Chattanooga, TN to Jackson, AL

Total Miles Traveled 1043

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After departing Chattanooga, and anchoring for a few days, we stopped at Decatur Alabama at the Ingalls Harbor city dock.  The harbor has two long floating piers to tie to, and the city provides them free of charge.  Before reaching the harbor, we were stopped by a passing train.  It reminded us of our hometown in Indiana, very seldom could we cross town without being delayed by a passing train.

Our last anchorage before Decatur.

Our friends Steve and Libby were traveling through the area by car on the way to their boat (m/v San Souci) at Columbus Mississippi and stopped by to pay us a visit.  They had a rental car with their luggage, but all six of us managed to squeeze in for a short ride to a downtown restaurant.

On October 4^th, we traveled to the marina at Florence, Alabama to visit some of the attractions in the area.  This is a great marina with floating docks, a good restaurant, and a courtesy car. 

The Rattlesnake Saloon is located across the river near Muscle Shoals Alabama.  The Seven Springs Lodge is located here also which offers a campground, horseback riding, hiking trails, and a cool under the rocks saloon.  

After arriving at the parking lot, a pickup truck picks us up and takes us down a winding dirt road to the saloon.

We had to swing by the Coon Dog Cemetery, where more than 185 coon dogs are laid to rest.  Only registered coon dogs are permitted.

Fields of cotton......

Our last stop was Muscle Shoals, home of the Muscle Shoals Sound where world class artists such as Paul Simon, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rolling stones, Bob Seger, and many more have recorded here.  The Muscle Shoals Documentary video on Prime and other streaming services is very interesting.

We departed Florence on October 7^th and traveled 38 miles to an anchorage at Panther Creek on Pickwick Lake.  

A great advantage of anchoring with Steve and Jan is their onboard smoker......awesome!

As we were rafting up, the bow thruster on Forever Young made a strange noise, then failed to move the boat.  This is a big deal as the boat has a single engine and we have several locks ahead of us.  Steve braved the 70-degree water to investigate the problem. 

Steve found the propeller was free wheeling indicating a sheared pin, or the propeller itself, requiring a haul out and repair at Safe Harbor Aqua marina, about 6 miles from our anchorage.  Moni and I decided to take advantage of the awesome weather and anchored at Zippy Branch for a few days before joining several of our friends at the marina on October 13^th.  During our 4-day anchorage we discovered one of our battery banks was not holding the charge that is should, so we ordered new batteries to be delivered at the marina.

Boston Butt from the smoker!

After all our repairs were made, and visiting with our boating friends at Aqua, we traveled 37 miles on October 18^th to an anchorage at Bay Springs, an awesome body of water just before the first lock on the Tenn-Tom waterway.  This is one of our favorite places to anchor, clean water, abundant wildlife, and several secluded protected anchorages.  We saw eagles, a beaver, and a flock of turkeys flew in front of the dingy while we were exploring the area.

The girls had fun with a little beach art, this guy looks really stoned.

All sorts of critter tracks.

On October 22^nd we traveled 39 miles and through 4 locks on the Tenn-Tom waterway, anchoring near the Wilkens Lock and Dam. 

Sunrise preparing to enter the Wilkens Lock.

We passed through an additional 3 locks on October 23^rd arriving at the Columbus Mississippi marina.  Our friends Steve and Libby (m/v San Souci), and Sonny and Phyllis (m/v Corkscrew), are both here so we had a great visit and an evening dinner at a local restaurant.

We departed the marina on October 25^th, passed through 2 locks, and anchored at Cooks Bend, then on the 26^th we continued through another lock to an anchorage at Rattlesnake Bend near Demopolis, Alabama.  This is another great anchorage and during a full moon!

Traveling down the Tenn-Tom waterway past the white cliffs of Epes.  The white cliffs of Epes are part of the Selma Group, a geological formation in North America.  Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the Selma Group.

Do you think they have a clue how close it is to Thanksgiving?

We stopped at Kingfisher Bay marina at Demopolis Alabama for one day to get supplies before heading south, Demopolis is the last place to provision until Mobile Alabama, over 200 miles away.  

Steve pulling his cart full of goodies to the boat with his electric bike.

After passing though the Demopolis Lock on October 29^th, we anchored at Bashi Creek traveling 71 miles.

We were surprised to encounter a section of fog about an hour after exiting the lock.  A good test for the fog horn, navigation lights, AIS (automatic identification system), and radar.

Fortunately we did not meet any tows and it only lasted a mile or two.......but that was more than enough. 

Just before arriving at our anchorage at Bashi Creek, I spotted this big guy sunning himself.  Bashi Creek is very narrow and remote, I don't think we'll do any exploring during our stay.

Bashi Creek

We were delayed by fog again on the morning of the 30^th, then when we arrived at our last lock at Coffeeville Alabama, we were delayed by tow traffic.  We were unable to travel the distance to our planned anchorage, so we anchored on the river near Jackson Alabama, traveling 50 miles.  

We have passed this vertical pipe coming out of the river with a good flow of water since 2015 and have know idea where it comes from.  There isn't any buildings or roads that we can see anywhere for miles?  Things that make you say huh?

A cold front is passing through with 15-20 mph winds, so we have decided to stay at this anchorage for another day.

We weighed anchor November 1st and traveled 60 miles to an anchorage about 40 miles from Mobile Bay.  The winds are still a little stiff for crossing Mobile Bay, so we'll anchor again tomorrow before crossing the bay on November 3rd.

An Alabama state trooper boat passed us this morning, and as we rounded a bend a few miles down river we came across this grounded trawler.

We assume he anchored overnight with water around the boat, but after leaving Coffeeville Lock we are now in tidal waters.  On top of that, we have almost a full moon, and the wind has been blowing out of the north for 3 days pulling water out of Mobile Bay.  He is hard aground so I'm not sure when he'll have enough water to float away.