Pickwick to Demopolis

Tenn-Tom Waterway

The Tenn Waterway connects the Tombigbee with the Tennessee River.

The Army Corps of Engineers started building the canal in 1972. More dirt was moved digging out the Tenn-Tom than the Panama Canal. The Tenn-Tom opened in 1985 at a cost of 2 billion dollars.

The Tenn-Tom is 234 miles from Tennessee River to Demopolis.  From Demopolis to Mobile and the Gulf is a further 217 miles. That part of the waterway is called Black Warrior- Tombigbee waterway.  It is downhill all the way, no more fighting currents and crawling upriver at a mind numbing 5 mph.

October 09, 2012

We left Pickwick and headed into the “Divide Cut”, a narrow canal that opens up into Bay Springs Lake after about 30 miles.

We have gone from Tennessee to Mississippi. The evenings and mornings have been very cool, sometimes even cold, but the days warmed up nicely.

We anchored in a part of the lake called “Five Fingers Lake” 

Fall colours - Five Fingers Lake

Reflections of Fall

Our anchor marker bouy - not a ripple in the water

 

 

October, 09 2012

A day late, but we decided to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with our Canadian friends on SV Flying Free. We had turkey, Jo’s home-made stuffing and all the fixings. We even had pie, trifle and ice-cream for desert.

Doing dishes

Thanksgiving dinner

Jessie looks like she's had too much to drink

 

In a moment of inspiration I thought it would be fitting to have a centre piece of Maple leaves to adorn the table. Gary and I headed to shore in the dingy. We had spotted a Maple tree in beautiful fall colours that would be perfect. As we stepped ashore I felt a little sting but so excited to get to the leaves, I didn’t even give it a thought. About.0001 of a second later, I felt another sting and I looked at my feet, they were covered with ANTS!!!!! The little buggers were biting me!!!! I jumped into the muddy waters to wash them off just as Gary stared to feel them too. We were out of there in less than a minute but we both were bitten quite badly.

Fire Ant bites (hurt like heck!)

...then they got all yukky and nasty

 

Thanksgiving dinner went off without a further hitch and we enjoyed the rest of the evening surrounded by the gorgeous sunset and scenery. We have a lot to be thankful for, including learning a hard lesson about Southern ants!!

One can never have too many sunrise or sunset pictures

October 10, 2012

The waterway has 12 locks to go through on the way to the Gulf. We passed through 4 and decided to call it a day just before Wilkins Lock. We anchored in the little bay just to the left of the lock as you head South. We put the bikes on the dingy and headed to shore to ride into Smithville.

On the way there, Gary asked a local guy for directions. He told us that a Category 5 tornado had touched down in Smithville last April. Several buildings were destroyed and 16 people were killed. One of the buildings destroyed was the local grocery store. He continued to give us directions to the Piggly Wiggly but we only found a Dollar General. The guy must have realised his error because he came looking for us to say the Piggly Wiggly is gone too. So the ½ mile ride to the grocery store actually turned out to be a 2.5 mile trek to the Dollar General.

Destructive force of tornado winds

 

October 11, 2012

We made our way to an anchorage at the old Waverly Plantation, near Columbus Mississippi. We anchored in a cove and walked to the mansion. It was late in the day and no one in our party felt like paying a total amount of $50 to view the obviously run down building and property. The gardens were in disarray and dishevelled. I approached a staff member (a young man glaring at me with his arms crossed) and asked  if he would allow me to take a picture, at least, of the outside of the building. He pointed his finger to the gate and shoo-ed me off the property like a dog. I was very humiliated and taken aback by his aggression. With a bad taste in my mouth I walked away, unable to believe that I was treated in such a way. So much for the Southern hospitality!!

FORTUNATELY it didn’t take long for my faith to be restored as we met George and Charlie, self-appointed caretakers of the Waverly camping and recreational area. The two lovely Southern gentlemen were more than willing to share some information about the area. George gave us directions to a trail and an old slave burial ground. We didn’t find the latter but it is was nice to get out for a walk. We saw a dead armadillo in the road and when I asked George told us there were “beucoup” armadillos around.

George, Gary, Charlie

Waverly Rec Area

Big ole Pine tree

 

Although I was shaken up by my experience with the unfriendly staff at the Waverly mansion, I decided that there were more Antebellum houses i n the south and that I would get my picture sometime.

Back at the anchorage we noticed a couple of guys in a fishing boat heading out. I asked them what they were fishing for was surprised to hear they were heading out to go and go some geocaching. Very cool!!

Here are someof the strange things we have seen while travelling down this waterway:

A freezer.

A freezer in the middle of some bush in the middle of a river.......I wonder if there is a body hidden in there....?

A Volleyball net?

Volleyball or fishing net? I don't really know....

A phonebooth.

Yep, a phone booth

 

October 12, 2012

We continued on down the river. Our path was litter with hyacinth water plants. Looking ahead at the channel, it sometimes resembled a lawn rather than a river.

We had to take the boat through all of that stuff.

This is the middle of a channel, full of weeds



Pretty flower of the water plant

We slowly made our way out of Mississippi and into Alabama. We stopped at the Pickensville recreational area. We took the dingy and motored to the visitors centre at Tom Bevill Lock. We toured the US Snagboat Montgomery and the antebellum style house in which the visitor’s centre is located.

In the wheelhouse of the snagboat US Montgommery



Paddle wheel driven by coal fired steam engines

Stairway of a typical Antebellum type house
( You can't help yourself, all of a sudden you talk just like Scarlett O'Hara, and I
am not unique in this, Nancy on SV Kathryn said she did the same thing)





US Montgommery



A picture of Waverly mansion.
 After I was not allowed to take
a photo of it without paying , I just took a this picture of a painting of the house.



The Antebellum style house. This is a replica built in 1985
and now serves as a visitor centre.

 

We ended our day celebrating Henning’s birthday with Mai Tais and hotdogs on the BBQ.

Yet, another perfect sunset.
SV Flying Fee (http://mortensensflyingfree.wordpress.com/ at anchor with us in Pickensville

 

October 13-15, 2012

Spanish Moss

Wild turkeys on shore

Gary found this little stow-away while washing the boat. We set it free on some
of the water plants that are everywhere in the water. Such a cute little guy, we have no
idea where or when he came aboard.
( He is the size of my thumb nail)



The white cliffs of Epes. Similar to the ones in Dover England

It is chalk that makes the cliffs white

Spanish moss

This is a very cool tree. Neither Gary or I have ever seen one.
It is a Crepe Myrtle tree, the bark is white and very smooth.

 

After stopping at Sumptner Rec Area for the evening , Gary decided to check out why the auto pilot has been giving us problems. Sure enough, he found the motor/pump is toast. So we decided to head out the next morning to Demopolis to find internet and ato try and track down the part. Time &Tide is also due for an oil change, it has been 258 since we did the last oil change in Government Bay up in northern Lake Huron.

We arrived in Demopolis, which is a major refueling stop for the big tows.  Gary and I were lucky to get a tour of the huge boat. Gary was impressed by the big motors and generators. I was impressed by the young pilot who is in charge of the boat. He looked about 14 years old. We spoke to him and asked many questions…he is very knowledgeable.

Then we spotted our pal Steve from SV Kathryn. It was nice to catch up with everyone again, and of course indulge in Steve’s amazing margaritas!!

We are spending a day in Demopolis to stock up on food and of course take care of some maintenance. It seems there are always things that need to be done.

When we leave here we will be heading down the Black Warrior River section of this waterway. I am told I have not seen “remote” yet as this part of the trip will be the most remote part so far. We should also start to feel the effects of tides and that is a whole new experience for us.

Being so remote it means no internet and no blog postings till we get down to Mobile Bay in Alabama, which is about 250 miles from here.

I promise to post something as soon as I can.

To be continued…………