Day 4...starting with 3

OK, i'm back on wifi tonight so I'm going to hit some highlights from yesterday before moving on.

I noticed early yesterday that Mike and I have fallen into a pretty good rhythm as far as running the boat. I'm up first and spend the first 20 minutes or so doing my engine room checks. Today is the first day I've added any oil to the big Detroit's, only 2 quarts on one side...not bad. Once Mike is up we prepare to get under way which only takes about 15 minutes, and then we're moving. Once headed down river I'm up on the fly bridge drinking espresso and eating pop tarts while Mike works his butt off cleaning the boat...pretty fair in my opinion...

  
During our travels yesterday we hit our southern most point and are now headed north. N34*22.446 W086*17.233if you're interested.

We also passed under the I-65 bridge which both Mile and I have driven countless times headed to the Gulf coast. I always thought how cool it would be to be passing under it...it was.

Today was a short day with only 55 miles covered. We had 2 locks and a first for me, a lift bridge. The bridge was a RR bridge just outside last night's marina and opened on request. Early on we passed the ship that transports rockets from Huntsville to the cape. You may remember this was the ship that took out a bridge on KY lake a year or so ago by trying to pass under the wrong span...I'm sure it has a new captain.

The second lock was unique in 2 ways. First the upper gate dropped down into the lock, as we watched, it just went down like a submarine. Here it is coming back up after we are in.

Here you can see the supports that the door rests on when it is down;

The other neat thing was the drop in this lock. I am guessing over 100 feet...we felt very small at the bottom.

Just past Wilson lock we pulled into Florence Marina before 3:00. This is, by far, the best marina so far (in my vast experience).

We have been traveling with a couple of guys heading in the same direction for the past couple of days. They seem like really nice good ol boys from central KY having an adventure on a $500 boat...(some of you know where I'm going with this). We stopped to talk to them tonight as we were headed out to dinner. Turns out they are from Campbellsville KY...Disastertown....I mentioned I worked with a guy from their town and one immediately says "oh, Scott Shaw?"!!!! go figure...they promised to send a couple of jars of shine up with Scott next time he's in town.

Well, that's it for tonight. We have a 100 mile day tomorrow to Clifton TN. We will be leaving Alabama, touching Mississippi and ending up in Tennessee all in one day.Hopefully we'll get in early enough to get a blog out, otherwise look for one on Friday.