Hello from Columbus, MS

It's been two long days of cruising, but we are in Columbus, MS. Sunday morning, we left Grand Harbor for Midway Marina. It was 46 miles and three locks. The first lock was 80 ft, and the next two 30 ft each. At the last lock we were joined by Spirit Dancer. We last saw them at Joe Wheeler State Park. We met some new boats at the dock, one of which (Liv EZ) just started the loop in Chattanooga.

Next morning, we all pulled out bright and early (6:30) with 60 miles and four locks to get to Columbus. We knew that The Cooper was still at the Columbus Marina and looked forward to seeing Rusty and Betty again. When we arrived at the marina, we saw lots of old friends from along the way. Godspeed was here, and had just crossed her wake (finished the loop). With so many loopers in one place, we did exactly what you would expect and had a dock party! Bob from Spirit Dancer even found some zydeco music in honor of Godspeed - they are originally from Louisiana. Sorry that there are no photos. With the time change, it was dark early.

After the dock party, we had a nice quiet dinner with Rusty and Betty. It was good to catch up with them - we had not seen them since Green Turtle Bay when we left for Chattanooga and Knoxville. We decided to stay in Columbus Tuesday and do some shopping and go to dinner.

The scenery along the way has been varied. Part of the route was through a "ditch" with rip-rap (rocks) on both sides. It wasn't totally boring - there were some beautiful trees and lots of birds. I was working on a knitting project, but would jump up every now and then to take a picture. When we came out of the "ditch" part, we were in a sort of cypress lake/swamp. It was beautiful in its own way. The merganser ducks tend to dive before I get close enough for a photo, but we have seen lots of them. We have seen some eagles, and of course lots of coots.

After we re-charge our batteries today, we will head out tomorrow for an anchorage. The days of traveling will be pretty long because there aren't many marinas. If all goes as planned, we should be at Mobile Bay some time next week. Internet will be sporadic, so I'll post as I can!

The first lock - 80 ft drop

Leaving the lock

Lots of dead trees along the shores

Slipping a lot of water below the lock

The "ditch" does have its own beauty

There are still fishermen along the way

We have seen cranes everywhere along our trip

Can you see the coots? They "run" away when we get too close.

We did pass a few residential areas

Midway Marina

Sunset at the marina

And sunrise, looking out on the lake

Off we go!

Coming to the first lock of the day - behind Spirit Dancer

A nice shot of Spirit Dancer on the move

Another lock

Going up near the front

Our friends have left breadcrumbs on the floating bollards! Steve left one of ours...

This was a 30 foot drop

A big wood-chip facility

This facility runs on coal (being unloaded from the barge)

Their chipper can mulch 30 trees at the time - note the mountain of chips!

You have to stay in the channel here - the water to the sides can be very shallow

A big clay cliff - exposed by flood water

Tornado damage?

There are lots of little side branches

Ryder doesn't worry about locks

Columbus Marina

Godspeed is at the far left. Congratulations to Pam and Billy!