Grand Rivers, KY to Demopolis, AL

Total Miles Traveled 436

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We were only at Green Turtle Bay for two weeks before heading south again, and it was a busy two weeks!  We rented a car, visited our family and friends in Indiana, completed all of our annual doctor and dentist appointments, and managed to take care of a few maintenance items before leaving.

We even had a chance to attend a Tom Petty Tribute Band concert from Nashville while staying at Indianapolis with family.

I dropped the anchor on the dock and ran out 216 feet of chain and marked it for 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, and 200 feet with red, white and blue paint.  This makes it easier to determine how much chain I am letting out when we anchor……..normally 100 ft.

Leaving Green Turtle Bay October 8^th.

Nice calm morning on Kentucky Lake.

Well, we only made it 13 miles to one of our favorite anchorages at Duncan Bay and stayed 4 days.  The weather was awesome, so we dropped the dinghy, explored the area, and caught up on a few more things on the to do list.

We bumped something a few times on the Ohio River during our Pittsburgh trip.  We didn’t see anything before or after a bump, and didn’t have any vibration, but I wanted to check the props and running gear to verify we didn’t have any unknow issues……everything checked good.  The surface water was 78 degrees, but 3 or 4 feet down it was a little chilly.

Our looper friends from Wisconsin that we met last year in Florida completed the loop this year and are going south again for the winter.  They caught up with us while anchored at Duncan Bay.  Rick and Christi on m/v Inked Mermaid.

Asian Carp are everywhere, we have seen them all through the Ohio River and into the lakes.

On October 12^th, we traveled 55 miles to an anchorage at Richland Creek, then on the 13^th we traveled 60 miles to an anchorage at Double Islands. 

On the way to our anchorage, we passed the Old Danville Grain Elevator.  It was built on the banks of the Tennessee River about 300 yards from the L&N Railroad in 1914.  The purpose of the building was to transfer barges of grain and other goods from the river to railcars above.  It contained 6 levels with the bottom three being open for boats carrying cargo to unload their goods from the river.  Two twenty-horsepower elevators carried cargo from the lower levels to trains docked at the fourth level.  It was in operation until the 1940’s when TVA began clearing out the area for the creation of Kentucky Lake.

Before Kentucky Lake

After

We departed our anchorage at Double Islands on October 14^th and traveled 67 miles through Pickwick Lock, to Aqua Yacht Harbor Marina located at the beginning of the Tenn-Tom Waterway.  We stayed here a couple of days catching up with Steve and Jan on m/v Forever Young, and Charlie and Robin on m/v The Lower Place 2.

Old friends and new friends at the Aqua Grill

We topped off our fuel tanks, pumped out, and departed the marina October 16^th and traveled 37 miles to an anchorage at Bay Springs.  This is a beautiful Lake with many isolated anchorages, we stayed at one of them for a week last year.  We anchored here with m/v Forever Young and will travel with them to Columbus, MS.

On October 17^th we traveled 40 miles and through 4 locks to an anchorage just before Wilkins Lock. Bay Springs elevation is 414 feet above sea level, the first lock is the Whitten Lock, an 84-foot drop……. from this point on, the remainder of the locks will drop us down to sea level at Mobile Bay.

We locked through the Fulton Lock with a Corp of Engineer working barge.  The lock master instructed me to tie off at the farthest bollard in the lock.  I found that when the doors would open, the front of our boat extended past the area of door opening.  I called the lock on the radio and he instructed me that he would notify us before opening the doors, and for me to untie and back up.

All lockage must be behind the yellow mark on the lock wall.

We had planned to weigh anchor at daybreak on October 18^th but mother nature had other plans for us.

After the fog lifted, we continued 50 miles through 4 locks and to another favorite anchorage at Columbus, MS.  This anchorage has a small dock that we can take the dinghy to for access to downtown.  We anchored here for three days and our friends on m/v Forever Young and m/v Trust Me joined us on the last day. 

Dinner with friends at Harvey’s in Columbus Mississippi, m/v Forever Young, m/v San Souci, and m/v Trust Me

October 21^st we traveled 55 miles to an anchorage at Cooks Bend, another friend of ours, Randy m/v Passages, caught up with us at one of the locks and traveled with us to our anchorage.  We all traveled 61 miles on the 22^nd to Demopolis, AL at the Kingfisher Bay Marina. 

Moni and I will stay here a few days for some maintenance and provisioning before continuing South.