Days 145

Florence Harbor AL - Riverwalk, Decatur AL

• Start 5:45 AM
• End 3:00 PM
• Underway 5:45 Hours
• Distance 39 miles
• Total Miles on Trip 2871
• Av Speed 6.8 knots
• Locks 2
• Weather Foggy then Sunny , 72 Degrees, Wind 5Knts S

Holy Scary Batman - Under normal circumstances this morning would have been a no go morning. We pulled off the dock in near zero visibility for a 3 mile run to the Wilson Lock.

The Wilson lock had its floating approach wall sink over the summer. This has impacted the commercial tows using the lock. Tows are not allowed to lock though in the dark until this is repaired. Because of this for the most part pleasure boats are not able to use the lock during the day. We spoke with the lockmaster Monday night and were told to be at the lock by 6:30am, and to call in the morning to confirm the time. At 5:45am we were told that there was a tow coming up the river to be at the lock by 6:15am and they would lock us through before the 1000' tow.

We left the dock with Rick & Dori (My Dori III), Mark & Karen (Kay Dee) and Nick & Ginger (Ginger Gale) immediately. In addition to the sunrise being over an hour away, there was dense fog limiting visibility to around 50 feet. We spoke with the tow captain, and he was directly outside of the marina. He agreed to hold position and let us pass. We could see the tow on both AIS and the radar, but we could barely physically see the barges 50 feet off our starboard side. As we reached the front of the tow, the captain turned on his spot light so we could see where to turn in front of him. The remaining 2.5 miles was done strictly by using our radar, chart plotter and AIS. Twenty-five minutes later we could see the glow of the lock lights. What a welcoming sight. My Dori III was leading the way, and had to call the lockmaster to confirm the lock doors were open because he could not see them or into the lock. The lockmaster turned on even more lights to help guide us into the lock.

As we were locking up, the lockmaster called and said because the fog was so bad, they were closing the lock down until it cleared. Because he could not lock anyone else through until the fog lifted, he offered to allow us to stay tied up in the lock until the fog cleared. All four boats gladly accepted his offer so we did not have to navigate out of the lock and find somewhere safe to wait out the fog. The fog lifted around 9:15 and we were on our way. We only have another 20 miles to our next lock, the Joe Wheeler Lock.

We got very lucky at the Joe Wheeler Lock, as we approached the lockmaster opened the gates and we went right into the lock. (The lockmaster talk to each other, and the Joe Wheeler lock knew we were coming and what time to expect us) The only catch with this lock, was there was a tow on the upstream side of the locking waiting to enter the lock after we left. And when I say he was waiting on the upstream side, he was less than 100 feet from the lock gates, and we had less than 50 feet between him and the mooring cells for us to go through. I felt like I could reach out and touch the tow as went by.

Wilson lake is lined with houses and docks and is supposed to be one of the best bass fishing lakes in the area. Wheeler lake starts out lined with houses but turns industrial very quickly. This is the first industrial section of the Tennessee River that we have seen. Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant is on the shore of Wheeler lake. Browns Ferry is the second largest nuclear power plant is the USA, and is where Nick (Ginger Gale) was employed for 14 years.

Our destination Riverwalk Marina is on a manmade island in the middle of the river. The island and marina were made when the causeway and route 72 bridge were built.

After arriving at the marina Nick, Ginger, Mark, Karen, Angel and I went out for a BBQ dinner. We are in Nick & Ginger's neighborhood and Ginger has planned out a BBQ trail for us. We will be eating BBQ at each of the next several stops.

Tomorrow we are heading to Ditto Landing Marina in Huntsville AL. Huntsville is the home of the US Space & Rocket Center. Hopefully we will be able to tour it.