Day 34 - October 17, 2012: On around to Ditto Landing Marina

Our trip back to Wheeler State Park took us back through Guntersville and the Guntersville Lock and Dam. Our day started out almost completely fogged in and we ran slowly concentrating on the chart plotter, radar and a sharp lookout. As it cleared, the fall color continued to reminded us of what we see on Spring Lake and around Michigan.

More fall color reflecting in the lake

We have been through many locks and remarkably had almost no waits longer than 20 minutes to get in. Today was our first with a two hour delay. This is not unusual as a tow locking through can take hours since the locks can only take a few of the tow's barges at a time. The tow has to dock, separate a few of the barges and put them in the lock. Once they are locked through, they must push them out, re-dock them and then return for another load until done. It takes real patience on the tow captain's part, the lock master's part, and the part of the waiting pleasure craft. Today's tow took two trips with four barges each time.

Ditto Landing Marina is very near Huntsville and the Space and Rocket Center; however, we have decided to take in Huntsville another time. The evening brought another of Anne's delicious dinners with salmon on the grill.

Sunset from our dock at Ditto Landing