Rogersville, AL – Zippy Branch, TN, October 24, 2008

Just as forecasted, there was rain this morning when we got up. It was also cold. We could see our breath when outside. However, after calling the lock and finding it was open, we left the harbor at 7. According to the forecast of last night, we should be running out of the rain sometime late morning or early afternoon. Beth wore long underwear, jeans, turtleneck, jacket and full raingear.

We arrived at our first lock at 7:30 and waited for 2 other boats that had also left today. They arrived about ½ hour after us and we got through the lock about 8:30.

When locking, we have usually been able to tie up on the starboard side. The door to the salon is there and, since you must always attend your line when you are locking, if there is bad weather you can just slip inside, stay dry and still watch the line. Today the lockmaster said to tie up to port so, not only did Beth have to move all the bumpers and lines in the rain, she had to stand outside all the while. Even in full rain gear she got drenched. She is sure the lockmaster took his time and lowered the water slower than usual. It must be noted that Darrell volunteered to stand in the rain while locking through but Beth insisted on handling the lock line.

The three boats stayed together and reached the 2nd lock about 10. This was a drop of nearly 100 feet. We also tied on port but fortunately it stopped raining while we were locking. It started up again just as we left. Since there were only 2 locks today, there was no need to travel together after the 2nd lock. One boat passed us and traveled faster than us and one boat wanted to run slower and fell behind.

The rain stopped around 11, just as was forecast. It eventually cleared and became a beautiful day.

We reached the mouth of the Tenn-Tom Waterway at 3:30. We had decided to anchor tonight, about 1 mile in. We were in and set for the night at 3:45.

2 locks – total 95