Pickwick Lake is bordered by Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. It is a reservoir created by Pickwick Landing Dam built in the 1930s as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal to overcome poverty and the Great Depression. This is the land of electricity by water and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
All along the Great Loop and of course at home, Nature has been radically altered by humankind.
Ed and I are preparing to complete American’s Great Loop. Last year, after Ed’s retirement, we finished 5000 miles on our trawler, Finito, and have 1000 more to go before “crossing our wake” in Stuart, Florida.
In the coming days we must begin our journey down the 234 mile artificial Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway from the area around Iuka, Mississippi to Demopolis, Alabama. The first lock drops 84 feet, the remaining nine about 30, and then there are two more locks before we arrive at Mobile, Alabama. As fist mate I will be outside handling the lines.
It will be cold!
How did Ed and I meet up with Father Winter rather than staying ahead of him? Well, I told Ed that if we halted our journey on the Loop and went home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and especially were there for my mother and my book launch of A Pictorial History of Palm City, Florida, I would accompany him down the “Tenn-Tom” even in winter. So here I am at Aqua Marina in Counce, Mississippi in January!
We have been here for seven days. It has been so cold we decided to wait for things to warm up. That was not in Mother Nature’s cards, last night it snowed!
It has been a challenge keeping warm and dealing with cold boat related mishaps like a busted water line, a coolant leak, and heater issues but we are good. We are learning. We are a team.
I feel quite happy. It is so beautiful. Outside looks like an Andrew Wyeth painting.
Believe it or not, there are two Great Blue Herons flying around, a raft of American coots swimming around, and a small blackish-brown song bird that landed on Finito today. Gulls are also flying about and every once in a while a hear the honk of my friends the Canadian Geese!
Okee has a full fur coat so she is fine, always keeping me company. She does miss Luna…
Being “stuck” in this area has been reflective and educational. The Battle of Shiloh and the siege of Corinth were major battles of the American Civil War that occurred just a few miles from where we are docked. Shiloh battlefield tours take you to the sites of these epic struggles.
It is hard to imagine all that has occurred right here in this little town including the Trail of Tears in the 1830s about thirty years before the Civil War.
I am sure there will be more reminders of our country’s difficult past along the way- not to mention turning on the television. But today, I am thankful for the newness and promise of the snow.
Wishing you and your family well and I will be writing if my hands aren’t too frozen.
