Quiet Company Adventures: Day 6

The start of day six with the sun low in the sky and we are approaching the Montgomery Lock and Dam.

We stayed overnight downstream from lock and dam which was only a few miles from our last dam.

Given all the rain so that in the area the upper pool is still discharging water over the dam.

Although they often look the same each dam has its own unique features.

Once inside you wait for the doors to close behind you.

As we were tying up to the Bollard this graffiti was present in magic marker from 2011. It just goes to show how small the world is. The motor vessel Miss Debbie belong to Dan and Debbie good friends of ours from Newburgh. I texted Dan to inform him of our discovery of his graffiti (he was on his way to Baltimore to pick up a boat). He text me back "Fool's names in public places". :)

We've reached the top of the lock and the doors are open and ready to go.

Left side of boat looking forward.

Last night after he went to bed the mayflies decided QC was a good landing zone.

Mayflies everywhere....

You can tell the locks and dams in this section of the Tennessee Tombigbee are newer than the southern sections.

Loading barges.

We are now approaching the Jamie Whitten Lock and Dam. It is the highest lift dam on the Tennessee Tombigbee waterway. At normal pool stage the lift is 84 feet but today, with the water up, on the upstream side the lift will be higher.

You can look a little intimidating when you enter the lock.

The Swallows have a great place to call home.

We are tied up and ready to rise.

The rear doors of the lock look humongous. You have to wonder how much they weigh.

You can tell how high the water level gets.on the Lock wall gauge.

Downstream doors are almost closed.

QCs pilothouse level where Viv is standing is approximately 10 feet above the water. As you can, this Bollard arrangement has a point to tie up down low to the water and one higher (more that 10 feet up) for empty barges. The Bollard at this levels really makes tying QC easy.

Our granddaughter Leena loves dragonflies so Viv wanted me to take a picture of this extra-large one that was on the Lockwall.

We made it to the top and now it's time to exit the lock.

Here on the left you can see a construction area where an upstream temporary gate for the lock has been constructed and is ready to be lifted into place. They do this when the need to "Dewater" the lock foe maintenance.

These locks are right at 600 feet long.

The fisherman along the way are not always happy to see us. Some are friendly some are not.

The lake opens up again on the upstream side.

You can tell from the size the trees in this picture that will him the lake was impounded by the damn that hey this line of trees have been planted along this ridge at some point in the past. They are bald cypress trees.

Now you can tell we are truly in the man-made portion of the Tennessee Tombigbee waterway.

Water entering the waterway is controlled by concrete structures to reduce current and the waterway and erosion.

You can see here the upright fingers to signed to slow down the waters flow as it enters the waterway.

A large blue heron watches us pass.

The water is still slick is glass.

We noticed this quite large and very long pipe stationed on the side of the waterway. We surmise they are going to put it across as a conduit further pipes wires etc.

QC really doesn't throw a large wake at cruising speed.

This is one of the first pleasure craft we've seen enjoying the water today.

The excavator here is grinding trees to prevent them from growing on the banks of the waterway.

He was happy to turn and show off his grinder as we passed.

One of the many boat launches and enable the public to have access to the waterway.

As we get to the end of the Tennessee Tombigbee waterway and approach the Tennessee River a very large marina appears on the left-hand side. This was a location we had scoped out as a possible place to leave QC if needed. As you can see from the very large yacht up on the hard they have a large travel lift that can pull boats from the water and put them on land for storage and or repair.

This area is starting to look like familiar territory on Kentucky Lake.

Another large Marina Hotel complex on the left as we enter the Tennessee River.

Interesting though that we like to see the inside.

Now we are starting to see some major investments in homes on the sides of the Tennessee River.

Here we are headed downstream on the Tennessee towards the Pickwick lock and dam. Pickwick is our last lack and dam before we get to our destination of Green Turtle Bay. It will be the first lock where we will actually come in on the upside and lock down.

Is just a beautiful day with the highs in the upper 80s.

QC is having no problem just humming along.

Some houses have a long series of stairs and even trams like this one to get down to the water.

Or lots of stairs...now that would be a workout going up or down!

Pickwick has construction going on on one of its lock chambers and towboats were tied up waiting for the labor of the day to stop so they can lock through. Fortunately for us the small chamber at Pickwick is still operational and being used by small commercial vessels andpleasure craft like ours.

More houses high and low.

Here's the approach to the lock towards the left.

The view back upstream.

Another house with a tramway to get to the water.

This boat dock looks like it was a casualty of the 2008 meltdown. Plenty of slips for boats but no boats in them.

Here we are entering the lock and moving to the in the lock to tie up to the only functioning Bollard in the lock. This is another demonstration of the lack of maintenance that's being done to the infrastructure in this country.