The Tenn-Tom in all its glory

Three of the twelve locks are under our belts (keel), and we're sharing the waterway with lots of Great Loopers returning to their home ports after completing the circle (around Florida, up the east coast, west through Canada and the Great Lakes, south down the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, to the Tennessee River and the Tenn-Tom to Mobile and on back to Florida). There was a rally at Joe Wheeler Dam and Marina last weekend, so there's a lot of traffic from trawlers and cruisers.

We also share (or they share with us) the waterway with tugboats, pushboats and barges (this is the Diane Siegel), since this is a major commercial waterway. The operators of both the commercial boats and the locks are very courteous and helpful, and we sincerely hope all pleasure boaters will be the same.

For those who think the waterway is a long and boring ditch, this is our third trip on it in three different seasons, and it's still gorgeous!

Wet again and on the way!

The red grit is almost out of our ears, teeth, eyelashes, etc., and we've been splashed and are on our way again. Lee Spry is a wonderful working marina, with a great staff and owners. This was our second visit there, and we highly recommend it. We met some new best friends, Bill and Charlotte on Omega, who were also sanding, patching, and polishing their teeth with blue instead of red (he looks like Darth Vader and Papa Smurf). After sharing the courtesy truck for a final trip to Lowe's, we had a goodbye dinner on Omega.