Free to a good home

We started back upstream yesterday.  It's upwind, upstream, and uphill back to Hales Bar.  Normal pool for Wheeler Lake is 556' above sea level.  Guntersville Lake is 595'. That 39' higher, and Nickajack Lake is 634' up another 39'.

It's good to know the exact level of each lake every day.  It changes.  There are "gauges" along the way, and their locations are marked on the charts.  I knew yesterday that Wheeler was 555', or one foot below normal pool.  When we got to the railroad lift bridge in Decatur, the chart showed it's "down position" clearance to be 9'-8" at normal pool.  With our antenna and anchor light down, we can get under just a little over 9'.  Would have been very close at normal pool, but since I knew we had an extra foot, I thought we could make it.  There were two other bigger boats waiting there for the bridge to lift.  I had heard the bridgemaster tell them over the radio that there were two more trains coming, and they would have to wait. We squeezed under and waved to the waiting boats as we passed.  Sometimes, smaller is better.

A lot of the points of interest here are concerning what we know as the "Civil War."  Down here it's know as "The War of Northern Aggression."  (See the previous comments about Yankees.)

This will probably be our last post on this trip.  We plan to anchor out a couple of nights, and then find our truck and trailer and head back home.  No more wifi available.

There's a boat in the marina where we are tonight (Tuesday).

 It's 82' long, and not too long ago it was free to a good home. 
 Bone Yard Boats
 Having restored several wood boats myself, I know how expensive "free" can be.