Carrollton, AL – Demopolis, AL - October 28, 2008

It was 91 miles and 2 locks to the next marina (in Demopolis) and we, along with Ebb Tide discussed getting a very early start in hopes of getting there today rather than anchoring. We don’t mind anchoring, but it was going to be quite cold tonight and, if we don’t have shore power, we don’t have heat.

We set the alarm at 6 and hoped the lock ¼ mile away was available. When we called the lock we found they had just locked up a northbound tow and had a southbound waiting to go. There went our chance of reaching the marina today.

However, a little later we found out that the northbound encountered some problems and was crossways in the channel. The southbound tow couldn’t get to the lock until the northbound got straightened out.

We had our radios on and when the lockmaster called to say we could lockdown now, we immediately left the marina. We were through the lock at 7:20. Not as early as we had hoped, but not as late as it could have been.

It was very cold and, for the first time this trip we were going to pilot from the salon, which was warmer than the flybridge. It is unusually cold here, about 20 degrees below normal. Beth has been wearing her scarf!

About 10 we went back up to the flybridge. It actually became warmer up there with the sun shining through the clear plastic of our enclosure.

We called the 2nd lock when we were about ½ hour away to check on availability. They had just locked down, but would turn it around and it would be ready for us when we got there. YES! We got out of the lock at 12:05, with 50 miles to go. We were now committed to getting to the marina, because there was no other place to spend the night, not even an anchorage.

We passed the halfway point between the Tennessee River and downtown Mobile. The rest of the trip should go more quickly because we have already gone through 10 of the 12 locks.

This is Ebb Tide, the boat we had been traveling with for a couple of days. A 25’, very small.

We passed the white cliffs of Epes. They are very pretty.

We arrived at Demopolis Marina at 5:45. There were no slips available, so we had to raft up to another boat, but we are here. A long day, 89.4 miles in 11 hours.

The final 216 miles of the Tenn-Tom have no marinas and we will be anchoring out every night. It is unlikely we will be able to post to our blog until we reach Mobile.

2 locks – total 105