July 2 - We left Columbus Marina to head back up the waterway. I just wanted to put in a plug for this marina. We liked the marina when we came down and it changed hands. Fortunately, the attitude is just as good or better. Therefore, we are happy that they will be there when we come back down in October. They have fair prices on fuel, nice showers, laundry for a buck a load and a small marine store with some pretty good parts. Of course the great part is they have a courtesy car that you can use depending on the number of transients for up to a couple of hours, just put some gas in it. They are working on some partnerships for rental cars and the restaurant next door has opened since we were here last. They only open in the evenings and we didn't get over there.

We went through a lock and then made our way to our stop. As you can see in the picture, the logs floating around in the picture indicate shallow water and you don't want to get out of the privately marked channel. We saw as little as 4.9 feet of water going in so it was good we were on a Gemini 105.

We enter all of the locks when the light turns from red to green. In our case, we've been calling from 30 - 45 minutes out and they have been getting the locks ready for us ahead of time. There is VERY little traffic on the river right now and we have only seen 2 other cruising boats moving north since we left Mobile. That means we have the river to ourselves except for the commercial traffic that comes around the bend at the most inopportune moment. I see an AIS (automatic identification system) in my future. I'm actually looking at one that will transmit also so they will see me as well as I see them.

Talk about a lock! This is almost the mother of all locks. Evidently, it is the ninth largest lock in the United States and it is BIG. At least I should say it is tall.

The reality is that it is just as long and as wide as all of the other locks but this one goes up quite a ways.

You get a different feeling as you enter this lock. You felt small before but now you really feel small. This lock is impressive and all you hope as you enter is that something doesn't fail.

We eased our way in and took our position at the forward most pin on the port side. Why? Well, what we've learned is that when you go up a lock, you should be as far forward as possible. There is less turbulence. Why port? Well, we look at the wind sock and the flag as we enter and always get on the side where the wind will blow us away from the side of the lock. That way when we leave the wind won't blow us into the side and we have to drag our way out or push and push and push.... to get off and out of the lock.

As you look at the picture to the lower right and the waterfall coming down the concrete, I ask you, are you thinking they have a leak? Is it possible that leak may indicate a problem? I don't know but we got a bit wet with the "leak drops."

As I said, this is impressive. The picture to the left is looking back out of the lock.

To the bottom, you can see our mast has been shrunk or at least it looks that way.

To the lower right you can see more of the construction of a lock. Concrete structure makes up the lower portion of the lock and the doors start at about 17 feet below the water line of the water of the pool on the upper side.

The doors start to close on the back side and you know you are committed. I guess you could hire one of those cargo helicopters to fly you over the dam but that would probably be more scary and besides that, my tax dollars paid for all of this so it is a good thing I'm using it.

The big doors close and then the lock master comes out, walks out to the middle of the doors and checks something. This happens at some of the locks and at others it doesn't. I don't know if that is because of differences in design or if it is because a sensor has failed and they have to check it manually. I hope it is a difference in design.

To the lower right you can see Deb, she has a new title now - Lock Queen. I know she is Admiral too. Her two titles sound much better than mine.

The picture to the left is for one purpose. One of the features of these locks is that there is a line in the concrete as you go up vertically every five feet. You can count them if you want but the lift here is 84, yes eighty four feet. The nice part of that is that after you get up about fifty feet then you really don't have the turbulence you have in the other locks. Smooth ride.

Then the doors open and you get to see what is on the other side. For us it is Bay Springs. This is the tale water of Pickwick lake and there isn't a current here. Therefore, it is clear. Beautifully clear water and as wide as anything we've seen since leaving Mobile Bay.

We have a short day today because we are going to go swimming and have a good time before going through the continental divide tomorrow. After all, we are cruising and that doesn't mean racing. Take our time with our days and our days will be nice to us. In addition, the river will too.

After kicking back for awhile, we did go swimming and stayed cool for the afternoon. Afterwards I practiced guitar and then made up some salads for dinner. We haven't been getting much exercise for the last two weeks and I've got to start eating less or I'll be putting on weight. Jimmy Buffett on the other hand, eats all the time and really just enjoys hanging out with us all the time and for some reason, he can eat everything he wants. Teenagers...

The picture on the lower left is where we anchored on Bay Springs. On the point was a Church and a cemetery. There isn't really much development on this lake. I saw a couple of marinas but really no homes on the water. It sure is pretty here.

The next morning, we took off and made a left turn right into the canal. Within a mile, we had rip rap lined banks and it was obvious someone had cut through the area. Some history. The idea for the waterway was actually approved in 1946 however it didn't get the funding and green light to start until May, 1971. The Army corps of Engineers moved more dirt to build the Tenn-Tom than was moved to build the Panama Canal.

 The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway opened in June of 1985 and one of the areas where they removed the most dirt is in the picture to the right. The cut at this point is 1,300 feet wide and 175 feet deep. All 150 million cubic yards that was removed had to be hauled off to somewhere else. In 1985, I'm sure it was just a barren cut through the continental divide. Once again, this is the reason we don't have a problem with all the flood waters that are coming down. At this point we are 414 feet above sea level and when we leave Pickwick Lake we will start back downhill with a 55 foot lock into the Tennessee River where we will be getting into water that will be effected by the floods.

The picture to the right is the actual highest point of the divide that they cut through. The picture to the lower right shows how they terraced the side of the hill so it wouldn't wash away. In another fifty years, I'm sure the hills will all be covered in trees and it will be much prettier than it is today. However, I'm happy I'm able to use this project and see where quite a bit of my tax dollars went. I'm sure there have been people who thought the project wasn't worth it but the commercial traffic is twice what we saw two years ago and I'll bet it increases because of the fuel crisis we are in right now. I'm just happy we have a way to get back up to Kentucky for hurricane season.

Lower right is where we anchored on Tuesday night.

 Wednesday morning we went into Grand Harbor where we will spend the next four days. Everybody and their brother who owns a boat or can rent one, puts in gas and off they go. Oh I forgot, ninety nine percent of them also think that you have to take a case of beer (for each person) along with you and then drink it while you are on the boat. Therefore, we've found that the safest place to be isn't on the water. We will hang out at the marina and get a few projects done.

The picture to the left is one I took driving over Pickwick Dam in the courtesy car provided by this marina. We love this marina too because the people are nice, they have a pool, great showers, and of course that courtesy car. We ended up taking it to Savannah, TN about 20 miles away so I could get some parts for a new valve I'm putting in to make it easier to switch water tanks. On my vintage of the Gemini, the valve is under the port bunk so I'm replacing the valve with a brass one and moving it so it is located on the bulkhead with only the handle protruding. That way Deb can change tanks when I'm not around. I'll document the project and show you in a couple of days.

We also went to Wal-Mart and picked up some more food to grill after we went to lunch. We then drove back, put in ten dollars worth of gas and gave them back the keys. Pretty cool being at this marina.

July 6 - Doesn't this look like a mess. I didn't do it but I did change it. If you are interested, you can go here to see what I did differently. At least I found something productive to do while at the marina.

At the same time, it is fun to just hang out, take walks and watch all the crazy people at the fuel docks. We've seen multiple people being pulled in after running out of gas. In addition, there have been lines of people getting fuel. Who said people were not using as much gas. You can't tell it here!

Friday afternoon, we had a fly by/over/through by a military helicopter. My bet is the pilot owns a boat down here and was showing the plane to his friends. At the same time, I also know he broke a BUNCH of rules based on altitude and staying minimum distances from people performing maneuvers. I loved it however, it reminded me of something I previously did oops I mean thought about doing.

We were going to borrow the car again to pick up some last minute things before we get out of here but the cars were all in use. However, these guys just won't give up. Chip, the site manager and all round nice guy, loaned us his car to run up to the grocery store with.

The fireworks show on the 4th was in a place you couldn't see it from these docks so the management at Grand Harbor decided they would hire their own fireworks company to put on a show from a barge. It was pretty cool and we got a number of good pictures.

More updates will come on about Thursday. For now, Freedom says thanks for following us.

July 7 - Sometimes, I consider myself as a thinking kind of guy. The kind that plans for unexpected events and then figures out a way around them so you can achieve your destination regardless. Yes, I was thinking before we got up this morning. I awoke at 5:45 am and after getting my eyes open, I called the lock from our anchorage. Afterall, if they had a bunch of commercial traffic, I could always go back to bed. However, the lockmaster told me that he had a tow being locked up and then they were going to break apart another tow and put part of it in the main lock and the rest in the auxiliary lock and I could go down with him. Cool, so I got ready and out I went to wait, and wait, and wait, and wait. So after an hour, I called and found out the plans had changed. Who knew that they were going to close the auxiliary lock so they could work on it. I guess this stuff just happens on the spur of the moment - NOT! What really got me going was the lockmaster said they had a game plan to get the lock taken care of so that meant I wouldn't get to go through. Ok, I had a game plan too but using my better judgment, I kept my real thoughts to myself. Really I said, SHUT UP JIM AND ANCHOR! Yep, that is what we, or should I say I, did. (Deb was already back to sleep.)

Remember, I got up at before 6 am and we locked through and were underway downstream at 10:45 am. I guess sometimes things just happen. It's going to be a long day.

Above you can see the rather large tow/barges that I really don't want to get tangled up with. And to the left you can see both of the locks. The one of the left is a thousand feet long and takes the big tows. The one to the right, being worked on, is the auxiliary lock.

The lockmaster's changed by the time we locked through and using my better judgment, I was very polite. Afterall, boats like ours are truly on the bottom of the food chain when it comes to locks. As a matter of fact, we are at the absolute bottom.

I just used the time to call both of the companies that I ordered supplies from on-line and added to the orders. Well, here goes our tax stimulus payment. Lets just say I'm giving everything for our country. Truth is that I'm getting our boat "perfect" because we really love the thing and we aren't going to be changing boats unless we win the big lottery. The only problem with that is that we never enter. I'll tell you what, why don't you all put us in your will and then we might end up with a big boat. I'll even name it after you. Really!

 July 10 - After all of our traveling, we arrived back on Kentucky Lake. We left on October 15, 2006 and Deb tells me that was 610 days ago. Now we are back on our home waters with a ton of experiences and many, many adventures. Of course we are staying for a while to complete a bunch of projects and visit many of our family and friends.

To the lower left you can see the picture as we are entering Duncan Bay. I wrote a song about leaving to go cruising about five years ago and said we would spend one last night at Duncan before we went south. Well, we did that when we left and now we are spending another night here almost 2 years later. The memories and great times on this lake are flooding back. As a matter of fact, the picture on the lower right is essentially one of those memories.

Our friends Steve and Linda went on a boating vacation with us over a memorial day weekend. On that trip, we ended up catching about 50 catfish in a little over an hour right on this little point and cut. We kept about 10 of them and had more fish than any four people needed. It was an absolute blast and it seemed that we caught them in the spawn and had the time of our lives running after the noodles we had rigged up for jug fishing.

 Ok, I just had to find one of the pictures and show you that we really did catch a bunch of catfish rather than this simply being a fish story.

We have truly had too much fun on this boat. By the way, I've already gotten emails about the fact some people are disappointed that we are going to be stopping here for the 2 1/2 months. Don't be disappointed! I've got some serious dieting (for the boat) to accomplish. It is time to go through EVERY place on the boat and throw away things or store them off of the boat. I'm ready to get "ruthless" on boat weight as Tony Smith put it. Then we have these canvas projects to accomplish. On top of that, I've got some cool stainless steel projects to complete too. (At least I think they are cool.) Once the stainless projects are complete, I will then complete my complete clear enclosure for the rear of the boat which will not only keep us warmer, it will also made the cockpit completely dry. I think the dry part if very important because I haven't seen a Gemini that doesn't allow water to drain into the cockpit and I think I have that solved. In addition, we have the main window shade to put up once I complete that stainless addition which will also include hand rails. I won't bore you with all of it yet but you will see them all in the months of August and September if you come back to the site. In addition, you will also see us having too much fun with our family and friends.

Here we are arriving at Green Turtle Bay Marina at Grand Rivers Kentucky. This is one of the finest marinas and without question the nicest one on Kentucky Lake. We have already passed through the cannel and are officially on Barkley Lake. We made our way towards the Barkley lock and Deb was screaming, "NO MORE LOCKS." Of course she is the lock queen so it really wouldn't have mattered but the lock takes us to nowhere. Instead, we took a left and went into the channel for Green Turtle Bay. When you pass the break water, you enter the very large marina. They serve everyone here from sailboats, cruisers, trawlers, and even renting houseboats if you are of the mind to get out here with us.

I was going to do a little Photoshopping of their sign and put Freedom at the top but I'm just lazy right now. Regardless, it was nice seeing the familiar sign.

The building you see is the Commonwealth Yacht Club. We were once members and since we are transients, we will be able to use it again. In addition, they now have an indoor pool and exercise area. I truly hate to excesses on machines. However, I do like riding a bike so that is what I will do. On the other hand, I do like pools.

It is nice that Freedom has arrived at Green Turtle Bay and we are both trying to get over the fact that we will be at a dock for two and a half months. This is truly an unusual experience.

For the next few days we will be cleaning the scum off of the boat from coming up the waterway and starting our boat diet. Thanks again for following us.

 July 12 - We took the opportunity to use the courtesy car yesterday and went to Paducah, KY to Wal-Mart and to pick up a couple of bottles of wine. Since we have the boat docked in a "dry county," then you just can't do things like buy wine here. That project took about 2 hours and after putting gas into the courtesy car, we turned the keys back in barely within our allotted time limit.

The other thing on the agenda was to get the mustache off of our boat. When you travel up the Tenn-Tom, you can be assured of having a dirty hull when you arrive. As you can see to the right, we are no different than anyone else and I hate dirty hulls.

 This is what it looks like after using Boat Hull Cleaner on it. You can get it at West Marine, however the best price we've found is at Wal-Mart in the boating section and that was one of the reasons for the run up there. We've finished the outside portions nicely but still have the inside of the hulls to do. I need to put the dinghy together to get the bulk done and then take the boat out and swim underneath to totally finish up.

Speaking of the dinghy, our dinghy seats have deteriorated because of the UV and in turn, they cracked and then I fixed them (somewhat) with some epoxy and glass but the real answer is new dinghy seats. I picked up some wood at a lumber store and I'm in the process of making new seats. We'll see how that goes over the next few days and put some pictures up when we are done. I can tell you that without many power tools, it is more difficult. Regardless, we are making progress and should have them done by Sunday. I want to finish the boat cleaning and also run the dinghy engine in fresh water. Time to ensure the salt is out of it.

More later but for now, it's off to work. The sun is up and it is still cool.

I continued with the dinghy seats. One of the problems I had was that the receiver on the side of the boat the seats slide into is smaller than a standard 1x10 in thickness. So, that means I had to make the board a bit thinner. Since I don't have access to power tools to help, I bought a chisel and I've been getting pretty good at using it. Once, down the the right size, I sanded it and then moved on to the other side. Of course I had to do 3 boards or six ends. Then it was on to fabricating a holder for the legs. I ultimately elected to make one out of wood and then glue/screw it to the bottom of the seat. We have 3 legs on each seat which had to be located correctly and then attached.

It would have been much easier with a table saw or a circular saw but in the end, it really wasn't a bad job and looks fine.

 I didn't get pictures of Joe, Rick, Jim, Pat, Bill and Bill and, and - You get the idea. I will however because everyone here has been wonderful to us returning. I've even been "booked" to play for the social hour after the Commonwealth Race at the end of September. It ends up that they need some entertainment while the race scores are compiled so it sounds like a great time to me.

The day didn't end there, we had a storm move through and I was heading to the shower when I heard a whoomp That is the sound of a genoa unfurling and setting. Of course the problem was, the boat was at a dock and nobody was at the dock. The other problem was it was a pretty good distance by land away. I went for a golf cart and Bill Gary, he's the dock master, hopped in with me and off we went in the rain. As we were heading down the dock, Bill got a phone call so I took care of the sail and then we were off on another problem. A different dock had broken loose. Huh Oh. We arrived and a towboat arrived at about the same time and to shorten the story, everything got strapped up and secured for the weekend. After getting soaked in the rain, I still needed that shower. When I got finished with the shower, Deb and I headed up to the Yacht Club which is available for use by transients. We had a good evening. Another wonderful day in a wonderful setting with wonderful people.

 I spent this morning doing the first coat of paint on the dinghy seats and after they dried, I then put the dinghy together and cleaned between the two hulls. I find that if you get the surface dirt off first then paint it with Hull Cleaner, most of the work is done. Then I come back and use a product called Totally Awesome which you can buy at the dollar store for a dollar. It cleans great. The boat looks as good as it can on the bottom side until we cove out and get the rest of the job completed.

After lunch, I put the dinghy engine on because I wanted to run it and get the salt out for the summer. Besides, it is fun to go for a dinghy ride every now and then. We went over to say Hi to Tom and Diane and they were all getting together for an unplanned lunch. We happened along at just the right time to see some more people.

To the right is John and Ann. They aren't connected but are great friends.

 To the left you can see some of the people you've already met and of course a typical dock party. Don't you just love the life of good people in a marina. It is sometimes more fun than being at an anchorage however, that is because we know these people and they are great to us.

We went for that dinghy ride and came back to the boat. My next project is to replace a vent that I've been waiting on for 3 months. It is probably a 45 minute project and after that I think it is a day. Of course we may just decide to start cleaning out the garage. Boy do we need to do that. Start figuring out what we truly need and what we truly don't. Ruthless. I have to remember that verses - boy do I like this thingy but I really have never used it. Ruthless, Ruthless weight reduction!!!!

 Ok, I'm being a bit too much here. However, I was just starting the vent replacement when we met Gerald and Phyllis. They own a Gemini from 1999 that is parked in the same spot that we were at two years ago. They are interested in our experience and I'm sure we will see them a number of times in August. We had a great conversation and then they were off from the weekend.

After that, I got to work on that vent. You can see below that the salt water that came over our bow and into the head/bathroom that has not bath, corroded the bolt which made in inoperative. We had finally found a replacement and of course they were out of stock. Three months later we received it and it has been installed with a healthy dose of 5200 so it won't leak. I doubt this one will ever be opened since we have the new water heater with an oxygen sensor.

It looks good and it is tight so the top of the boat is sealed for the next set of waves that come over the top of our boat. I'm already getting excited about going back to sea. As a matter of fact, I'm thinking the new watertight enclosure on the aft of the boat will even be better. We can take waves over the top or the back and no water should enter. Sounds fun doesn't it. Well truthfully no but it is better than sinking.

 July 14 - I went out on the dinghy by myself this morning for a little ride. Yesterday, I thought the dinghy was stiffer than before. So, I wanted to find out because if it was stiffer, then it would probably ride better than before. I got to the end of the no wake zone and opened it up. Previously, I could only run about half throttle because it just didn't perform after that. NOW, I can run full throttle and I have to tell you, this dinghy is quick. Real quick with one person aboard. I may start racing for pink slips.....

The rest of the day we started that ruthless boat diet. All the junk you see in the picture to the right is going off of our boat. On top of that, below that suitcase is another box and it goes too. Overall, and yes I did weigh it, we have taken 101 pounds of stuff off the boat. Better yet is the space we are getting back. This is going to be fun!

I know I'm putting more weight back on but I'm going to try and keep up with the log of how much I take off and how much I put on so I can see what we really achieved. We should net a weight loss but the biggest gain will probably be a decrease in junk volume. Once again, if we haven't used it in 2 years it goes unless it is a spare. I think we've sorted out about 1/3 of the stuff so far. However, it is the easy stuff. I still have to go through every tool I own and make a decision about keeping or dumping.

Take care and I hope you think about getting ruthless too.

By the way, if you are in the area, I'm playing for the Marina Days Celebration on August 9th between 11 am and 1 pm on the main stage. I know I will have fun.