What a month this has been, I left Peoria on October 4, sun shining and in the high 60’s. Then the complete month of October, 4 days out of every 7 it rained and was 50-55 degrees for the highs. There were numerous days it was only 30’s at night.
The boat and both the 2 HP Honda outboards have performed perfect. Kentucky Lake/Tennessee River from the Kentucky Lake Dam to the south end at Pickwick Lock and Dam is 204 miles. I was able to run 5mph in the large south part of the lake, but the closer I got to Pickwick Lock and Dam, the faster the current was and the last 2-3 miles the fastest I could go was 1-1.5 mph against the Tennessee River current.
I am now at Midway Marina, 393 miles from Mobile Bay/Gulf of Mexico on the Tombigbee Waterway. I sure am learning a lot. There is miles and hours of just looking around and enjoying everything and then all of a sudden, 15 seconds of sheer terror, “what is going on?”. I had a log catch on the rudder and jam between my running motor. Took about a minute to figure out what is happening. Another time, I got into some type of floating plants and had them wrapped around both motors props. Took about 30 minutes to clear the plants off the props while I floated on Kentucky Lake.
Last night I anchored in a cove with a young man on a 14 ft sailboat that he built. This morning I could not get the anchor free, but he came over and helped me. The anchor was attached to a log bigger than my boat. We were able to save the anchor.
The lock at Pickwick Dam lowered me 84 ft to Pickwick Lake. Went through three locks today and now feel comfortable going through them.
Now that the weather is getting better I will try to do an update every 7 to 10 days.
**Authors notes** Right now I do not have a laptop with me, so I will be sending updates to Dawn to type up and post for me until further notice.