Wednesday September 14: At Anchor near Hefflin Dam and Lock

The extra day spent at Smithville was refreshing! After working through the leaky fuel tank and the storm rolling through shortly before our arrival, both of us were ready for an extra day of sitting!

We were up the next morning searching for a place for breakfast so as to start the day off right ...

A tornado when through this area a number of years ago - it was so weird searching on google maps for a restaurant. Clicked on Mel's Diner and all there was for a picture of a cement pad where Mel's Diner was before the tornado.

Took a chance and drove over to it (5 miles in the marina loaner car). Sure enough Mel's Diner was there! But closed :-(  There was literally almost nothing around.

Weirdest thing was the lack of trees - due to the tornado of course. So back we went to the boat to have breakfast in. Then one of the local liveaboards told us to try going to Amory. A bit farther - in the opposite direction - but definitely there were several breakfast places. We settled on Huddle House.


This small town was the site of a visit by President Franklin Roosevelt on his special train - the Frisco steam engine number 1529. For some info on the train and it's history, click here.

Monday morning we left early again for a 6 hour trip to Columbus, MS.

This was a longer day than we had originally planned but we kind of like the pattern we've been in lately: travel a longer day then stay for a second day.

Seems more relaxing that way! Plus we can avoid traveling during the afternoon when it is really warm - even on the water -especially when Steve has me up and moving early :-)

But then when the water temperature is almost 90 what expectations could there be for any cooling effect from the water??


There seems to be endless entertainment along the rivers. But I also wonder sometimes as we have now traveled a little over a thousand miles since we left Chicago. Where did the hours go?

Maybe it just doesn't require much to entertain us anymore ..... like a bunch of buzzards perched on an electric tower :-)

Or having a Walmart Supercenter around!

Or FINALLY finding a real Chinese Restaurant!!



It happened in Columbus Mississippi - we went to the restaurant twice in two days. I suspect the lady who asked Steve 'weren't you here yesterday?' thought we were a bit odd. But then maybe 5 1/2 months traveling on a 36' boat will do that to a person :-)

The Columbus marina was great! Again a courtesy car at our beck and call as we were the only transient boaters boat in.

And as always, the marina folks were so nice.

The second day we took a drive to the Waverly Mansion completed in 1852 - a short time before the Civil War.

It has a very interesting history which can be read by clicking here.


This is the view from the brick gate see in the picture above. Really an amazing place.

Home to a 250 year old magnolia tree - maybe Matt and Wendy's in CA will grow this large!!

View from the front entrance.

View from the second floor.

Steve's favorite part might have been the turkeys and peacocks :-)

So it's now Wednesday and I realize it was going to again be a long day - but really? We're in the lock as the sun is coming up?

It's another 120 miles of Demopolis (where we'll stay several weeks) so the sooner we go the sooner we get there.

This is what Steve tells me as he's once again waking me up :-)

It's another unbelievable day on the water. A light mist as we leave the lock.

The reflections were so amazing that I seemed to not be able to stop taking pictures.

The trees are starting to show signs of fall as we continue south.

As we went through the next to last lock today we saw the snagboat Montgomery. Snagboats removed snags, underwater trees, stumps or branches that created obstructions to river navigation on a daily basis. These boats would remove approximately 120-170 snags per day!

Last time down the rivers we stayed at a marina nearby and visited the visitor center here. It was very well done. For information about this National Historic Landmark, click here.




Last lock of this 9 1/2 hour day as we moved downriver to the Hefflin Dam and Lock. Our anchorage for the night was below the lock and back towards the dam area. Beautiful spot - so quiet and peaceful.

This picture is from the morning we left - just to give an idea of how special this area is ....

Tomorrow: the last 50 miles to Demopolis and our 'home' for a few weeks :-)!!!!