A Night in Florence

The month of August, down the Cumberland 
(which flows northeast) and up the Tennessee. 

As we came into the marina yesterday the dockmaster said, "Did you know your anchor light is on?" I answered, "All our running lights are on. It was a dreary day." "Nope," he said, "just the anchor light."

He of course was right. Running lights are the red and green lights on the sides of the vessel. They are key for dreary days and nights. As a result, one task of Russ's while here was to get the running light operating. Panels taken apart, volt meters out, bit and pieces of stuff everywhere, and in the end he had to reseat the lights. Both of them. Which is very odd, but, hey, he got them working.

However, now the anchor light doesn't work.

Snapped this photo when we sat down to 
eat at the marina's restaurant. inQuest is in the back

When we turn on our running lights (a toggle switch), the red, green, and anchor light all come on. Flip the toggle the other way and only the anchor (or "all around" light) comes on, which NEEDS to be on at anchor -- which we do quite a bit, and planned to do this holiday weekend.

Fellow boaters came in today, She's Got A Phil'n. We met them at Green Turtle Bay just over a week ago. They crossed their wake and are heading home to Chattanooga. Both of us want to get through this lock.

15 minutes later, this happened.

Russ called the lock master tonight asking when would be a good time. They already started to lock some of the tow traffic, but will only lock down river during the daylight. It's the down-side wall that sank, so there's nothing for a tow to tie or rest on to get into the lock. We don't know if tows are being busted apart or escorted in with other tows, but the process is now cumbersome and long. To avoid that the best time to show up is right at the crack of dawn. The plan is to get up at 5 am, call the lock to confirm, wake the neighbors, then head out around 5:30 am... when it's still kinda dark. Recall the anchor light situation?

Luckily, Phil (of She's Got A Phil'n) was happy to sell us a dinghy light which he no longer needs. Russ will strap that to our unworking anchor light to get us to and through the lock. 

Not sure how well this will work. Not sure how the rest of the weekend is going to turn out. I'm certainly not happy with how it's shaping up. It's always frinkin' something.