View Larger MapDelayed Posting for June 7, 2009
Location: 34 34 39.00 N, 86 33 33.00 W – Ditto Landing Marina – Huntsville, Alabama

We got an early start for our first day cruise with our new cruising buddies. We called the Wilson Lock at 7:00 AM for their availability for a lock-thru. The lockmaster said to make the run now so we were off the dock at 7:15 AM and in the lock around 7:30 AM. If we were impressed with the 82 ft lift on the Tenn-Tom we were awestruck with this 93 ft lift. This is the highest lift on the Tennessee and was once the highest single lift in the world but now ranks sixth in the US. Construction of the Wilson dam began in 1918 and was completed in 1925. At the time it was the world’s largest dam.

We then had a 20 mile run to the Wheeler lock for a 72 ft lift to bring us to nearly 600 ft elevation. Rather than anchor tonight we decided to run about 80 miles to Huntsville to stay a couple of days to tour the Space and Rocket Center, the world’s largest space museum. We hope to bring you some details and photos tomorrow.

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The river is very wide and does not wander as did the ten-Tom so we felt like we were making progress. The shore line is also more developed than on the Tenn-Tom and we saw a variety of sights along the river. It was Sunday so there was more boat traffic than we have seen since we left Florida Along the way we saw the Browns Ferry nuclear plant with its unique spire. The spire is not a cooling tower. It is designed to provide lightening protection for the plant.
We saw another lift span railroad bridge that had a 10 ft clearance in the down position and lifted for us upon request. As we approached the bridge we had to chuckle. We were talking on the radio to the bridge operator and we actually were able to understand what he was saying.
He spoke in a very heavy Alabama twang. So while he was “fixing” to lift the bridge we were fortunate that we had lots of practice listening to our dear Florida friend Nancy. We also saw the Meow Mix plant in Decatur. Most folks have seen their ads on TV.

Mac enjoys driving so he gave Tom an opportunity to relax and do some other tasks on today’s trip. Mac’s had plenty of help to get him through the day. This photo of Tom and Mary was taken at Tennessee mile marker 326 which is the mid-point of the Tennessee River between Peducah, KY where the river joins the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers and just east of Knoxville where the Tennessee River begins.