Day 115 – Joe Wheeler State Park to Florence, AL - October 29, 2011

After eight nights at Joe Wheeler, we finally departed!  The morning was foggy (as we suspect many mornings will be for the next few weeks) and we departed as the fog was just starting to lift.  The miles we have to travel today are small (under 20) but we have two locks to go through.  We left just after 8:00am to arrive at the first lock after one tow went through, but before the next one got there.  We locked through with five other pleasure boats.  After exiting the lock and traversing Wilson Lake, we arrived at the Wilson Lock.  Contact with the lockmaster revealed that we would need to wait about two hours as he was locking through a split tow (check out Day 55, August 30 for more details about split tows).

Just over two hours later the tow is through and the lockmaster is refilling the lock so we can lock through.  Our group has grown by three more boats so there are nine pleasure boats to lock down.  Twenty minutes later we hear from the lockmaster again.  He is having mechanical problems with the lock and he has called in the maintenance person.  Apparently one of the valves in the lock is not closing properly and the lock is not filling.  Fortunately the maintenance person is close by and the lock is back to functioning relatively quickly.  Our total wait time for the Wilson Lock was just over three hours.

We arrived at the Florence Harbor Marina just after 2:00pm, got the boat secured and headed off with John and Rita from Brandy IV to Office Max, WalMart and the liquor store.  We had dinner at the marina restaurant where we enjoyed awesome live music with our pizza and beer.  The Muscle Shoals area (of which Florence is part) is a spot that is well known in the music recording world.  Many well know songs were recorded in Muscle Shoals.  In fact, W.C. Handy, “Father of the Blues” was actually born in Florence.  If the talent we heard during dinner is any example, it isn’t hard to see why musicians come here to work together and record great music. 
 
            Miles: 18.9      Bridges: 3        Locks: 2

fall colors on Wilson Lake

looking at the back wall of the Wilson Lock

Julaine tending the wall while locking through
Wilson Lock

Loopers exiting the Wilson Lock