We left Midway Marina in Fulton, MS a day earlier than planned and traveled with 2 other boats, Daydreaming and Sea Batical, toward Columbus Marina in Columbus MS. Since we had 4 locks to get through that day, traveling with other boats sometimes gives a little more persuasiveness with the locks than a single boat may. Daydreaming and Sea Batical went the whole way to Columbus, a very long day, and we stopped overnight, about 3 hours shy of Columbus, at Fletcher Anchorage in the Dwayne Hayes Recreational Area. Mainly just because we could.

The following day we got up to some fog so we waited a little bit for the sun to come out and warm things up. It started out not so bad but as the journey progressed, it got foggier. At least that gave us a reason to fire up the radar and give it some exercise. We were the only nuts out there that day.

We finally did make it to Columbus Marina without incident and got safely pumped, fueled and into a slip. Besides Sea Batical and Daydreaming we were joined by Lady Betz, another Mainship, and Up North for a Thanksgiving gathering. We were originally going to have the feast at the marina deck area but it is open air and it was very windy and extremely cold, so Daydreaming kindly made room on their back deck for all of us to gather and share our Thanksgiving holiday.

We were originally planning on only staying in Columbus for 3 nights, but weather for the next few days looked horrific, especially the overnight temperatures into the 20’s. Since we would be anchoring out a few nights before getting to the next marina, I was not too keen on overnight temps that low so we stayed 3 more nights. And man, it was cold!

What staying the extra few days did do was provide us an opportunity use the marina loaner car and do some touristy stuff. One such stop was the Tennessee Williams Birthplace and Visitor Center. As we all probably know Tennessee Williams was a playwright, poet and screenwriter. He was born in 1911 as Thomas Lanier Williams III and acquired the nickname Tennessee when he was in college because of his southern accent. After 1955 Tennessee began using drugs, drinking a lot and suffered from depression. In 1983 he died from choking in a drug-related incident. His most famous works included The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, among many, many others.

One of our other trips out was a trip through historic Columbus with all the old gorgeous and huge homes and the pretty well preserved downtown area on the way to the Friendship Cemetery. This place was massive. It was founded by the Odd Fellows and laid out in the Odd Fellows Chain Links of Friendship, Love and Truth. In 1957 and was given to the city of Columbus. The first person buried there was Mary Bell in 1849 with earlier interments having been moved there. There are two Mississippi Governors, three US Congressmen, a US Secretary of War, two Confederate Congressmen, five Confederate Generals and many others along with veterans beginning with the Revolutionary war.

Most historical is that Memorial Day started here having evolved from the first Decoration Day held there in April 1866, when local women placed flowers on the graves of 2,194 Confederate and 54 Union soldiers. The Union soldiers were moved to Shiloh in 1867.

We also took advantage of a pretty nice day of sunny warmth and took a couple mile walk along the river path. It was really nice to get out in the fresh air and do something.

As it appears to be our habit, we actually left Columbus a day earlier than planned. The winds getting into Kingfisher Bay in Demopolis AL, the next marina on our journey south, were going to be pretty high and gusty making docking likely difficult on the day we were scheduled to get there. Also, we decided to make the trip 2 long days instead of 3 “reasonable days” to cut down travel time until the next, and even colder weather event. So on a very cold and dark 0615 morning three of us left the Columbus Marina and headed to the first lock. Thankfully the lock was ready and waiting for us; 1 down and 3 to go. The other 2 boats we were traveling with, Three Sons and Seaz the Day, were actually delivery captains moving those boats into Florida and they were on a tight schedule and were traveling twice what we travel so they took off after the first lock and made it all the way to Kingfisher Marina, 118 miles, that night.

The Captain’s story is that he was traveling along, around a corner, at night, in the dark at over 25 MPH, when he lost a pod (the boat propulsion and control system) and lost control and crashed. The dock talk, marine version of Monday morning quarterbacking, is that he didn’t know where he really was, grounded, crashed, and then messed up the pod. Either way he wrecked a boat that is going to be costly to repair. Hope it was his boat and not one he was transporting for someone else. It lends truth to the saying, “never go any faster than you are willing to hit something”.

After 8 1/2 hours and getting through all 4 locks without any delays, we pulled into a little place and hunkered down for the night…a very cold night, at Tombigbee Oxbow Anchorage in Gainesville AL. The next morning we woke up to ice patches on the deck which made walking dangerous and frost on all the upper helm windows and seats and the cushion on the back deck. Once the sun came up everything started to melt so it was literally raining in the upper helm. We had to leave the isinglass front window and back door open because it was so cold it would have shattered if we tried to put them down or up at night and in the morning, hence all the water.

Michael also found water pouring through the floor onto the generator batteries, which was from a leak in the icemaker waterline. Today he found another leak in another water hose in the engine room. The aft bathroom cold water line also started to leak leaving puddles on the floor. This Florida girl does not like being cold! Everything appears to be corrected and tightened…for now. We gotta get to warmer weather soon.

So we got into Demopolis safe and sound and were able to plug into shore power and fire up all the heaters and stay nice and toasty.

Unfortunately when we left the dock at Columbus the wind pushed us a little too far to the port (left side) dock and sheared off a vent for that side fuel tank. Soooo, of course it is almost impossible to get to on the inside of the boat to replace it. Michael has spent yesterday and still today trying to work in a space that only a very small infant can reasonable fit in. He has come up with some pretty ingenious ways to maneuver the line with a little fitting into and out of a little hole in the engine room and on the side of the boat to replace the vent fitting.

Jeez! What a process, but Mikegyver was able to get it done as the sun is going down. Now he says there are two more for the black water tanks on the other side that need to be replaced as well. Nope not today!

We took a little break yesterday as I was sure Michael was going to murder the boat because he was so frustrated with the vent. So we took the loaner car out to Walmart to get much warmer gloves and got take a tour of a Demopolis historic house.

Gaineswood was constructed over 18 years from 1843 to 1861 by Nathan Bryan Whitfield. The house has many elaborate suites with domed ceilings. Whitfield was a cotton planter who married twice. He and his first wife, who was his first cousin, had 12 children. After her death Whitfield married another of his cousins and had one daughter with her.

The house is decorated with essentially original furnishings that were in possession of many relatives that have donated them back to the historical society. The house is massive and really ornate in the additions of elaborate ceiling moldings, columns and original wallpaper in several rooms.

This looks like it would be the front of the house, where in reality it is not. Every side of this house has an elaborate entrance that could be considered the “front”.

Welp, that about covers this portion of the journey. We will be here until Sunday December 8th. We are staying here a few days extra because Demopolis is having their holiday celebrations this weekend. Tonight there is a BBQ championship competition just across the river, less than a mile away. All the BBQ and beer you can consume for only $5.00! Hope we don’t freeze getting to and back from there.

On Saturday night there is a lighted boat parade down the river that everyone says is spectacular, so we’re staying for that too. Some of the floats are being assembled here and are parked along the marina.

When we leave we are scooting down the river to anchor in a little hidey hole for a couple of days of bad weather then another couple of days to get into Mobile, AL and into the Gulf of Mexico…finally. There are only 2 more locks to get to Mobile. It looks like weather will start to straighten out by the end of next week. I hope so.

Thanks for following us as ‘THIS is what’ travels America’s Great Loop. Touch back soon. Love to all, Gina and Mike