Joe Wheeler State Park

We moved from Florence Thursday, September 29.  While we were fueling, we heard a downbound pleasure craft call Wilson Lock to request lockage.  The lockmaster replied that he was bringing down a tow and the downbound pleasure craft would be next.  Since we were only about a mile from the lock, we called immediately, hoping we could go up after the tow came through, as the lock was filling for the pleasurecraft.  The lockmaster told us to come right up and we could go after the tow. He didn't mention that the tow was too big to go through in one trip and it would be 3 hours before the barges came down, were secured below the lock, the lock would be filled, the tow would come down, reattach to its load, and be on its way.  In this picture, you can see the tug 100 feet above its barges.

Are we complaining?  No Way!  If it wasn't for the commercial traffic there would be no locks and this trip would not be possible.  Besides, we were on our boat on the Tennessee River, the sun was shining, and herons were flying around us.

According to the Army Corps of Engineers, Wilson Lock is the highest single lift lock east of the Rocky Mountains, with a lift between 93 and 100 feet.  We expected it to take a long time, but it fills very quickly (read "turbulence") and didn't take any longer than some of the smaller locks.

 A little under 20 miles and one more lock (Joe Wheeler Lock, with a lift of "only" 57 feet) and we arrived at Joe Wheeler State Park, where the America's Great Loop Cruisers' Association will have the fall rendesvous in 3 weeks.  We look forward to meeting loopers we haven't run across and reuniting with those we've met, plus learning more about the rest of the route.  Marc and Michele from Marc's Ark II caught lines for us.  We went to the lodge restaurant, named Daniella's after Joe Wheeler's wife, for dinner then visited aboard Marc's Ark.

General Joe Wheeler was a planter who answered the call to duty during the War of Northern Aggression.  After the Civil War ended, he returned to this area.  He was called back into service during the Spanish-American War, when the powers-that-be in Washington decided a southern officer was needed to encourage southerners to enlist.  Thus Joe Wheeler served as a general in the Confederate Army as well as in the Army of the United States.