Demopolis, Alabama to Green Turtle Bay, Kentucky (Part 1)

 In my last entry I wrote about our time in Demopolis, Alabama. We worked very hard in the boatyard to get the boat in shape for the next leg of our journey. We ended up staying at Kingfisher Bay Marina for a total of three weeks. The good news is that the boat was now looking great, and we had solved two major problems. The bad news is that it was now late June, and it was getting very hot. This leg of the trip was almost all motoring up the Tombigbee River to the Tennessee River and then down the Tennessee to Kentucky Lake. It would be a total of 419 statute miles (SM) or 364 nautical miles (NM). We have air conditioning in the boat, but we really need to be plugged in to shore power to use it. The boat gets hot during the day with the motor running. The big question in our minds was, could we handle it?

Our plan was to rent a car in Demopolis on June 20th and drive both it and the truck the 6 hours up to Green Turtle Bay.  Then we would both get in the rent car and share the driving on the same 6-hour trip back. Just to make things complicated when I went out to start the truck, it wouldn't start! AARGH! I messed around with the problem sensor, and it finally started, but I told Kim not to shut it off until she was at GTB in Kentucky. She dropped me off at the rent car place and headed north. It took about a half hour to get my car. The good news is that we both had an uneventful trip up and just as I was pulling off of I-24 about 5 miles from the marina, Kim was 10 cars in front of me. We arrived at exactly the same time. We rented our slip that would become our new home and got on the road back south. We arrived at Kingfisher Bay Marina in Demopolis at 11 pm. I was a bit tired, but very happy to have that part of the plan completed. 

We said our goodbyes around the marina and were ready to depart on Saturday, June 22nd. As usual, we were up before sunrise and headed out in the river to begin the trip. The first thing I had to do was make sure that our prop shaft stuffing box, which I repacked while we were in the yard, was properly adjusted. I had to adjust it many times on that first day, but it is now working perfectly. We had beautiful conditions on that first day with beautiful calm water and almost no current against us. The first thing I noticed was that the boat was now effortlessly moving through the water. We were moving at over 6 knots. That is almost a 2 knot increase from the portion before we cleaned and repainted the hull. We made it 52.4 nm that first day in a little over 9 hours and that included going through our first lock. The lock passage went perfectly and only cost us about a half hour. 

You can see we are going 5.9 knots on the very calm water. It felt great to be moving that quickly.

Here we are moving along in the still water. There was almost no development in this part of the river. It was very beautiful with plenty of wildlife.

At a point that the river took a sharp bend you could see the white rock bluffs. Who knew they have white rock bluffs in Alabama?

We had a beautiful sunset on that first night. 

The very calm conditions and temps falling into the low 70's made it a very nice night on the river.

This is sunrise the following morning.

Calm conditions always make me happy. 

The following day was a bit different. We still had very calm conditions, but the heat was starting to build. The good news is there was no storms in the short term forecast, but it was getting into the upper 90's. We had two locks to go through on that second day both went quickly with no waiting. Each of the locks were about 30 feet, so we had now gained about 100 feet in elevation since leaving Demopolis. Kim and I were now in a routine of each driving for about 2 hours and then switching. I would hate to try to do this trip alone. After exiting the second lock we were just 2 miles to the anchorage we had chosen for the night. It was still early enough that I was looking to go a bit further. It was hot and it felt better if we were moving. Just then, I noticed that the engine temperature was rising. I checked the water outlet for the engine, and it was not pushing as much water as it should have. We decided to slow down and get to that first anchorage. The engine never got over 180 degrees, so no problem, but I had to open up the hose clamps for the inlet water and blow a clog back out the inlet. After testing I determined all was good. I guessed the clog happened while we were in the lock chamber. As the water rises, there is a lot of debris in the very turbulent water. I had been leaving the engine running, and I guessed that it sucked up some debris. We decided then to shut the motor off to make sure that does not happen again. Most of the time debris in the water stays on the surface. The water inlet is well below the surface, so I am guessing that in this situation the water inlet could get debris caught up in the hose reducing water flow. 

The second night we were anchored in a much tighter area. We still had very calm conditions, but not as much swing room.

We decided to put out a stern anchor to keep us from drifting into the trees.

It was significantly hotter that second night and although our fans helped, it was a bit uncomfortable. 

The third day we had 4 locks to go through. Each one takes about a half hour if it goes perfectly. The good news is that there was very little traffic on the river on this Monday and we went through the first three without too much of a delay. The fourth one had a tow boat approaching from the north. They have precedent and we had to wait almost an hour. Then when we got in the lock another boat was trying to make the lock, we waited another 20 minutes for them. We had planned to stop just north of that 4th lock at Midway marina for the night. I wanted to get fuel to see how much we were burning and plugging in and having air conditioning really sounded great. 

Here is a sequence of shots as we go through a 30-foot lock. You can see the water line up at the top. We pull in when they give us the go ahead and get tied up to a floating bollard. Then the downstream doors close.

In this shot you can see the upstream doors and the control room where the lock operator works from. We talk to him on the radio throughout the process. All have been very friendly and professional.

We both must wear lifejackets. The silver thing is the floating bollard.

The wall is about as tall as our mast.

As the lock fills, the water becomes turbulent. Kim has developed this technique to keep our fenders off the very nasty wall.

Getting close to the top.

Kim also puts a fender on the bow to protect the bow pulpit.

Here we are at the top. In a minute the gate will open, and a horn will sound telling us we may untie and depart. 

We pulled into Midway Marina, which is due east of Tupelo, Mississippi, and got tied up. I was shocked that we only took on 18 gallons of fuel. We had traveled 157 nm and run the motor for about 30 hours. The boat was moving through the water so much better than before, and the fuel mileage was dramatically better. It was really hot, and I really appreciated the air conditioning that evening.

We had now made it 3 days further up the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway than we ever had before. We still had 4 days of travel in front of us to reach Green Turtle Bay in Kentucky, but it felt good to get this far. The boat was running great, and we were very happy with the results of our hard labor. In my next entry I will complete this story of our trip to Kentucky.