THURSDAY
TOTAL MILES TRAVELED TODAY: 47 NM
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE QUERREY!! WOO, THE BIG 50!
Our anchor held fast and we had a blissfully calm and quiet night, free of tows and threatening weather fronts. After taking time to appreciate the rising sun’s promise of another day, we pulled up the anchor and were passing under the Natchez Trace Highway Bridge by 7:30.
THE SUNRISE HOLDS THE PROMISE OF A NATCHEZ TRACE HIGHWAY BRIDGE
NEW DAY
The 450 mile long Natchez Trace Highway has a rich history. It follows the route of the historic Natchez Trace that began as an Indian trail and was later used by traders, missionaries and soldiers to connect from Natchez, MS to Jackson MS then on to Nashville, TN. In the late 1700s, flatboats delivered their wares down the Mississippi, were sold for the lumber then the operators would use the trail for their long journey back to their frontier homes. The Trace Highway follows this path and, in places, glimpses of the original rutted trail can still be seen.
By 10:00 we had made our passage from the Tennessee River, through Yellow Creek and were entering the relatively straight, man-made Divide Cut canal section of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway (aka: Tenn-Tom). Contractor labored almost 8 years removing 150,000,000 cu. yards of earth to create this 27 mile long, 280’ wide and 12’ deep canal through which we now wandered.
THE DIVIDE CUT
Image via WikipediaConstruction on the Tenn-Tom began in 1972 and the waterway opened for commerce in January of 1985. This massive project took over 12 years, cost $2 billion, is 5 times longer and has a total lift 3.5 times greater than the Panama Canal. 307,000,000 cubic yards of earth were removed, 2.2 million cubic yards of concrete poured and 33,000 tons of steel were used. It is one of only two man-made projects that can be identified from space. That’s some undertaking!
Image via Wikipedia The canal opens into lovely Bay Springs Lake which spans 6,700 acres with 133 miles of shoreline. We crossed the lake then pulled into the last cove before the Jamie Whitten Lock and Dam and dropped anchor for the day. It was an early day for us, anchoring by 1:30 and having traveled only 47 NM. There was no cell service for research and the blog posting but I worked on the composition then did applied some oil to the wood in the pilot house while Dan began the dastardly chore of sanding and varnishing the outside wood railings.
OUR SAFE LITTLE ANCHORAGE
DAN APPLYING VARNISHJUDY OILING INSIDE WOOD
When our chores were done we dropped the dingy and putted over to the Bay Springs Visitors Center where we brushed up on our local history, chatted with the US Army Corps’ engineers, wandered the trail to an old dogtrot cabin, ogled the mighty dam then motored back to the Quest in our little dink. I told Dan that it was kind of like motoring around in a little convertible sports car.
BAY SPRINGS LAKE VISITORS CENTERTENN-TOM DIVIDE CUT CENTER
DOGTROT CABIN
I WISH, I WISH FOR WATER??
THE DAMN DAM CRANE
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