The Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway (“Tenn-Tom”) was completed in 1984 and is what made the Great Loop trip possible and accessible for most of us. Yes, you can complete the Great Loop by going down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, but a lot of that river is levied up and uninteresting; not many marinas and fuel stops; and lots of big commercial traffic.
The Tenn-Tom goes from the Tennessee River to the junction of the Black Warrior-Tombigbee River system near Demopolis, Alabama. None other than President “Tricky Dick” Nixon championed it, and construction began in 1972 and was completed in 1984. For more info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee%E2%80%93Tombigbee_Waterway
You start on it by turning right out of Grand Harbor Marina (turning
left takes you to Chattanooga) and the big story here is the number of locks
you have to go through: ten. So, lots about locks coming up.
On November 17th, we said goodbye GHM and made our right turn:
The first twenty-nine miles is called the “Divide Cut,” and a
lot like the Chain of Rocks Channel on the Mississippi River: narrow, no
stopping, no anchoring, and no mucking about.
We came upon a Ranger Tug 31 Command Bridge. Two feet longer than our RT 29 and with a second steering station on top (normally called a flybridge). Personally, a flybridge on a small boat with a relatively narrow beam (10’) is not by cup of tea: it must be very rocky steering from up there.
RT 31:
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After:
There were some kind of access doors above us on the lock, and as the water level went down, water streamed out and Hygge got a free shower (“no extra charge for the wash” was the Lockmaster’s comment):
More pictures in the locks:
Fika:
Sol Maria looking like her mast is back on (the following day):
The big question for the afternoon was how late would we go? As you know by now, Sol Maria will go all night! Gavin (Sol Maria) had hoped to get past the Fulton Lock and Dam, but there weren’t any good anchorages after it, and there was a nice one just before it (Fulton Recreational Area). After consulting with the lockmaster that we could get an early morning lock through, we anchored just short of it in a nice spot. Hygge and KatMat rafted off to Sol Maria and Fika anchored nearby and took the dinghy over.
Nancy made nice marinara sauce with zucchini, onions, mushrooms and two pounds of beef from Waseda Farms, a certified organic farm in Door County Wisconsin (they ship!) for the whole gang and others pitched in pasta and appetizers. Chris from Fika shared some of his “home brew” bourbon. (Confidential to my friend Matt Costigan: can you ship me some of yours, so I can have a taste off?).
The next morning, November 18th, we left the anchorage at 6:30 a.m. to get through the Fulton Lock. We had a nice sunny day and had a brief visit with fall colors again:
We made it through four locks that day and were reaching for
number five when Gavin relayed the news that there was a northbound tow coming through
soon (we were southbound) and we wouldn’t make the fifth lock for awhile, so we
all opted to pull into the marina at Columbus, MS. It was a narrow channel and we were grateful
for the assistance of the marina staff who guided us in via VHF radio.
KatMat and Hygge got fuel, and Matt volunteered Kathy to make Italian beef sandwiches for all of us, which meant a trip to Walmart. Nancy and I tagged along as we wanted to see some of Columbus’s historic Ante-bellum mansions. Unfortunately, the taxi took forever and the driving tour was in near-darkness, so we saw what we could and got dropped off at Walmart to meet up with Kathy, Sandra and Lica. (Like Corinth, a missed opportunity as far as sightseeing, but a trip like this has its compromises).
Kathy’s Italian beef sandwiches would give Buena Beef in Chicago a run for its money, and we went to bed with full stomachs for yet another early morning lock through (or so we thought).
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