Tieing A Knot...: The Tenn-Tom

Requests have been made for a better idea of where we are and where we've been. I hope this helps.

This is the entire waterway from Chicago to Mobile...we did not make all of the stops listed.

We are now in Columbus, Mississippi and when we leave here we will soon cross into Alabama.

I was surprised to see a week has come and gone since we tied up to the barge. Time is just whizzing by! Since that night we have traveled 201 miles, put 27 hours on the engines and have gone through seven locks.... which on one day knocked our travel time down by three hours! We went through the first 4 locks with 2 other trawlers and a sailboat...the more boats, the more time. The next day we did three locks by ourselves and flew right through them all. That's why daily destination plans often run amok.

I do believe the Tennessee River is a new favorite of mine though. The scenery was diverse and scenic. We have anchored in some spectacular anchorages and spent a couple of days just sitting and taking in the scenery. We have seen numerous Great Blue Herons every day. Until today (rain, rain go away) the weather has been perfect. No wind, no bugs, warm temps, couldn't have gotten much better that's for sure. Even though the Tennessee is over 650 miles long, we only traversed 190 miles. If we would have continued (as a side trip) on the Tennessee we would have gone on to Chattanooga and Knoxville.

The weird thing on the Tennessee is even though we were headed south we were up bound on the river. When you are down bound the red buoy is on your port or left side, and when you are up bound red buoy is on your starboard or right side . On the Mississippi river we were down bound, on the Ohio we were up bound ( going North and East) on the Cumberland we were up bound to Nashville and down bound returning from Nashville. On the Tennessee we were again up bound because even though we were going south it continued on north to Knoxville making it up bound. Then comes the Tombigbee which is down bound to the Gulf of Mexico. Confused??...you betcha!

The Tenn-Tom Waterway gets its' name because it joins the Tennessee and Tombigbee Rivers. The Black Warrior continues from the Tombigbee to Mobile, Alabama and the Gulf of Mexico. It was built by the Corp of Engineers between 1972 and 1985 , it cost almost two billion dollars and more earth was moved during its construction than the construction of the Panama Canal! This effort was undertaken to connect the Tennessee and Tombigbee into a navigable waterway shortening trips for vessels up to 720 miles over the Mississippi River Route. The Tenn-Tom is divided into three sections, the "Divide Cut" which is a 25 mile cut through land joining the Tennessee with Bay Springs Lake, the "Canal Section", a canal which follows a channel through six locks and dams and the "River Section" which follows the old Tombigbee river. All of this earth moving not only links the river through small lakes, but straightens parts of the Tombigbee River from the winding path it once took........

There are thirteen locks from the Whitten Lock in Bay Springs, Ms. to Mobile taking you down a total of 470 feet. There are very few homes on the waterway, a handful of small marinas and the further south we get the fewer anchorages are available.

The Jamie Whitten Lock with its 84' drop.......

An incredible feat of engineering!

Great Blue Herons are plentiful in Tennessee and Mississippi

Views like this make my shutter finger go spastic! Sometimes I get lucky and catch it just right

The leaves are starting to turn but only barely. The nights have been too warm for the color to really start popping. This week should turn the tide as the temperature is dropping with a cold front and the nights will now be cooler. Living in Florida, where it is ever green, this Michigander really misses the beautiful colors of fall.