Joe Wheeler State Park to Grand Harbor

Early morning fog and unseasonably cool morning temperature, 37^o F, delayed our 7:00 departure until 9:00 putting us about two hours behind schedule. Since the days are getting shorter we want to be off the water by 5:00 to avoid a nighttime landing. We had soft-boiled eggs for breakfast that warmed the cabin a bit and provided nourishment. We arrived at the lock and once the upbound tow cleared we entered and locked down. The rest of the day was clear and calm, sunny and cool all day. I understand there is a very strong cold front that will affect our weather here in Alabama for the next 7 to 10 days. 

Wilson Lock Lower Doors 100 feet high

Today we locked down the Wilson lock the largest lock we will use, again I marvel at the engineering feat of this lock and dam system. With floating bollards the 93 foot descent was easy. Carol used our new bollard lasso system and it worked to perfection, we continue to learn new and different things every day of our trip.

Houses grouped with shared access to the river

The Tennessee River is just beautiful with some very isolated areas and homes sprinkled in some in development clusters. At least one group of homes share access to the river and have their boats together in a central location. We did face time with Kim, Scott and Autumn this afternoon while cruising. It was great to see Autumn growing and now up in the 40 percentile for weight, she looks great. I was able to point my phone camera toward the river and provide a running commentary on what we were seeing and the landscape around us at the time. What a great way to share our adventure, someday the blog might even contain a video clip, who knows. We arrived at Grand Harbor about 10 minutes after they were scheduled to close with about 6 other boats a bit chaotic for a while as the two person staff addressed everybody’s needs. The staff at Grand Harbor is just excellent and they all work hard to provide the best possible service.

Limestone Bluffs and early fall foliage