Mike and Patty's Great Loop Adventure 2018-2019

Bay Springs Marina in New Site, Mississippi to Midway Marina in Fulton, Mississippi

Day #117: Up at 5:45 A.M. for get ready for departure from Bay Springs Marina. Cool and hazy this morning. At 6:50 A.M. Mike called Jamie Whitten Lock he was told that we could lock at 8:00 A.M. to be at the lock at 7:50 A.M. At 7:30 A.M. engines were started we were away from the dock at 7:40 A.M. As we got closer to the lock the fog was a bit more dense. At 8:05 A.M. we were secure in the lock with 7 other boats ("Bay Tripper", "It's Someday", "Miss Utah", "Smooth Dancer", "School's Out", "Big Dog"), "Sea Trolley" turned around due the fog. We cleared the Jamie Whitten lock at 8:30 A.M. after being dropped 84 feet (Lock #14). At 9:05 A.M. we were at the Montgomery Lock we had to wait for 2 tows, the "Miss Allison" down bound and "Decatur" up bound. Due to the waiting we finally anchored to wait the tows to clear. At 11:00 A.M. we were secure in the lock we were joined by "Sea Trolley" as they caught up with the group. At 11:15 A.M. we cleared the Montgomery Lock after being dropped 30 feet (Lock #15). At 12:15 P.M. we were at the Rankin Lock we had to wait for the "Rhett Parker" to lock up we were told by the lock that after the "Parker" locked through that the lock would be turned around and we could lock through. But as that was about to happen we were told that there was a tow 5 miles away that we had wait for that tow to lock down. We rafted to "Bay Tripper" to have lunch and discuss what we were going to do as was we still had one lock to go with an up and down bound tow that needed to clear that lock and we had another 20 miles to go after we cleared the lock. I called Midway Marina to see if they had availability for the night I was told that they had lots of room to call them as we got closer. I called Smithville Marina to cancel our reservation for tonight. As we were waiting 4 more looper boats join us before the Rankin Lock. We were secure in the Rankin Lock at 2:30 P.M. We cleared the lock at 2:40 P.M. after being dropped 30 feet (Lock #16). It was sunny and 80 degrees outside just beautiful. We were secure at 3:30 P.M. at Midway Marina. We only made it through 3 locks and 21 miles today (1518 miles for the trip so far). Some of the boats that we were traveling with went on to the next lock but there were issues with a tow being out of control so some of the boats turned around heading back to Midway Marina for the evening. Today we are not trotting to the Gulf we were at a slow crawl to the Gulf. Once we were secure Mike worked on talking to the other looper boats about what the plans are for the morning as we offered to call the Fulton Lock at 7:00 A.M. to see when we can lock through. At 5:00 P.M. we joined "Bay Tripper" and "Schools Out" for docktails. At 5:30 P.M. I was able to FaceTime with Mom and Dad Burdo. Mike talked to Mark, Mom/Dad Boynton and Amanda.