Goose Pond to Midway via two anchorages

We plan to leave Goose Pond Marina about 7:30 and make one long day back to Riverwalk Marina at Decatur. It made a rather long day but we did go to Riverwalk Marina. We all took the same places in the marina we had occupied on the way up river. In the morning we made cinnamon rolls for everyone before we left for Joe Wheeler, two dozen rolls. We made good time with the RR bridge. It opened only a few minutes after we were all out in the river. The leaves were so much prettier than they were on the way up to Chattanooga! We all went back into our same slips when we arrived at Joe Wheeler. We arrived on Tuesday and we all ate in the restaurant together. On Wednesday we spent the day working on the boat. Muriel went to work cleaning on the flybridge and the sundeck. I changed oil in both engines and the generator. Then I opened the cooling system on the starboard engine. It has always run a little warmer than the port engine but recently it has started to heat up if I run the rpm up over 1800. I decided it was time to learn why.
I started by opening the heat exchanger for oil cooling because it is first downstream from the raw water pump. The inlet was full of rubber pieces of raw water impeller. More than one impeller. So I next opened the raw water pump and found the impeller with about half the vanes gone. When I got into replacing the impeller I decided to rebuild the pump and ordered parts from American Diesel for over night delivery. I went ahead and removed and dissembled both pumps and got them cleaned and ready to re-assemble as soon as I get the parts. On Thursday I started by installing the new stand for the radar so that it will see over the bimini top. This went fairly well except than one of the bolts I had intended to use was fine thread and the nut was coarse thread so I need to get one more bolt to complete that job. The next job was to wash the boat. I got most of this done before dinner on the dock with two other boats, Wandering L & M and C Life. The park usually receives FedEx shipments about six pm. My parts did not show up. If they do not get here until six pm tomorrow I may be here putting the pumps back together on Saturday when the other boats leave.
Well, the parts arrived Friday afternoon while we were in town. We managed to get a ride in a courtesy van from the Park so several of us, Muriel and I included, rode into town for one last hooray. Some, men and women, got hair cuts, Muriel and some others went to Fred’s Pharmacy, sort of a dollar store, and then went grocery shopping. I went to the hardware store and the auto parts store to pick-up some needed supplies. As soon as we returned to the Park our group of five boats gathered to discuss the possible stops and timing as we continue down the Ten-Tom Waterway. As soon as that was completed I got to work on reassembling the water pumps and getting them installed. Larry from Wanderin L&M helped and we got them done in quick order.
We were able to leave today with the rest of the group. We hated to leave Southern Comfort at Joe Wheeler. Hopefully they will catch up with us in the Ten-Tom. We got an early start to make 62 miles and two major locks today. All went very well, only minor waits at the locks. The second lock, the Wilson Lock, has a lift, or in our case today, a drop of 95 feet. It rises and falls very quickly compared to other locks and it is very impressive to be in the bottom of a lock which is 100 feet above you. The weather was sunny but cool and rather windy. We had winds to 35 miles per hour today but in the river it does not get too rough. We made the anchorage just in time to get anchored and get Carlie ashore loopers but also snow birds headed south for the winter. I hope the anchorages and the marinas are not too crowded on the way to Mobile.
We left the anchorage at the anchorage at 7:30 this morning and ran down the “ditch” part of the Ten-Tom. This is the part which the Corps of Engineers dug out to join the Tennessee River with the Tombigbee River. At one point it is 175 deep and 1300 feet wide. This is the cut through the ridge and not the water depth. The water is only 14 feet deep. This was the largest excavation project for a canal ever undertaken. They moved more dirt that was moved to create the Panama Canal. Along the way a bald eagle swooped around over us and then dived down to the water with talon extended as though to catch a fish but it never came all the way to the water. It was quite a show to see. We followed, not within sight, but a few miles ahead , a tow of barges and when we got to the downstream end of Bay Springs Lake he was waiting on the lock and the lock was down waiting on a “priority” tow to come up. We decided by the time all this got done it would be a push to run the narrow channel and two more locks below before dark so we pulled into a cove just above the dam at about noon and anchored to relax for the afternoon.
We got rafted up with the other four boats and got the dingy down to get Carlie ashore and do some exploring. There was a boat ramp and small park just to the north of us. We let Carlie have a run there and then went on to locate the Bay Springs Lock and Dam Visitor Center. We found it to the south of the cove where we were anchored. It is a beautiful facility which includes the administrative offices for this area of the Ten-Tom but it was closed on weekends. We felt like leaving a note questioning the wisdom of closing the center on weekends when most people have time to visit such a facility. Carlie enjoyed another good romp around the grounds at the center. In the morning when I got out to take Carlie ashore it was 32 degrees with frost on the dingy and the decks of the boat. When we got to going in the dingy Carlie sat on my lap and hid her face under my arm. She thought it was too cold to be out there.
We got underway shortly after 7:30 and our trip through the three locks went very smoothly. The locks were ready when we arrived and we went right through. We arrived at Midway Marina around noon and settled in. They have a courtesy van so several of us used it to run into town, Fulton, Ms., and get a hamburger for lunch. Later, after showers we drove into town again to the only restaurant open on Monday for Mexican food. On Tuesday one of the boats rented a 15 place van, which we will split among us, and we all went to Tupelo to visit the Auto Museum and the birthplace of Elvis. We had a large lunch and did our WalMart shopping then turned in the van.
It has started to rain and the forecast is for heavier rain tomorrow. If it rains as forecast we will probably stay put tomorrow. Guy and Peggy from Southern Comfort left Joe Wheeler the day after the rendezvous and drove home to Florida. They have returned to Southern Comfort and are now only a day behind us. It will be good to have them back. Blue Max is in the marina at Columbus, Ms., about two days ahead of us. They will wait there until we arrive.
Sorry there are no pictures with this post but our air card is so slow I will wait until we have wifi to get pictures on here.