Day 149: Usonian

Rosenbaum House

Frank Lloyd Wright built only one house in Alabama.  It's here in Florence and called the Rosenbaum House after its first owners.  They and their four young boys moved into the home in 1940.  This was in the midst of the Great Depression  when Wright's high end commissions had all but dried up.  He was expanding into middle class homes and the Rosenbaum's was his second of about sixty built.  He called his new and unique style Usonian--a portmanteau of U.S. and North American.

Wright Designs in Nellie's Galley

During the tour we learned that Wright sent one of his young students to supervise the home's construction.  Unfortunately, this being the young man's first home he made many rooky mistakes.  Our tour guide said Mr. Rosenbaum's letter to Mr. Wright, delineating all the mistakes, ran to six pages.  In 2002, before opening the home to the public, the city of Florence spent only (!) $600,000 correcting the mistakes.   

UNA Campus

Just north of downtown Florence is the very pretty campus of the University of North Alabama. 

Yesterday I mentioned that we turned right on the Tennessee River and are heading towards Nashville.  It has since been pointed out to me, by someone not so geographically challenged, that Nashville is on the Cumberland River and that we're headed to Chattanooga.  Chattanooga! Cool, we've always wanted to see Chattanooga ;-)

In Florence, Alabama.  No miles today and holding at 1778 miles.  DBH

Day 148: Right Turn Clyde

The Tenn-Tom Deadends into the Tennessee River

This morning, after two weeks and 470 miles, we reached the Tennessee River.  For the first time since leaving Mobile we actually had to make a choice: left to Chicago or right to Nashville.  Nellie went right.

Thanks to the Tennessee Valley Authority the river here is huge.  In fact the river is so wide it's called Pickwick Lake. 

Shades of Alaska--A Little Waterfall

We'd heard there was a professional bass tournament on the river today.  Little did we realize that it was taking place in Florence, today's destination.

Just Some of the 160 Bass Boats

Where's Nellie?  Florence, Alabama

In the Florence, Alabama Marina.  41 miles today and 1778 miles to date.  DBH

Day 147: Shilo

Bicki, Loaner Vehicle, and a Map of Shiloh

Today we cruised all the way from Mississippi to Tennessee.  Full disclosure, it was only two miles from Aqua Yacht Harbor, MS to Grand Harbor Marina, TN.

Daisies

Back in April 1861 a brash Army two star by the name of U.S. Grant, sailed into these same waters.  He led an army of 40,000 men in a bloody two day battle known as Shilo.  When the smoke cleared one quarter of his men were dead or wounded.  Confederate three star Albert Sidney Johnson and his 40,000 men suffered a similar fate.

The Union Flotilla at Pittsburg Landing in 1861

General Grant used the second boat on the right as his headquarters.

Pittsburg Landing Today

Shoaling meant that Grant could go no farther south on the Tennessee River than Pittsburg Landing.  Thanks to the TVA's locks and dams, Nellie will make it all the way to Chattanooga.

Cemetery Above Pittsburg Landing

More American lives were lost at Shilo than in any other previous battle.  This record was later eclipsed by other Civil War battles.

Cannon Overlooking the Hornet's Nest

The Confederates won the first day's battle when they captured over 2,000 Union soldiers at the Hornet's Nest. It was all for naught though as they couldn't press their advantage on the next day and instead retreated to better defend the railroad lines in Corinth. 

We hadn't planned to learn about Shilo today, but sure glad we did.

At the Grand Harbor Marina in Counce, TN.  Two whole miles today making the total thus far 1737. DBH

Day 146: Siamo Arivati (We Have Arrived)

Morning in the Coot Bay Anchorage

What a difference!  After the narrow confines and rapid river currents of the last few weeks, Bay Springs Lake is our first taste of this cruising promised land.  The lake is wide, deep, tranquil and chock full of great anchorages. 

The Tenn-Tom Cut

Once through Bay Springs Lake the man-made cut to the Tennessee River begins.

Railroad Bridge

A few bridges help breakup what is otherwise a pretty monolithic landscape.

Big Coal Carrying Barges

A skippers only two jobs are to keep the water out of the boat and the boat off the rocks.  To accomplish the latter, good charts are critical.  We learned today that not all electronic charting programs are created equal. 

Below is a screen shot of a Garmin chart for Aqua Marina in Pickwick Lake.  See where the rocks are?  Me either.

Garmin: Pretty Lame--Not a Single Depth Reading

Here's the same area of Pickwick Lake shown on a Navionics chart.  Ah, I see rocks just to the north of the finger piers.  This chart is from a $10 app running on an Android phone.  Gotta love it.

Navionics Charts

A short 37 mile day to Iuka, Mississippi.  Total miles under the keel is now 1735.  DBH

Day 145: Locking, Locking, Locking...

Sunrise on the Tenn-Tom

We're off early as there are miles to go before we sleep.

Passing Miss Lilly

How's your Algebra?  If Nellie is going 7.2 mph and Miss Lilly is going 6.2 mph in the same direction, how long will it take Nellie's bow to travel the combined 528' length of Miss Lilly and her barges?  Answer, 6 minutes.  It felt like an eternity though.

Roadblock Exiting Aberdeen Lock

Nellie gets no respect.  Exiting Aberdeen lock our path was all but blocked by a huge fuel barge.  I wanted to push it out of the way.  Bicki suggested we go around it.  We compromised by scowling at the crew as we skirted their bow ;-)

At the Top of Fulton Lock

There's a pecking order for who gets to go through a lock first: (1) military vessels; (2) commercial passenger vessels; (3) commercial tows; (4) commercial fishing vessels; and (5) recreational vessels.  Like I said, Nellie gets no respect.

Entering Whitten Lock

The Tenn-Tom locks are 110' wide by 600' long.  Most have a 30' lift except for Whitten which has a 90' lift.  That makes Whitten's the forth largest lift in the US.

Closing Doors in Whitten

We quickly traversed seven locks today thanks to Bicki's expert communications with the (all male) lock tenders.  We don't believe Nellie's expedited handling is in any way attributable to the fact that Bicki's was the only female voice on the Marine VHF for hundreds of miles around.  But, just in case we're wrong,  Bicki will now be handling all communications with tug skippers too. 

We made 80 miles today and climbed 270' vertically.  That puts the cruise's total at 1698 miles.  Nellie's snugly  anchored in the jaw-dropping-gorgeous Coot Cove, Bay Springs Lake, Mississippi.  What a great culmination to a very interesting day on the water.  DBH

Day 144: Better Safe than Sorry

How Pretty.  Yet Another Storm!

"Don't mess with Mother Nature.", is the mantra by which we live.  Today's weather radar showed lots of pretty colors coming our way so we stayed tied to the dock.

USA Today just wrote an article on the Great Loop.

Stennis Dam Floodgates are Open

The river current we'll see is directly related to (1) how much elevation change there is between the current lock's head height and the next lock's tail height, and (2) the distance between the locks.  Our current lock, Stennis, has a head height of 163.3'.  The next lock, Aberdeen, has a tail height of 164.0'.  In the 34 mile run between the two locks Nellie will go uphill 8".  There shouldn't be much current.  For comparison, between the 28 miles between Beville and Stennis, Nellie climbed 60" and saw 3mph currents.  Big difference!

Weather looks good for an o-dark-thirty departure tomorrow morning.  Still in Columbus, Mississippi.  Holding at 1618 miles.  DBH

Day 143: Queue the Locusts

Nellie's at the Tip of the Arrow (Getting Hammered)

We survived--I'm not sure what else to call it-- this morning's storms.  For about four hours it was dark as night, pouring rain, with lightening strikes all around.  Now the creeks are flooding and some roads are underwater.  Good thing we live on a boat.  Curiously though, animals, two-by-two are lining up at the bulwark door...

Carla's Egg Sized Hail

All this weather reporting in Nellie's blog has me wondering if I'm being melodramatic.  Maybe, maybe not.  Here's a picture of Carla Davis, Columbus Marina, with two of the hail stones that pelted the marina night before last.  Yea, they look like eggs but the broken car windshields say they're not.

Pretty in Green and Brick

I spent the morning in the marina's office chatting with T Davis and his daughter Carla.  T said the going rate for towing disabled cruising boats is $150/hr during the day and $200/hr at night.  T has been on the Tenn-Tom all his life and has a ton of stories.  Mostly his tales are about clueless individuals doing stupid things--"Hey honey, the river is flooding.  Let's go boating."  He also had some cautionary tales.  A 40+' DeFever, owned by an experienced couple, rolled over in the wake of a tugboat.  It's suspected that the DeFever was flooding and in the tug's wake it heeled, free surface effect did the rest.

What a surprise is Columbus, Mississippi.  It's vibrant, pretty and the childhood home of Tennessee Williams.

Tennessee Williams Home

It was settled via land grants, some going to solders who visited the area during the War of 1812.  Cotton was king and it was shipped down to Mobile on the Tombigbee.

Water on the Rose

The antebellum houses are plentiful and gorgeous.

One of Many 1830's Houses

At the Columbus Marina, MM335, Columbus, Mississippi.  No miles today and holding at 1618 for the trip.  DBH