Friday, October 8 Location: leaving Chattanooga, TN

We are beginning our 250 mile return to Pickwick Lake. There, we will head south on the Tenn-Tom river and begin our trip down to Mobile, AL where Blue Max IV and Duchess are waiting for us. We will all make the crossing of the Gulf of Mexico together.

 

 From our departure point at Aqua Marina in Pickwick Lake to Chattanooga, we traveled 250 miles and locked “up” at 4 locks – Wilson Lock, Wheeler Lock, Guntersville Lock, and Nickajack Lock - before arriving in Chattanooga, traveling against the current. On our return, we will lock “down” through the same 4 locks, all the while making better time due to the current. We’ve also crossed the time zone twice, going from CT to ET and back again into Central time as well as crossing back and forth between Tennessee and Alabama. Once we begin the Tenn-Tom, we will travel through Mississippi, then cross back into Alabama.


tug boat "Jack Walker"
just to make the bend and
before we passed him




zero visibility ahead moving toward us
 we tied up at the closest dock



We left early this morning, right after Mary Jo and John (Recovery Room) moved their boat to a different slip where they will be leaving it for a week as they return home to Jacksonville. We hope we will be able to meet up with them again on this trip. For sure, we will get together with them again as they pass through the Tampa Bay area.



the source of the smoke
can you see the helicopter?



An hour after our departure, we passed a tow with barges and then turned a bend in the river only to be met with dense smoke immediately up ahead. It was so thick visibility went to zero. We immediately tied up to an old dock on the bank and alerted the tow captain of “Jack Walker” to make him of the situation. He was able to stop as he caught up and waited for us to advise him when it had cleared and okay to continue. Later, after several turns in the river we were able to see the fire up high in the woods – helicopters circling to observe it.

The remainder of day one of our return went without further incidents, which is good. It was a longer than normal day for us, travelling close to 90 miles, but we had gained an hour on the clock , had the current pushing us, and felt we could put in a little extra time allowing us to make the next three days approximately 50 miles each. We should be able to begin our southbound trip on Wednesday.