Grand Harbor Oct 25-27

We left Joe Wheeler this morning with a bunch of other boats.  An earlier group went together at sunrise.  We decided to take our time and leave after we did a pump-out (holding tank).  Bob (on Betty L) wasn't feeling real well and were not sure if they were going to stay until later in the day.  Bob got to feeling better and we left with them and a few other boats. We all got to the Wheeler lock and locked down together.  We pretty much stayed together until after Wilson Lock where most of the boats turned into the harbor at Florence, Al. 

By now, Bob was feeling much better and thought he might live after all, so we continued on to an anchorage halfway to Grand Harbor, our next marina destination.

The anchorage was at a place called the rock pile.  There were 3 large piles of rocks just off of the channel.  We arrived before Betty L and went in and anchored.  I took the required Dinghy ride and was taking pictures when Betty L arrived.

Betty L arriving

The water was very calm and the lighting was perfect to get the reflection of the boat and the trees.

Beautiful calm water.

On the way to Grand Harbor the engine synchronizer quit again.  Before, it wouldn't engage and I found the bracket on the starboard engine had come off.  After I reconnected it, it worked fine.  This time, when I engaged the synchronizer, the port engine would start to speed up and kept speeding up until I disengaged it.  If you look at the picture below, you can see a short drive cable from the front of the crankshaft to the 90 degree gear drive.  The cable has square ends on it like a speedometer cable.  One end was slipping, so it kept trying to speed up to catch the port engine.  I swapped ends and put it back in and it works great.  I did get one on order. $20 for a 2 in cable,  worse than buying a part for an airplane!!

 

At Grand Harbor we visited the Shiloh battlefield.  We went with Latitude Adjustment,  Betty L, Jade, and Gemini Dream.  Luckily we had a large van.  One of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War was fought here.  I also wanted to see the National Cemetery.  Someday I hope to be buried in the one in St. Louis.

 

 

 

 

We went out to eat at a Catfish place after we visited Shiloh.  The whole van load.



 

Crews of Jade, Betty L, Gemini Dream, Latitude Adjustment, Bucket List.

 

 

We had a get together on our boat to plan the trip down the Tenn-Tom. There was so many ideas floating around, I finally stopped taking notes and just asked Madeline from Betty L to give me a copy of the final plan.  She did!!

 

 

Sunset at Grand Harbor, Pickwick Lake

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