One Mile and Thought at A Time

This evening Mike and I are anchored on the Tombigbee River not far from Stennes Lock near Columbus, AL near mile marker (MM) 333.  Knowing your river location by mile marker is important for communicating--such as with a boat towing company who is willing to help you out of a crisis, for SOS situations (SOS calls are for life-threatening situations only; NOT cool to radio an SOS distress call because one's engine fails and you're stranded somewhere), and for meeting barges and tows along the way.

Boaters also use MMs for planning purposes.  The Tennessee-Tombigbee riverway begins at MM 0 at Mobile, AL.  Demopolis is at MM 213.2, so we traveled that many miles from Mobile.  We are currently anchored at MM 333 and will reach the Tennessee River at MM 449.7, or in about 117 additional miles.  We'll enter the Tennessee River at Pickwick Lake on MM 209.6 and navigate east on the Tennessee River about 57 miles to Joe Wheeler State Park, located at MM 267.

Did you know that the Mississippi is divided into two parts, the upper Mississippi (from Minneapolis, MN to Cairo, IL) and the lower Mississippi (from Cairo, IL to the Gulf of Mexico)?  Cairo, IL is  mile marker 0 of the upper Mississippi River and also Mile Marker 954 on the Lower Mississippi.  All Mississippi River miles above Cairo give you the distance from Cairo (Minneapolis is MM 854--got it figured out?).  All miles below Cairo give you the distance to the Gulf of Mexico.  Interesting, right?

Sometime between Demopolis and here, we left the isolation of southern Alabama and entered back into the world:  attractive and well-cared-for homes along the river, better cell-phone reception and more services along the way. This is good news as I have birthday cards to mail to our granddaughter Rose in Colorado and grandson Owen in Minnesota.  Happy Birthday, kids!  Your birthday cards will arrive late, but know that Grandma and Grandpa are celebrating from afar and wishing you each a wonderful day of friends and family.

We bid Mike's sister Carol farewell this morning.  What a perfect companion for us this week as we maneuvered schedules, transported ourselves and possessions, moved into a limited space (40' X 14 floating motorhome!), and launched into Looping.  Carol helped us get the essentials done so that we could get moving towards our goal to attend the AGLCA's Rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park in Tennessee.  So grateful for Carol!

Carol's flexibility made her stay in small quarters work!

After hugs of goodbye, Carol boarded the dinghy for her to shore. She will drive the rental pickup back to Saint Paul.

Carol in her water taxi!

After delivering Carol to shore where she'll continue on her way home in the white pickup, Mike rows back to the boat.  It was a beautiful morning for an early morning row!

We're looking forward to putting some miles on our bikes which are secured just off the sundeck on the upper level of Velsignet.

We navigated through 2 locks today, the Heflin Lock and the Tom Bevell lock.  Despite stories of how boaters may wait hours and hours to get through a lock system, we've not waited at all at the lock sites.  Are we living right or just lucky? 

Ahhh.....civilization!  We started to see nice homes and well-manicured lawns along the way again (have seen very few homes along the waterway since Mobile, AL).