ssloop: Wheeler Lake to Demopolis

The good, the bad, the ugly.....

The mass exodus from the Rendezvous began Friday at 8:00am. We along with 19 other Looper boats traveled one mile to the Wheeler Lock. We all pulled into our predetermined spots in the lock (half tied to bollards and half tied off to those tied to the bollards). All went very smooth. (THE GOOD)

Our second lock was 15 miles down river. As we approched the lock the wind kicked up considerably.

The wind played havoc with all of the boats and captains once in the lock. As we were struggling to get the Pura Vida into position, one of the other boats came spiraling past us and back out of the lock for a second attempt. (THE BAD) Mutiple attempts and much shuffling occurred before all boats were secure. We ended up with two boats rafted off us. We heard a loud crunch as one boat hit his bow on the lock wall. (THE UGLY) After this lock, 8 boats stopped at Florence and the rest carried on. As the day went on, the group dispersed as we all traveled at different speeds with different destinations.

Late in the day we turned off the Tennessee River onto the Tenn-Tom Waterway where we anchored in a cove for the night.

Saturday morning we had some troubles lifting our anchor. A boat of fishermen gave us local knowledge of a rock ledge our anchor may be hooked under. After maneuvering the boat to pull on the anchor in multiple directions, she popped loose. (Our other option would have been to cut the anchor line and leave the anchor and forty feet of chain on the bottom of the river.) We thanked the fishermen and wished them a good day of fishing. Our home for the evening was Midway Marina where we took the courtesy van to town for dinner and provisions. (This is a college town but also a dry county - try threatening your kids with that!)

Sunday was another beautiful, sunny, warm day. (Mid 70s) We passed through four locks before dropping anchor for the night. Shortly after our anchor was set, a sailboat named Eclipse from Minnesota pulled in and shared our anchorage with us. We invited the couple over and had fun sharing stories of our adventures so far.

After a relaxing morning, we cruised nine miles to the marina in Columbus, Mississippi. Our friends, Randy and Sherri Chester on Priorities from Port Sheldon, Michigan were there to welcome us!

Randy and Sherri completed the loop last summer and are headed south again with no long term itinerary as they are "live aboards". By evening there were roughly 19 looper boats at the Marina.

Only about half of these had attended the Rendezvous so once again we are meeting new friends and catching up with other we met earlier. We grilled out on the deck of Perfect Balance with owners Jim and MiMi along with the Chesters.

Tuesday was another gorgeous travel day. Most of the river is lined with trees. Miles and miles of trees.

There are a few houses along the waterway, but that's about it. Traffic is light with only a tow with barges or fishermen now and then. By 5pm we pulled into the Sumpter Recreation Area to drop the hook for the evening. The sailboat Eclipse was already there so we shared an anchorage once again.

We pulled anchor by 6:45am and traveled three miles with Eclipse to our one and only lock for the day.

We separated ways after the lock as Eclipse travels at roughly 5mph and we travel around 10 mph.

Our destination today is Demopolis Yacht Basin where we will stay a couple days. Demopolis, Alabama is the last town for supplies and fuel before Mobile which is 215 miles downstream.