Night 2 Anchored out on the Tenn-Tom

November 6, Monday Somewhere on the Tenn-Tom

Our travel days were suddenly shortened on Sunday – no more day light savings so we now have to be done with our travels by 5pm if we want to see where we are going. We are already missing that extra hour.

Yesterday we would have stayed at a well-regarded marina in historical Columbus, MS, but anchored out instead since we just couldn’t make it before dark. Today we stopped to visit friends Jim and Andrea on State of Bliss as we moved along the river and as a result cut it close making it to a recommended (deep enough) anchorage. So early to bed…etc, is the new goal.

Our travels yesterday took us through 4 locks and we met sailor Dan on the way to the third one (Amory). We are always happy to see him again after initially meeting him in Joliette IL and seeing him again in a number of other stops. He travels slowly, but keeps on going, whereas we stop now and then for a few days and eventually catch up to him again. He rafted to us in the lock which gave me the opportunity to make him a sandwich as we were having lunch.

The scenery was again lovely, particularly when the sun came out. We saw a family in a small bay with a shallow center – looked like they were walking on water. The boat ahead of us is Sweet Liberty – we are traveling about the same path lately.

We anchored at McKinley Creek Cut-off, mile 348. We decide where to anchor based on recommendations from a few written guides, plus comments from previous visitors found in the Active Captain app most of the loopers use. Very helpful! The anchorage was beautiful and I saw the milky way around 8pm and the full moon around 10!

Today we went through a couple of locks as well as visiting friends as mentioned earlier. Wish I had thought to take some photos of them! So, more here sights along the way.