Day 42: Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Underway: 8:45 am Motor Off: 1:30 pm Miles Traveled: 23 Stayed At: Marina
First Things First: First time seeing turkey vultures eating road kill – efficient but kind of ugly; first antebellum homes from the Civil War era.
Mile 358 to Mile 335: After guiding Lauren Grace through the shallow water in the narrow channel leading to the main channel from the free dock, we both locked through the Aberdeen Lock and cruised downstream on another beautiful day. They were also going to the Columbus Marina but were soon far ahead of us – their props must not have been damaged by whatever they hit coming in last night. We passed the 1200 mile mark just after the Aberdeen Lock (we could have walked here faster but it wouldn’t have been as much fun).
The few jets we saw yesterday have turned into dozens of jets and other military aircraft flying over us across the river – our own mini-airshow. We are passing by the Columbus Air Force Base that now trains 1/3 of all new US Air Force pilots. The number of landing and takeoffs make this the nations busiest Air Force base – and it ranks up their with Chicago’s O’hair and Atlanta’s Hartsfield Field.
After a short, windy day we got to our planned destination -Columbus Marina – in time to get some projects done so we can be ready for the next four days with limited services between here and Demopolis, Alabama. We used the courtesy car to hit Walmart (there are a lot of them in the south – no wonder the Walton family is so rich) and took a quick road tour of some antebellum homes in the older part of Columbus. The homes were spared destruction during the Civil War because Columbus was used as a hospital town where injured soldiers from both the north and south were brought to get treatment. Hopefully we will get to go on a tour of one while we are in the south.
The juxtaposition between the ugly strip malls, gas stations, fast food restaurants and vacant storefronts we had to pass through from the Walmart and these architectural treasures is stunning. I don’t think anything built in the last 50 years will be considered a national treasure a hundred years from now. Our buildings are throwaway junk just like most of the products we buy. We live in a very ugly time (from a design and architectural point of view).
We got back just in time to participate in another docktails under the marina building (its on stilts) with fellow travelers we have met over the last few days (and hours). Even though severe weather is forecast, the sky was clear and the sunset was beautiful. We cooked dinner in the dark and retired to the boat as the bugs came out in droves.
Wild Things: Watching a 120’ motor yacht cruise down the river at 20 knots and come flying in and dock, using it’s front and rear thrusters, as easy as an 18’ jon boat.
