Counce,TN to Guild,TN

Home at Last!
After 735 miles and 16 locks, PlayDough arrived at Hales Bar Marina at 1:30 pm on Mar. 13, 2008. There were distinct differences in the last leg of the trip. The waters changed from the narrow murky rivers to the wide clear chain of lakes on the TN. The banks got steeper and the number of houses increased. Oh yes, and the price of diesel fuel increased as well. Our cheapest fuel was $3.15 per gallon at Demopolis, AL and Hales Bar Marina's price was $3.89 when we arrived.
PlayDough will sit at Hale's Bar for a while. We'll be making weekend trips to the boat while we're cleaning and arranging things. We'll be doing some short cruises in the Chattanooga area. There are some maintainence items to get done and some more gadgetry that I want to install before we start venturing out long distances.




"One of the many Homes along the TN River"

"Cliffs Along the TN River"

"Approaching Hales Bar Marina"

Demopolis, AL to Counce, TN

The second leg of the trip is complete! That's 500 miles down and 215 to go. We've also been through 12 locks at this point. During this leg we experienced some overnight temperatures in the 27-28 degree range. Since our generator picked this time to go on the blink, which means "No Heat", we pulled into marinas in Aberdeen and Fulton, MS. We plugged up to shorepower and stayed warm. We encountered the largest vessels of our trip in the Mobile shipping area and the smallest on this leg, a single kayak headed south.

*F-N-B (For Non Boaters), I'll explain the inverter installation that's being done while at Grand Harbor Marina. This system will use two big 8D batteries to store power. The actual inverter will convert this DC power to AC power for our use. This should allow us, while anchored, to watch TV, use the computer and small appliances for several hours without cranking the generator. While connected to shorepower or running the generator, the inverter will recharge this battery bank. All this will be done automatically by the new system.

One of the Twelve Locks

Playdough tied up at Midway Marina

Headed South for "Spring Break"