Thursday November 19, 2015
We wanted get an early start, but we woke up to thick fog. Suddenly, at about 8am, the fog evaporated and it was a beautiful day.
We went through 6 locks and we covered over 50 miles. The Jamie Whitten Lock and Dam was huge. The drop is 84 feet, and it was fast!
We had hoped to anchor before the 6th dam at Amory, but we ran aground trying to go in. We went through the Amory lock at sunset. We asked the lock man if he had any suggestion on where we should anchor. He said that many anchor at mile marker 366. That was 5 miles away, and it was getting dark. We stayed dead center in the middle of the channel, and “drove it like we stole it”. Just as we were approaching our destination, a tow and barges came around a corner, heading for us. I called him on the radio, and explained where we’re headed. He had a better idea. He said our destination creek had a strong current and lots of debris from Tuesday night’s storm.
We should pull over to the side of the channel, and get behind the green marker as much as possible.
It was pitch black. I could see a sandbar along the shoreline with my flashlight. I steered towards the dark mass of trees to my north, and the shallow water alarm went off. Back up, and try something else. We ended up just a few feet outside the channel border. I was a wreck. I called the lock several times. What was coming? Would they warn the tows that we were there? I was determined to stay up all night, and hail a passing toes on the radio. But 9pm arrived, and I couldn’t keep my eyes open. So I caved and we both went to sleep.
Until 2:30am, when a loud bump, bump, bump went down the side of the boat. I flew out of the v-berth. A tow had us in his spotlight. His wake must have set off a log bumping on our side. I called the tow on the radio and apologized for being in such a spot. No worries he drawled. We’d be just fine there, and we were.