We're on the way!

High anxiety gave way to ease of mind as the day progressed.

The leak in the engine turned out to be a dry gasket that had swelled overnight and there was no leak in the morning. The cabin water pump, about which I had had concerns, seemed to be acting up again, but ultimately worked properly. The three batteries, which we use for starting the engine, cabin lights, pumping drinking water, operating the bilge pump, and other stuff, also seemed to not be functioning correctly. And in fact the charger isn't charging two of them. But the alternator, which runs when the motor is running works fine. And since we are running the motor all day, the malfunctioning charger (which we only use when we have shore power) shouldn't be a problem. And we had some difficulties with the head (toilet) which turned out to be (mostly) operator error.

So after all that, and a nice visit from Chad Tallant, the former owner, who came over to the marina and was very helpful to us resolving these issues, we took off!

I have to say it felt like leaping off a cliff! After all the planning and preparation it was time. It reminded me of having a baby. For nine months all of your focus is on the pregnancy and delivery. And then wham! All of a sudden it's real. You have a baby! It felt like that.

We left a little after 1:00 heading down the Tennessee river. I used the radio for the first time to communicate with the lock master. And we passed through our first lock without incident. It was pretty cool, though. We dropped about sixty feet!

After that we just motored down the river. We are navigating with the Garmin chart plotter and Army Corps of Engineers nav charts. Between the two of them and watching where we're going and monitoring the instruments, especially the depth gauge, we haven't gotten lost or run aground yet!

We did have some more excitement when it appeared that the stupid water pump wasn't working. Mike went below and discovered that a hose had blown off and the pump had emptied the entire water tank (52 gallons)! We'll have to find a marina to refill. Mike fixed the blown hose. In the mean time we'll drink wine and wash dishes with boiled river water.

We started at mile 548 and we are now moored at an abandoned marina at mile 513. So we went 35 miles today in six hours. A good start.

Just finishing up our chili dinner with wine and moon shine afterwards (thanks to my Paducah neighbor Bob Dwyer, who knows somebody). We're developing quite a taste for the stuff. I'm sure the quart jar won't make it through the trip.

Here are today's pictures starting with a map showing the route and where we are.
Then refueling before we left, about to take off, just starting in the lock, boy you of the lock, Mike fixing the water pump, dinner!