Day 6 Saw A Rocket Ship

The forecast was calling for scattered thunder showers, and when I left Pickwick State Park this morning it was cloudy. As the day when on, the sun came out the temperatures were in the low 80’s. It turned out to be a really enjoyable day on the water. Not a drop of rain all day!

My unconventional luggage. I didn’t bother explaining when folks did a double take .

As I was checking out this morning an antique car club traveling from Texas headed to North Carolina was checking in.

J.P. Coleman State Park in Mississippi. I had considered spending a night there, rooms are really reasonable.

Traveling up river in Alabama I see this huge ship coming. I take a couple pictures, wave at the captain, then google it. My picture just doesn’t capture the scale of this ship. It was big! This is what I found:
Delta Mariner is a cargo ship operated by Foss Maritime for United Launch Alliance. Its primary role is transporting components for the Boeing Atlas V and Delta rockets from the manufacturer, located in Decatur, Alabama, to launch facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The ship is designed for shallow inland waterways as well as the open ocean and is capable of carrying up to three 160-foot (49 m) long Delta IV Common Booster Cores.

I really was hoping to go into Muscle Shoals Alabama today. I had watched a really good documentary recently on Netflix about Muscle Shoals Alabama and the music recording studios there. Unfortunately there was no access.

On the other side of the river Florence Alabama, They had very nice marina. But when I called the lock couple of miles up river and they told me I’d had better hurry that there was a double barge about to go through. So I was unable to check out Florence.

I traveled through two locks today I had been looking forward to the first one Wilson Lock. Wilson Lock is located in the northwest corner of Alabama. It is the highest single lift lock east of the Rocky Mountains with a normal lift of between 93 and 100 feet! Again my pictures just don’t capture the scale.

This is the view after the chamber has been filled with water raising the boat 100 foot.

I have never seen this many fish on a fishfinder. Too bad you can’t fish inside of the locks.

Wilson Lake was a very nice deep water lake. Its shores were lined with many large homes. It reminded me a lot of Lake Norman back in Charlotte.

I joined a yacht club.

Tonight I’m staying at Joe Wheeler State Park in Alabama. So far this has been my favorite State Park of the trip.

The other state parks l have been to have courtesy docks for day use only. The marinas are adjacent, so you have to tie off your boat, then they drive you next door to the Park. Joe wheeler has enough dockage in front that you can tie up and walked into your room. This picture is taken from my room.

Today I traveled approximately 75 miles today. This makes 625 miles so far. I feel like I’m getting in the groove!

Wilson Reservoir
The construction of Wilson Dam began in 1918, a year after the United States entered World War I. The federal government built two nitrate plants at Muscle Shoals for the making of explosives, and Wilson Dam was constructed to supply the electricity needed to power the plants. TVA acquired Wilson Dam in 1933.

The site features a network of hiking and walking paths, including Old First Quarters Small Wild Area, named after a complex that housed engineers during Wilson’s construction. Small feeder creeks run through the natural area, forming an ideal habitat for a variety of ferns, including the walking fern, a rarity in Alabama.

Visitors enjoy camping, boating, and fishing at Wilson Reservoir. The area is known as the Smallmouth Capital of the World for the trophy smallmouth bass caught there.

Wilson Reservoir, together with Pickwick and Wheeler reservoirs, covers the treacherous Muscle Shoals, which once blocked navigation on the Tennessee River.