Monday - October 11, 2010

Lat 034 47 17, Long 087 40 44; Fuel 121 gallons eng 432.42

Left Florence this morning in a bit of a rush. It was learned that the Wilson Lock (named after Woodrow Wilson the 28th president of the US) could open for us in a half an hour. So ourselves and two other Loopers left the the dock to get out and make the lock. When we arrived we still had to wait a bit of time. I think the lockmaster tried to make us hurry so that there would be no waiting time to load. I could see on my AIS that there was a tow going upstream when we pulled out so that meant there would be a fill and an empty of the tub before we could enter and that takes time. Once we got in the locking through was uneventful. We learned a bit from the last lock through. Wilson Dam is 137 feet high and 4541 feet long and as a result there is quite a lift in the lock.

Wilson Lake is pretty with a lot of big homes located on it. Apparently it is the one lake that the Tennessee Valley Authority did not acquire all the surrounding land and as a result it was developed. There several anchorages along the lake but we decided to press on and get through Joe Wheeler Lock as the Wilson Lake is only 15 miles long.

We arrived at Joe Wheeler Lock which is only 72 feet high. Wheeler was a general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, fought a large number of battles in the Civil War and the Spanish-American War and ended up in Congress.

After exiting the lock we passed by Joe Wheeler Park where the rendezvous will take place and went on to Bay Hill marina where we filled up on fuel and got a pump-out. It is nice little marina but I scrapped the bottom of the boat when turning around to get into our slip. Apparently, the water levels are being lowered and the marina is not as deep as it should be. I likely will dive under the boat in the next couple of days to see how much damage to the keel and probably get it repaired along with fresh bottom paint at Dog River Marina in Mobile which has an excellent reputation among Loopers.

There are several people who have done or are doing the Loop at this Marina and we joined them for drinks at 6:30. Learned a few good points from our talk based on their experiences.