Iuka Mississippi – Aqua Yacht Harbor to Midway Marina in Fulton Mississippi
A vivid memory of Iuka Mississippi is a few years back when I jumped off a log at Double Island on the Tennessee River, landed on a stick that slid up alongside my ankle bone, which resulted in an infection that kept me almost entirely out of commission and in serious pain. By the time we got to Iuka we were looking for medical help and got a referral to a local clinic. Bob put me in a dock cart and wheeled me down the long pier to the courtesy car. Dad and Marlene were on board with us and being Paducah was in a dry county where they boarded, Dad who is enjoys a nip of scotch for his cocktail hour was resigned to a nip of vodka..cheap vodka at that as we had it on board just for making vodka cream sauce. By the time we got to Iuka we decided that as long as we had the courtesy car we had best make a liquor run as well…..a medicated Linda and a happy Dad sniffing and sipping a bit of scotch by nightfall……
This morning we left the lakes region and started down the 24 mile divide cut. This channel was dug as part of the Tenn-Tom connecting a series of rivers and lakes to give an alternate route to the Gulf of Mexico vs. taking the mighty Mississippi down. I took a picture of the view of the very straight channel that we follow and the page from the cruising charts, then in contrast showed a page from the lower part of the Tenn-Tom where we have hair-pin curves and oftentimes see the top of a sailboat mast just yards away from us but probably 3 miles ahead of us as we twist through the area.
We are just about ready to go through the Whitten Lock and Dam, with an 85' drop this is the ninth highest single lift lock in the U.S. and from now on "it's all down hill" as they say as we go from 414 above sea level to the Gulf of Mexico. It was probably 4 years ago when we had our friends George and Jessie with us, they had gotten on board in Knoxville and now we were heading toward Mobile. I had taken Veda L. through all the locks from the time we had left Stillwater, I cruised into the Whitten Lock talking to the lockmaster with comfort and ease. I picked the spot on the wall where I would lay our boat to tie onto the bollard. I shifted into reverse, Bob on the starboard deck said "Linda…you're comin' in too hot!" Well…..I had it in reverse which should slow us down and swing our stern to starboard, but hey…I was still going forward at about 5mph. This is a 600' long chamber and I had chosen to go to the 300' mark. Ooops…running out of chamber and still going forward…Bob jumps into the pilot house, turns the engine off and we switch places. I am throwing every fender we have over the starboard side, George is grabbing lines and getting them in position to loop any passing L pin or bollard once we slow down, Bob is sliding/grinding Veda L along the lock wall till we are rubbing the rub rail, to get our speed down. We finally get to the last 10' of the lock chamber, George has lassoed a pin, I have collapsed on the bow with an adrenaline rush, Bob takes the gear off the mount, reattaches it to the shift level (as it had spun off) and then he made me drive Veda L. out of the lock and into the next one 5 miles south….get back on the horse Linda!
We have three locks today and we are now on our way thru our 3rd at about 3:15 this afternoon, tonight is Midway Marina which has a nice manmade pond with a good running track around it. I made homemade bread sticks this afternoon to compliment Bob's homemade Pesto/spaghetti dinner, he made the Pesto from our garden! Bob and I both did a nice run before dinner, the rain actually stopped for the night!
We had a nice dinner, then retired to the aft deck as lots of people stopped by to admire Veda L…and Buddy! I had my pirate jug on the table in front of me, a boater asked what was in the jug, I said "Mt Gay Rum..of course!" He said "you run and then drink straight rum?" I replied, "I wouldn't want to screw up a good rum with coke!" I think I will be remembered as the 1st mate who drinks straight rum from a pirate jug… That be me! LIFE IS SWELL ON VEDA L!
