Grand Harbor to Midway
The temps are slowly rising again and the forecast looks good. Enjoying these balmy days.
Better than expected, the scenery of the Tenn-Tom surprised us. The lake formed near the intersection of the Tennessee River with the Tenn-Tom canal is called Pickwick. Twelve locks control the water levels for flood protection and barge traffic access. We encountered 3 of those today: Witten Lock, Montgomery Lock, and Rankin Lock. The Witten Lock is the beast. We have traversed more than 110 locks on our journey thus far. Their sizes, shapes, and designs have been fascinating. I have said before that each seems to have its own personality or unique feature that makes it easy to remember. The Witten’s claim to fame is the vertical lift height.
There were several pleasure craft locking through with us. The mast on the boat to the left is 22′ high. Gives a perspective of how tall those doors are at each end. 
Water feeds through those doors in an out, when filling and emptying. 
Water spraying through the walls 
Friends took this picture during the lowering 
Look closely at Honey on the cockpit
We dropped 84’ down below the dam. The feeling coming into a lock isn’t overwhelming, but when the water starts draining and you (and your boat) are dropping so fast, it kind of gets you. To top it off, when you look up just before the gates open and see the 8-story walls surrounding you, your only goal is to get out of that hole!
The water depth when we entered 
The water depth when we exited
Dredges are another part of the adventure. We encountered these guys today, making the water passable.
The orange floats support the pipeline from the dredge to fill area over the levee where the silt is pumped. 
This littler boat was pushing the lines over so we could squeeze by.
We arrived at the Midway Marina about 4:30. Almost 10 hours behind the wheel, covering 51 NM. We took the time to stretch our legs around the marina and catch the sunset.
We closed our day hosting our newest friends, Greg & Pam Brockdorf. Their boat is the Salty Dog, a 34′ Marine Trader. Greg was a potato farmer in Indiana for most of his career. I had the chance to learn a little about growing potatoes and crop rotation. He had a smaller farm of 1,200 acres. They just started the Loop a few weeks ago. I have had the chance to encourage and help them a little, like many others did for me just a few short months ago. The learning curve is pretty steep, but early on especially, it is nice to hang with folks who have been doing this trip for a few months. We will miss them when we have to part ways in a few days, but hope to catch up somewhere South of here.