60+ MPH winds, rain and MORE!

We survived the storm Tues night at a marina in Smithville, MS. As mentioned earlier, Jesse, the owner, perished in the tornado in April, 2011.  His son, Scott, is running the marina as a 2nd job and is trying to sell the place. We didn't get a price, but it might be a nice place for a younger man/woman wanting a 'fixer-upper'.

View from the shore. There was a real nice cat that made herself at home on our aft cabin deck...until it started raining, that is.

One of the tenants.

Here's where we rode out the storm.

A different view of the 'tenant'.



Here's a fixer-upper for Tommy!

The courtesy car in Smithville.

Back to Mel's Diner (from a previous post). Mel is a woman. She and her husband, Bobby, built the diner 15 years ago.  When the aforementioned tornado came through, Bobby called to warn the staff of the storm and told the waitress to get in the cooler. When she replied, there are 12 people here, he told her to get them in the cooler NOW. After the storm passed, the most of the diner was gone, except for the cooler and a kitchen wall. The cooler held 12 survivors.  Over the next several months, Mel and Bobby felt they had received many signs telling them to rebuild, so that's what they did. Bobby quit his other job to help run the diner full time. They are Godly people and run a very nice little place. And, Dave, you're right, they serve good 'comfort food'.

The back side of their menu. 

Most of Wednesday's journey was cold, cold, cold. We had to navigate through several miles of debris, which we attributed to the rains from the previous night. We faced a 15-25 mph headwind all day, which did nothing to assist our docking when we arrived for the evening in Columbus, MS. The marina, as well as the previous one, is located right above a lock. When we arrived at Columbus marina, the lock was spilling 3' of water, which created a significant draw current. Tim had both engines open full throttle, traveling at 8mph, and we were barely moving. Thankfully the 25+ winds were at our back! We needed gas, water and a pump-out, so when we arrived we docked at the gas dock. We got gas and decided to 'hunker-down' until the winds calmed down. After 30 minutes we decided to stay put, since there were electrical hook ups and it was steadily getting colder. Getting the heat turned on was our priority. As with every marina where we've stayed, there was a courtesy vehicle available for our use. We got a few more provisions, ate a fine supper at Huck's Place and settled in for a viewing of one the weirdest movies any of us had ever seen. 'From Dusk To Dawn'. Clooney, Tarantino... need I say more? 

Debris!

Due to Tuesday night's storm, the itinerary was adjusted somewhat.  As a result, Thursday's travel was only 28 miles.  This allowed us to depart later than normal.  A good thing since there was a freshwater line leak to repair.  Luckily there was a Lowe's within 5 miles. That courtesy car does come in handy! The boys got the repairs completed.  We vacuumed out about 20 gallons of water from the bilge, pumped out our holding tanks, and were underway about 11:00.  Although temperatures were in the low 50s, at least it was sunny, and SO much more pleasant than our first 2 days at sea.

Repairing water leak.

Replacing starboard engine spark plugs.

Columbus Marina. Our temporary home on the gas dock.

This little fella escorted us into the lock. He whined for attention the whole way. Once we were tied up he got a couple of wheat crackers.

Scrap metal being taken from a barge and loaded into semi trailers.

Cellphone coverage is spotty at best, but we never thought we would see a phone booth alongside the river in the middle of nowhere!!

We arrived at Pickensville, AL around 15:30.  The marina is definately a mom and pop operation, but they too had a courtesy vehicle for us to use.  The picture below is their little place.  After getting JULI-IV tied up for the night we took a little ride to see some of the sights and grab dinner at Down Yonder, recommended by the locals.

We are at top/left.

http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/montgomeryboat.html

Tom Bevill Lock and Dam Visitors Center.
http://www.alabamabirdingtrails.com/sites/tom-bevill-lock-and-dam-visitors-center/

The boys in the cupola.

Some of the local wildlife.



The automatic door closure. Gives  new meaning to the 'ole ball and chain'.



A view of the ceiling/wall at Down Yonder. Decorated one dollar bills.

Well, that's all for now.  We're going to try and travel 91 miles tomorrow.  The boys have been watching RoadRacers while I've been blogging. Another 'classic'.... See you soon. Take Care!

 

P.S. Rene-We miss you. Joe said the other day that we don't laugh as much without you aboard!

Just a quick update. After 'gently' rocking and rolling from 03:15-05:00, we survived the night. Thank you God. We have delayed our departure and are doing some laundry and eating breakfast at Mel's Diner. More about Mel's later. 'Alice Doesn't Work Here Anymore'..

Day 1 on the River (Tuesday, 29JAN13)

Yesterday was a day of maintenance and preparation. While Joe and Tim performed maintenance on the port engine, Beth swapped out the rug on the aft deck. We topped off the gas tanks and after a couple of trips to town, settled in for an early evening.  Found the KU/WVU game on ESPN and went to bed shortly thereafter.

We were underway at 6:51 this a.m.  About 1 mile after our departure a beautiful, bald eagle flew right in front of the boat from port to starboard (left to right). We decided it was our official Eagle 'christening'.  The majority of this trip involves traveling down the Tenn-Tom Waterway. The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway links commercial navigation from the nation’s midsection to the Gulf of Mexico. The major features of the waterway are 10 locks and dams, a 175-foot (53 m) deep cut between the Tombigbee River watershed and the Tennessee River watershed, and 234 miles (377 km) of navigation channels. The ten locks are 9 feet (2.7 m) x 110 feet (34 m) x 300 feet (91 m) the same dimension as the locks on the Mississippi. Under construction for twelve years by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway was completed in December 1984 at a total cost of nearly $2 billion. More dirt was moved to build the Tenn-Tom than was moved to build the Panama Canal.

A view of the Captain, in his Captain's hat, as we departed the marina this morning. It was shortly after this picture was taken that the Eagle flew by.



It's hard to see, but there are 4 very large pelicans flying across our path. We decided that they may actually be the same ones who departed our  hometown Lake Perry not too long ago.



When I took this picture, I told Joe that we would be lucky if it came out as pretty as it really was.  Not too bad!

A very heavy-duty crane alongside one of the four locks we went through today.

Our view from inside the first lock we went through today.  The 'drop' was 83 feet!

Looking straight up in the same lock.

These doors were in one of the locks, but we were not sure what for :)
 

Third Bosun ( The Bosun, sometimes known as the Leading Hand or Senior Deckhand) Joe at the helm.


Shortly after lunch today we became aware of impending severe weather, affecting a large portion of the U.S., including us. This is the current doppler radar as I'm typing this. We are securely tied to an open air dock and feel pretty sure that the boat and the dock will remain in one piece. Now, whether or not the two of us go floating/flying away is another question. We are about 1/2 mile away from the town of Smithville, MS where on April 26, 2011 an F5 tornado cut a 2.8 mile path through the town and killed the marina owner and many others. Prayers please!!!
Hopefully, we'll see you all tomorrow!!

 

We Have Arrived!

After a 03:30 wake-up, and a long day of travel by car, plane, and car again, we are safely aboard JULI-IV. We flew to Memphis and 'caught' a ride to the boat. A very nice gentleman, named Pete, picked us up in his Lincoln TownCar and delivered us (for a nominal fee, of course) to the marina. I have a picture of Pete and the boys.

We borrowed the Marina's courtesy car and made a run to the local Walmart for a few days worth of provisions. There are several installations, upgrades, and maintenance actions to perform tomorrow and we're hoping to get underway early Tues morning. It's about 50 degrees so we need to head SOUTH soon.  We originally thought we would take a side trip to New Orleans, but since we were delayed due to health reasons, etc. decided to forgo the stop there. Can you imagine? SuperBowl week in New Orleans! Would have been a hoot!! More to come........

One Week From Today.....

.....we will be back in MS preparing the boat for the next 'leg' of the river trip.  It should be fun....multiple locks on the Ten-Tom Waterway.... Gulf of Mexico crossing and, ultimately, the warm weather of FL!!  800+ miles in total! This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago just east of our house.  It has absolutely nothing to do with the river trip, other than it represents God's presence in our daily lives.  We are greatful for this as we continue our travels.

For those of you that don't already know, Tim had open heart surgery the day before Thanksgiving.  He is healing well and, I would say, is close to 100%.  Pictured below are 3 of the 4 rehabilitation specialists he had the pleasure of working with 3 days a week. From left to right, meet Sam, Linda and Ben.  Chris, not shown, also helped to get him back into shape.  





The guys have been busy packing and shipping boxes to MS, as we will be flying this time and luggage space is limited.  Joe bought some new technology (a Netbook) to take along so he can stay in touch with everyone a little easier.  The Captain gave us new required reading material and the remainder of our newest charts are coming this week.  We're all excited about the upcoming trip and are hoping to have many new and exciting adventures and pictures to share with you all.  Keep us all in your prayers!  See you back here soon :)

P.S. I asked the Captain if I might help with blogging duties, as he really is awfully busy once we're underway.  Maybe we'll get Joe to help too.  Well....maybe :)