Leaving Clifton was a little scary just like in 2012. Easy Water left before dawn. They have a schedule to keep and are meeting friends at their home port of Florence, AL. It will be a long day. We, on the other hand are trying not to beat ourselves up and are breaking it down into a two day journey. We waited until around 0800 to depart and thought there would be no problem. The air was chilly and fog forms when the chilly air meets the warmer water but things looked clear in the marina and as we entered the river. However once we had gone a few miles there was a solid bank of fog blanketing the river. The kind of fog that you can become disoriented in. We entered with trepidation and tried to steer using the chartplotter which has a sail line that is a suggested path to mariners. We were praying no tows were in there as they follow the sail line religiously. I had failed to turn on the radar this morning as there seemed no need. It takes two minutes to warm up and that was the longest two minutes you ever saw. I radioed Steve to move up and take the lead as his electronics are newer and more sophisticated. He eased up and passed us as we proceeded. Thankfully before we got to the famous Natchez Trace Bridge the fog suddenly lifted and we were saved. This had to be a similar feeling to what happened to JFK Jr. except he had two more dimensions to worry about. We had 360 degrees of worry on one level with a bridge up ahead. That was enough for us. How Easy Waters made it through early this morning before the sun came out to burn off the fog I do not know. That would have been some white knuckle driving and you are supposed to sound a fog horn every minute. Our old Gibson houseboat had a device that automatically sounded the foghorn when activated but Cbay is missing that feature. Would have been nice to have.
Now here is a person that is building a river house and takes that flood business seriously. They will be worn out just getting to the door.
This overgrown ante bellum mansion is the Cherry Mansion. It was General Ulysses S. Grant’s headquarters during the battle of Shiloh.
This well manicured modern mansion is next door to the Cherry Mansion and was built to ressemble it in many details.
This is all you can see of the Shiloh National Battlefield on the opposite side of the river. It is called Pittsburg Landing but there is no place to land a boat today. The National Cemetery is just beyond those trees. We toured the whole thing in 2011 on the Loop and you can go back in the archives to see it. Should be October 30, 2011, titled “Bow your heads for these brave men…”.
We went through Pickwick Lock and turned to starboard toward our destination Pickwick Landing State Park which puts us back in Alabama. It was a wonderful facility and we fueled up on diesel and food. That is Jan and Steve sitting at the table. Now I really am getting suspicious. Lol!
This is our driver Ricky who picked us up for dinner and brought us back. A nice kid. He works the front desk at the lodge.
Another day in the Log and we are ready to relax and turn in. You can see both boats in the background.
