Days 142

Clifton TN - Grand Harbor MS

• Start 6:45 AM
• End 4:10 PM
• Underway 8:10 Hours
• Distance 48 miles
• Total Miles on Trip 2799
• Av Speed 5.9 knots
• Locks 1
• Weather Sunny , 66 Degrees, Wind 10Knts NNW

We left early as planned, and had a very good travel day. Our overall travel speed was a little slower, because the closer we got to the Pickwick Landing Lock & Dam, the more current we had to fight. At one point we were only going about 4.8 knots. Nothing To Plunder can easily power up and go much faster, but Mark & Karen (Kay Dee) were almost at full throttle. We were only at about 1200 RPM's and full throttle for us is about 2400. The nice thing about staying at 1200 RPM's is we burn about 6-8 gallons of fuel an hour and at full throttle we burn over 48 gallons an hour.

The best part of staying with Kay Dee was when we got to the lock, there was a boat that passed us at 8AM, sitting at the lock waiting to go through the lock. He did 18 knots and got to the lock 2.5 hours before us, and sat there. Because the lock is having maintenance done, there have been delays at this lock for about a week. When we were about an hour away from the lock, My Dori III (We met them in Chicago) sent us a message that they were at the lock and it was going to b e a two hour delay. As we finally approached the lock, The lockmaster asked if all the waiting pleasure craft were on the radio. He explained that there were only three working bollards and we would have to raft off each other in the lock. He also let us know the tow that was in the lock would be coming out shortly. Once he was out we were free to enter the lock.

I may have to take back what I said in my earlier blog about the ingenuity of people, Today we saw a house that was falling down a cliff. There are pictures of it in the photo section. As we got closer to the locks the houses were getting bigger and nicer. Once we went through the lock and onto Pickwick Lake, they went from houses to mansions.

We arrived at Grand Harbor Marina too late to see any of the local attractions, and we will be leaving early again tomorrow. We do pass by here after we go to Chattanooga, and we hope to spend a couple of days exploring.

Tomorrow we are leaving Mississippi and going to Alabama to catch back up with Nick & Ginger (Ginger Gale). Our plans are to be with them on October 24th, when they cross their wake and finish their Great Loop Adventure.