Tuesday-Wednesday, Nov.6-7
Upon leaving Smithville, we encountered the first lock immediately. We were aware of a tow coming up river, yet it was over 3 miles away and only moving at about 4 mph, so we thought we had plenty of time to lock through before it got to the lock. Unfortunately, the lock master had already set up the lock for the tow and didn’t want to raise it for us before the tow arrived. Throughout the hour-long wait for the tow, another boat came up the river and joined us. As we entered the lock chamber a 3rd boat was seen speeding up the river to make the lock. It was a cruiser (vs. a trawler), so they could actually speed with a large white wake that we could see from a mile away! So we waited. As they entered the lock, a 4th boat was spotted down river, though it was not able to travel so quickly… and so we waited. It turned out to be two boats completely lined up so we couldn’t see the 5th until they got closer. After a total of two hours waiting, we had again formed a little flotilla of 5 boats and this time we were the lead.
Two more locks to go! As we got out of the second lock, we found ourselves leading the way through runoff from the previous night’s storms. Brian did a marvelous job steering while Sue stared through binoculars watching for signs of slightly sunken obstacles. We were dodging and weaving our way around logs, branches, flotsam and other debris for much of the 13.6 miles to the last lock of the day. It was a relief to get to there! I wish we had a picture of the water conditions but we were so busy protecting the boat and props (newly balanced!) from damage that we didn’t have a second to snap a photo!
After the 3rd lock, it was much less nerve-wracking. We occasionally heard propeller planes flying overhead, sometimes two flying next to each other. We think they were from the Columbus Air Force Base just north of the town of Columbus, MS.
Finally we arrived at Columbus Marina after an exhausting 41-mile day. Jimmy, the dockmaster, who looked like an old man of the sea, with a heavy southern accent and fantastic dry sense of humor, had been working there for 25 years. Steve, the marina manager since January, about our age, often deferred to Jimmy’s judgement, and also had a great sense of humor as well as being extraordinarily service minded. The two of them were an enjoyable change of pace from the hectic trip.
We stayed an extra night due to weather (all day rain predicted) on Wed. and took advantage of the courtesy car to stock up at the local Walmart under the pouring morning skies. Sue did laundry in marina laundry room (such a pleasure! -seriously!) while Brian worked on maintenance (changing transmission oil, and other mystical things in the engine room). Bo was willing to lounge around as far from the opening in the floor as possible.
In the evening, the 2 courtesy cars are up for grabs after 6pm when the marina guests should have them returned to the marina. Each car borrower has 2 hours with the car and replaces the gas they use. At 6 pm we planned to head out to dinner at a recommended Columbus restaurant with another couple. There were 3 other Looper couples also heading to the same restaurant. Problem: one vehicle was not returned by 6pm. So, Tom (of the other couple we were with) drove the other 3 couples to the restaurant, came back and picked up us and his wife. When we got there, the other couples had gotten a table for 10 and waited for us! By the time we all finished dinner, we decided that we could get 10 people in the 7–person mini-van, and low and behold, we did! After the 15 minute ride with a couple of cramped people and lap sitting, we took the obligatory Looper picture and called it a night.