Wed, Sept 7 to Fri, Sept 9, 2011 – Columbus, MS, anchorage at mile 331.3 on Tenn-Tom

We had a much shorter day in mind with less than thirty miles to travel and only two locks. We enjoyed the morning and lingered until 9:30 am when we hauled up the hook and left Blue Bluff. It was mostly sunny, with a north wind around 10 mph and 62°F. The air felt wonderfully dry and crisp as we set out.

 













It was another day of having the river mostly to ourselves. Again, there was no waiting for lockages. Before 4 pm, we had chosen a nice spot to anchor near Riverside Park in Columbus, Mississippi, but before throwing the anchor in, we decided to tie up to the little pier at the park and walk into town. “Town” was up the ridge in the park and across the street.

 













We walked around the area and browsed a couple of the retail shops before they closed. There was a liquor store that stayed open until 10 pm so we made a note and continued our walk. Before returning to the park, we picked up a bottle of wine and rum at the little liquor store.

The bridge in the picture opened in the 1820’s and was the only direct route from Jackson, MS to Columbus, MS, for many years. It was now a pedestrian bridge only.


 













After our walk, we moved the boat out to anchor a few hundred yards from the pier. It was nice to leave the noise from the cars on the bridge and have a little more privacy away from the little pier.

Late Wednesday afternoon we learned that Maureen’s dear Uncle Jake passed away from a heart attack while driving in his car. Fortunately, he was in town and able to maneuver the car into and through a parking lot before he died and he and the vehicle came to rest without damaging any property or hurting anyone along the way. He will be sadly missed indeed.

On Thursday, we walked up to the Farmers’ Market and found only one vendor left. He had some plants for sale which we were not interested in, but he told us to come back again on Saturday morning for lots of variety.

Maureen tried the new river walk – a wide concrete sidewalk through the park and along the river that runs for 2.2 miles. It was exactly long enough for a one hour brisk walk in the shade of the trees. Gale got out his bicycle and rode the few miles to Walmart to pick up a few items.

Thursday afternoon we looked out and saw Motu coming into our anchorage. We had talked to Mo yesterday and discovered she was at the marina in Columbus. We let her get settled and spent a couple more hours on our boat finishing up with what we had started before taking the dinghy over to Motu and sharing Happy Hour with Mo and her dog, Honey. We met Mo at Waterfall Cove in the fall of 2009 and then saw her again at the same spot in May of this year.

Friday was another wonderful fall day – sunny, cool (in the upper 70’s) and dry air. We took advantage of the weather and did another great walk about.