Heading north

10/17/18 Anchored at MM177 behind Green Buoy line. 7ft+ at low River pool. About 35 miles south of Demopolis. traveled about 69 miles today. landscape beautiful Eagles galore. Weather cooling down. about 60 today

10/18/18 Thursday. Saw the waterfalls at Demopolis Dam. Beautiful. Came thru locks without problems. Docked at Kingfisher marina. Marina is very well kept. Clean Laundry. Courtesy car and shuttle bus to town. Will stay a few days here to see the town.

Hope to be bringing our new boat up from Mobile to Demopolis in about a month, after some work at Turner Marine on Dog River.

When you get to Columbus, we enjoyed visiting Tennessee Williams birthplace, and the Waverly Plantation. Also took a side trip to Aberdeen, MS via rental car and did the self guided home tour. Kathy would like it....

We stayed at the Columbus Marina and liked it, but that was in 2014. Safe travels, and have a great time!

10/19/18 when into Demopolis today. Had a wonderful lunch at SVH Bistro. Ex mayor Mike is chef and wife Judy runs to gift shop below the Bistro. Kingfisher Marina is 1st class. Dockmaster Anna Marie does a great job keeping the place spotless. Laundry, pool, and courtesy car and shuttle.

10/20/18 After a few days of rest we are heading out tomorrow am. Will post again once we have service again.

Sunday 10/21/18 Made it to MM287; just passed Howell Heflin Lock. Lockmaster came to boat while we were locking thru and knew more about Houma than I do. He worked for Cenac towing for many yrs.

Monday 10/22/18 Made it to Columbus, MS. Will stay and sight see for a few days.

Sounds like all is going very well, congrats, have fun!

10/23/18 Tuesday. Very interesting city of Columbus. A lot to do in such a small city. Several Good restaurants; Huck's is a "want to be a Cajun restaurant". Hard to fool a real Cajun. Beautiful houses from Civil war era. on the way to Picwick.


Berwick; thanks for the info on city.

10/24/18 Wednesday. Made it thru 4 locks today and docked at Midway marina in Fulton for the night.

10/24/18 Made it to Midway marina after going thru 4 locks. Temp in the low 60's

10/25/18 Stayed at Midway marina due to weather. Rained all day. Will try to head out in am.

10/26/18 Weather is very cloudy; rained off and on all day. Temp about 55 degrees. Went thru 3 locks today; the last one, Whitten is the ninth highest single lift lock in US. It was huge. 85ft. Took about 40 minutes to pass thru. Made it to Aqua Yacht Harbor Marina late this afternoon. Hopefully sun will shine tomorrow.

Be sure to take a side trip to the Shiloh Battlefield when you get to Pickwick Lake. It is a very moving experience. We stayed at Grand Harbor Marina and used their courtesy van. They also had a cd for a car tour of the battlefield that was very helpful. Hope the weather clears. There is not a more scenic trip than the Tennessee River to Chattanooga! Safe travels.

10/28/18 Made it to Picwik Friday evening. What a very large and busy place! What a great River Community. We are not going to make it to Chattanooga because of the late start with mechanical issues. We have grandchildren commitments we must keep. We did complete the 450 miles of Black Warrior and Tombigbee waterways. Also did the 3 state junction in the Tennessee river. Great trip, beautiful scenery. Now heading back to Cajun country.

PS: When Berwick retires from law practice he will make a great tour guide! Thanks for the info, Berwick.

You are welcome! We are on the boat at Longboat Key and it finally is cool enough to open up the boat. Have a safe trip home.

11/1/18 BACK AT HOME BUT WITHOUT LUNASEA we hit a submerged log on the way out and bent a prop. I am number 8 to be hauled out, after I am out 10 days turn around for props to be worked. Tuesday the Aqua Harbor repair shop brought 6 sets of props to be repaired. I asked if this was normal and they said not this many but the water level is about a foot to a foot and a half lower than normal and many more logs than normal. Car rentals is at a premium in Pickwick everyone leaving their boats there for repair and going home for the holidays. I am sure there will be a mad rush back after Thanksgiving.
I have learned to have much admiration for loopers. More on that later

Update?

Sorry about not finishing, still working on LUNASEA. While at Pickwick repairing props I was told of other problems on LUNASEA that was found. Wood on struts,rudders and other places was in very bad shape and leaking, a few thru hulls were in bad shape and could use attention as well as little other odds and ends.
After getting home we had a family talk and we are we going to keep LUNASEA. We really do like the boat's floor plan and the children and grandchildren also want to enjoy LUNASEA.

We put LUNASEA on the hard at Bert's in Madisonville on Jan 5. Hired Keith Cox, a local fiberglass guy, to put LUNASEA back into A1 shape. We have removed all wood from the rudders, struts, removed all thru hulls. Have replaced all wood that came out with marine plywood laminated in fiberglass, replaced all new thru hulls and ball value , all new hoses and replaced all sea strainer gaskets with new ones. Going to put a new coat of anti fouling and SPLASH. Looking to put a bow thruster, but was told this boat does not have enough keel to put one. If the weather straightens out hope to be back in the water Feb 1 in time for Mardi Gras.

Get your prop specs and start looking for spares. I keep one in the lazarette, (single screw) that has slightly more pitch. It is clean, balanced, and ready to go. I got $250 in it. I change props every time we pull the boat.

Hey hey...I saw your boat at Bert’s the other day. Are you guys in town? We need to go to dinner and get caught up!