Tuesday, August 14, 2018
Sunday night after we completed the blog, at about 10:15, we heard the first commercial barges headed to the lock. Not sure, because of the darkness, but we think they were loaded with coal. Some people that work at the lock told the first lock through was actually at 6:30 Sunday night but it was a COE tug moving some of the construction barges. The first barges we could actually see and know for sure was at 6:00 am Monday morning and it was another tug pushing coal down river. All day Monday the COE tug was moving/removing the huge 500 ton hoist that was used to install the new gates. They were using a huge crane that looked more like a big drag line with a hook rather than a bucket. It was quite interesting to see how they were doing such heavy duty work on the water and watching them swing these huge parts of the bajillion dollar hoist out over the river. BTW, we were told project of replacing the gates cost us tax payers a mere 16 million dollars. More coal barges were pushed down stream and through the lock throughout the day.
The rest of Monday, when we weren’t watching the guys work on the dam, we cooked a wonderful breakfast, walked about 7.5 miles, and did some accounting. We also transplanted some succulents that are traveling with us. We hope our brown thumbs don’t get the best of them. We just had a good day.
Today, we went into town to meet with a realtor and a rental manager as we continue to move forward on Mama Ruby’s estate. When we returned the COE was still hard at work removing cranes from the construction site. The huge drag line looking crane was down on a barge and they were taking down another. The site looks totally different tonight than yesterday. Most things are now loaded on barges and ready to take back down the river to the COE district headquarters in Mobile. We will see what pictures we can get to tomorrow.
RVing With a Purpose 