Fulton Lock to Columbus Marina, Mississippi

November 6, 2001 - Fulton Lock to Columbus Marina, Mississippi

We were advised to leave early for the Fulton lock, which was only a few minutes away, so we left at 7:00. It had gotten VERY cold during the night. We found a northbound tow coming through and 5 boats waiting to lock through. It would be our first time to lock through with lots of other boats - oh, well. The green light flashed and we all marched in like little soldiers and lined up along the wall. Joanne manned the boat hook on the bow to keep us off the wall - Wendy the bollard midway and Bert held the line on the stern. Looks like we'll be locking through all day with these boats, as we all travel about the same speed. One little one left us in the dust, so we won't see him again. The boats are the Tesaro - large, beautiful, a trawlerPart 3 Photos

We have to go through 4 locks today. Fulton, Wilkin, Amory and Aberdeen. Each of these locks will drop us about 30 feet. It is a lovely, sunny day, and all the locks proved to be pretty easy and uneventful . Whew! Glad that is over for today. I must admit that I still get a few butterflies in my stomach when we go through the locks. The first ones we went through were so hard as it was raining, blowing, and so cold. Maybe these are easier because the sun is out and it's warmer, or because we've gotten better at it.

We tried to go shopping in Columbus Ms., after we arrived at the Columbus Marina, but taxi they called for us never showed up. After waiting an hour, the Marina owner told us to take his diesel truck but be back by 7:00, as he had 3 more boats coming in that would like to use it. When we arrived downtown we could see that there were a lot of cute shops, but they were all closed, except one, who let us browse a bit. We did buy a few little things, and went to an early dinner at a local spot, Ruebans, and had catfish. It was similar to Hudsons in Hilton Head. It is very cold again tonight, so we turned on the furnace and went to bed early.