Fulton

What a fulfilling day on the water.  We called Stennis Lock before lifting anchor at 5:45 this morning to make sure there was not any commercial traffic to hinder our timing.  That didn't seem to do us much good, as we didn't get into the lock until seven o'clock for no apparent reason.  Four hours later we got into Aberdeen Lock just in time to catch "Byrd Ketcher" and "Vela Narcosis", a couple of sailboats that were at Demopolis when we were and we locked through with them a couple days ago.  Two and a half hours after that the three of us got a 30 foot lift from Amory Lock, then an hour later another 25 foot lift from Wilkins Lock.  We originally planned to anchor just north of there near Smithville, but since it was so early we decided to move on.  So just before 5:00 p.m. we were in our fifth lock of the day, Fulton, still with the other two sailboats.  Not too long after that we anchored behind them near Fulton, Mississippi, just off the Tenn-Tom in a place we have never dared anchor before.  It is pretty open and exposed, but the winds are supposed to be pretty light again tonight.
A lot of our entertainment comes from nature, and today was no exception.  Before we even pulled out of the river where we anchored we saw either a beaver or otter swimming.  Next we saw a raccoon at the first lock.  We're not exactly sure how he got over on the dam side, and he looked like he didn't either, even finding himself balanced on top of a door.After that it was an alligator.  We wonder how far north they do get.  Baby loons were so cute.  Even smaller than ducklings.  Fortunately and unfortunately we saw a dead decaying dog floating down the river.  Fortunately it was not a human body like it looked like at times.  A snake,bald eagle and some goslings were just a few more of the things we got to witness in what turned out to be almost a 12 hour travel day.