Jamie Whitten Lock, Wednesday, October 22

Wednesday, October 22

After we departed Bay Springs the first challenge we faced was the Jamie Whitten lock. The lock is immediately downstream from the marina so we called before leaving to make sure we could get through without waiting for a tow to clear.

Jamie Witten is the BIG DADDY of the locks on the Tenn Tom. Its 84-foot lift (actually a drop going south) is the highest on the waterway and is the 9^th highest single-lift lock on the US.

We would have loved to get a picture of this process.  We were too dam busy and are hesitant to grab pictures from the internet.  But search for the Jaimie Whitten Dam and there are photos that abound.

We motored into the lock, secured a line to one of the bollards and waited for the doors to shut. It looked pretty much like any other lock because the water level was the usual 10-15’ from the top of the lock.

Then they opened the valves and the water went down quickly and smoothly in about 20 minutes. The ride was impressive but remarkably uneventful. Once emptied, we were sitting in a 100 foot deep chamber feeling very small. It was a pretty exciting early-morning thrill.

We went through 2 additional locks, Montgomery and Rankin (each with a 30’ lift) before the day was done. Note: The locks on the Tenn Tom were originally labelled alphabetically by the Corps of Engineers. Once the waterway opened, they were renamed after politicians and other connected folks who were instrumental in getting legislation enacted.

We ended the some 19 miles later at Midway Marina in Fulton, MS.  The marina is owned by a couple who docked there one day, and decided to stay, buy the marina, and there they have been since. It was one of the best greetings we have had! 

As we made our way through the channel, and came upon the marina, folks saw our looper flag and yelled hey.

When we finally got to the dock, there were three guys to greet us, handle our lines, and get us secured.  One was the owner.  He was quite funny.  As were the rest of the guys. 

Early in our trip, we were cautious about trusting anyone else but us to tie our lines up to the dock.  Here, we could just tell that they had it down.

It was very nice. 

Later that day, 5 looper power boats came in.  One of the ladies that we met at Aqua came over to share with Tim their departure plan early the next morning. It was so nice of her to do that.

As usual, we tucked in and went to sleep.