the lock. Being on the bow, I get the first glimpse of the doors opening and seeing the river spread out before us. I never get tired of the view.

We pulled into the marina in Columbus, Mississippi at 3. The channel off the Tenn-Tom back to the marina is filled with water hyacinths - lily pads. They are pretty, but you don't want to stray off the cleared water as they can easily clog an engine.

Another marina with another courtesy car - we are thankful for the little things. We drove into historic downtown Columbus for dinner on Friday night to a place that was recommended by several boaters and marina staff - Huck’s. We each ordered something different and all had excellent meals. It was my first time to have catfish.

On Saturday, Mike and Greg drove Karen and I ten miles outside of Columbus to tour the Waverly Mansion. It is a magnificent antebellum house that was built in 1852 by Colonel George Hampton Young, who lived there with his wife and 10 children. Often the tour guide has as much to do with how enjoyable a tour is as the subject itself. What a better guide than someone who has lived in the house since 1962, which is exactly who we had. Karen and I walked up to the front door and a woman came out to greet us. She asked us where we were from, and when we said “Michigan”, she sat on the front step and with a slow southern drawl that oozed sincerity replied, “I . .was . . once . . in . . love . . with . . a . . man . . from . . Michigan.” Had she been wearing a hoop skirt you would have sworn she just walked off the set of “Gone With The Wind”, which is exactly where she got her name - Melanie. Her 91-year old father sat in a rocking chair on the porch behind her.

The last of the ten Young children died in 1913, and the house sat empty for almost 50 years until Robert and Donna Snow, Melanie’s parents, bought the house in 1962. Melanie was 7 years old. The most amazing thing about Waverly Mansion is that in those 50 years that the house sat vacant, there was no vandalism. The Snows found large gold-leaf mirrors and marble shelves intact. The extensive and elegant woodwork had not deteriorated or rotted. The house had its share of visitors in those years. Melanie told stories of fraternity pledges who had to spend the night in the house (which was considered haunted), couples who became engaged there, and parties that were held by the college kids. (the family found notes in a desk with multiple cubbyholes instructing who was to bring the beer and slips of paper with names and dates of marriage proposals). But it was as if all those young men and woman had a respect for the house and the land as nothing was destroyed.

The Snow family (Melanie, her parents and two siblings) restored the mansion room by room over the next 26 years. Several months after moving in, tired of people thinking the house was still empty and showing up at all hours of the day and night, Robert hand-painted a sign that said, “Tours of house - $1.00”. He thought that would put an end to it. Instead, it opened the floodgates to everyone from nosy townspeople to historians to tourists like us. Melanie and her Dad still live in the house and her love for it was obvious as she walked us through the rooms which her parents furnished with antiques from the mid to late 1800’s. While telling of life on the 50,000 acre plantation that Waverly was when Colonel Young built it, Melanie also shared funny and touching stories of growing up in the house. One story was a bit of trivia. Have you ever heard the phrase that someone is "on the wagon" or has "fallen off the wagon"? Long ago, wine was served at a meal in a decanter that sat in a wagon on wheels. The wagon would be pulled around the dining room table, and if you did not remove the decanter when it came to you, you left it "on the wagon." (abstaining) If you wanted a drink, you took the decanter "off the wagon." Melanie showed us a lovely decanter wagon in the dining room while telling us the history behind the popular phrase.

It was a really enjoyable afternoon that we tried to re-create for the guys, right down to Melanie’s sweet southern accent.

We took so long at the mansion that we didn't have time to drive back into Columbus to tour the home of playwright Tennessee Williams, whose works include "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" and "A Streetcar Named Desire".

We once again teamed up with another Loop boat - Lucky Ducks - to arrive at our first lock on Sunday morning together. The John Stennis Lock was right as we emerged from the Columbus Marina channel and when we got there, 3 other boats were waiting to go into the lock. Once inside the lock, the lock master (over the radio) asked for our documentation number, our port of origin, final destination and our boat length. We have never had to give that information in a lock before. Once out of the lock, the 5 boats ended up all traveling about the same speed so were together for over 50 miles. One by-product of this is the river (or Loop) humor that is carried on over the radio between boats. We laugh out loud and it helps pass the time. For a while, every bend in the Tombigbee river would take us back and forth between Mississippi and Alabama. At mile 310 on the waterway, we entered Alabama for good. After going down 27 feet in the Tom Bevill Lock, we stopped with Lucky Duck on Sunday night at 6:30 at an anchorage called Warsaw Cut-off. We will head to Demopolis, Alabama on Monday.

A cold morning

Greg gets in his therapy under Karen's watchful eye

Other Rendova marks included a drawing of a sailboat and fish

The Looper Parade

Waverly Plantation Mansion

Karen on the second story

On the wagon!

Donna Snow - Melanie's mother

Not one of these light globes were broken or stolen during the 50 year vacancy.

Only 3 windows in the entire mansion were broken

A familiar sight on the river

Thursday, October 20, 2016

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.

The Divide Cut section of the Tenn-Tom

Another beautiful anchorage. We are starting to see some color

I swam back to the boat with the help of a floating life jacket

Trying to get up the small anchor

Coming out of the Whitten Lock after our 84 ft. drop

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Pickwick Lake

Day 41 - October 17, 2016

1067 miles to Pickwick Lake

True North is back to a full crew. Hooray! Greg and Karen arrived at Pebble Isle Marina about 11pm last Friday night. A big “thank-you” to Karen’s sister and brother-in-law, Sandy and Dale who drove them from Michigan to meet back up with us.

On Saturday, after we got our last free cinnamon roll, we left Pebble Isle at 10:45. Kentucky Lake narrowed into the Tennessee River, whose banks were lined with slate/rock, just like what you see when driving through the state in a car. We saw more homes in this stretch, most of them raised off the ground on stilts or solid foundations. Some of the houses high up on the hillsides looked precariously close to the edge of the embankments. We passed lots of campgrounds where the trailers were parked under roofs for protection from the summer heat.

We took the recommendation of Captain’s Choice and anchored out at Double Island anchorage. Just before entering it at 4:30, we hit 1000 miles on our odometer. I’m sure that is not what you call it on a boat - odometer - but whatever the name, we did it! Only 5,000+ miles to go! We celebrated the occasion by grilling steaks in this beautiful, peaceful part of the river.

We pulled up our anchor and were off on Sunday morning at 9:45. The Tennessee had many curves and bends. When we chose “Meandering Magees” for our blog name back in 2013 while traveling in the motorhome, it was more because of the alliteration. But we are TRULY meandering with this Loop trip, with our speed still at 10 mph (we find we like the slow pace), and the twists and turns of the inland rivers.

True North arrived at the Pickwick Lock and Dam at 3:30. It was Karen’s first experience in a lock, and our first one since back on September 19th. We had passed a barge about a mile before the lock and we were sure the lock master would take the tow first and then us. But the barge had become stuck and the lock master released some water to try to raise the river level a bit to help the barge get loose. This was going to take a while so we were allowed into the lock with a waiting sailboat, and were locked up 55 ft.. (as unlikely as it seems at first glance, we were traveling upstream on the Tennessee river.) We came out of the lock at 5 pm into Pickwick Lake. The sailboat in the lock with us had lost his navigational chart and since we were both going to the same marina, we slowed our pace and the John B followed us into Grand Harbor Marina. We were tied up by 6.

Pickwick Lake is another major checkpoint for us as it is where we turn off the Tennessee and begin the next leg - the Tenn-Tom Waterway. (more on that in the next post)

The Grand Harbor is a large marina with a condo development right next to it, like our home marina of Harbor View. They had a courtesy car, which we took on Monday to visit the Shiloh battlefield. The car was actually a Ford Transit with “Grand Harbor Marina” and “Follow Me to Freddy T’s” emblazoned in large letters all around the white van. The harbormaster, when handing over the keys, jokingly said, “It’s got our name all over it so don’t go robbing any banks or liquor stores.” Greg said, “ You don’t have to worry about a bank, but we can’t make any promises on the liquor store!”

We spent three hours at Shiloh National Military Park. With the courtesy car from the marina came an audio CD tour of the battlefield, which saved us from having to purchase it in the gift shop. Our first stop was the visitor center where we arrived just in time to catch the 11am showing of an excellent film depicting the events of April 6 and 7, 1962. Visiting any battlefield of any war is a somber and sobering time and Shiloh was no exception.

Some refer to this battle as Pittsburg Landing, the physical area on the Tennessee River where General Ulysses S. Grant’s Union forces disembarked. But a little farther inland, among the forest and farms and orchards stood Shiloh Meeting House, the small log Methodist church that gave the battlefield its name.

Following the audio CD and our map, we drove 13 miles through those forests and farms and orchards, stopping at major points where the action took place while the narrator described what happened at that location. We got out of the car at certain spots to read a marker or take pictures. Monuments dot the landscape indicating regiments and battalions and infantry from the different states, with the majority of the soldiers coming from Ohio, Tennessee (North) and Mississippi (South). Some of these monuments are small - no bigger than a headstone - while others are large, beautiful, ornate granite symbols of respect and honor for those who fought at Shiloh.

On the grounds of the Shiloh National Park is Shiloh Indian Mounds National Historic Landmark. We saw well preserved mounds that date back 800 years.

23,746 soldiers (both Confederate and Union) were killed, wounded or listed as missing after the men under the command of Grant and Don Carlos Buell defeated the Confederate army led by Albert Johnston (who was killed in the battle) and P.G.T. Beauregard. The North and the South had been fighting for a little over one year when the Battle of Shiloh took place. Union commanders thought a victory in the Mississippi Valley would bring a quick end to the war. Sadly, it did not; the war between the states was fought for 3 more years.

“After Shiloh, the South never smiled again.”

We drove 7 miles into Savannah, TN, the self-proclaimed “Catfish Capital of the World” where we couldn’t find a single place open that served catfish on this late Monday afternoon!