Thursday - October 21, 2010

lat 34 34 54 long 086 33 61; fuel 129 gal; eng 477.39

We left Ditto Marina around 7:30 this morning. It was a cool but clear morning and once we got out on the river there was some fog. At first it was a little scary since it was difficult to see the marker buoys, but slowing down and using radar helped that. As soon as the sun got a little higher the fog disappeared. The trip down the river was quiet until I ran into some guys in a boat who had laid traps across 3/4 of the river. They had their little marker buoys everywhere. It was lucky I woke up quickly enough to see what they were doing. I avoided them all by going to the port and close to the shore and then radioed behind to warn others of the the traps.

We went through 2 locks today and Brenda and I are still perfecting our locking techniques - better than it used to be but still needs work. The last lock we did was an 85 foot drop, but I think going up is far worse than going down. The surge of water when going up really throws the boat around. Going down the boat seems to just stay still.

Got to Florence around 4 and who is yelling at the dock as we pull in but Q's End. They were staying in Florence before they went on to Joe Wheeler. We met with a few people for drinks at 5:30 and met a few new people including a couple from Ottawa. Unfortunately, I did not get their card. Anyways we will all get together at Joe Wheeler.