November 4, 2011

We are taking our time this morning.  The Wheeler lock is just around the corner from where we anchored.  I drove us out of the cove and into the lock.  Jerry handled the lines.  This is only my 2nd time locking through and it was not great but we made it. 

Not really obvious, but it is me driving the boat.

We headed out across Wilson Lake towards the next lock. 
Wilson lock is a 98 ft drop to Pickwick Lake.

  My 3rd attempt and it was darn near perfect.  Capt Jerry

was impressed.  Me too!

The deck hand in the lock.

There were 6 boats in the Wilson Lock.  We were in and secure at 10:50.  The lock master received a request to hold the lock for a couple of other boats.  We waited and waited.  Finally they showed up.  The water emptied out and the gates started to open.  Then closed again.  Then opened a little, then closed.  The lock master radioed that there was a problem and he was sending a crew to check it out.  About noon, he opened one of the doors to let us out.  It was kind of creepy in the bottom of this lock with the doors being jammed.  It was 12:20 before we were underway again. 

Easy cruising after the two locks today.  Made it to Aqua Yacht Harbor Marina at mile 215.  We are finally at the beginning of the Tenn-Tom. This is where the Tennessee River and the Tenn-Tom meet.  Plan to hang out here, reprovision, fix some stuff and just chill for a few days.

At Aqua Harbor, this salty looking guy helped us tie up.  Kelly is a livaboard here.  He told Jerry he could hook up cable so he could watch the O'Reilly Factor.  Jerry said he didn't watch him and Kelly said something like "oh, you one of those liberals?"  In spite of this, Kelly was still a nice guy.

Tried to scrub the deck to get the mud and crap off from anchoring out.  The mud stained the deck and nothing seems to work to get it off.  So gave up and left for another day.

Went to dinner at the marina restaurant.  Food was ok, apple dumpling was excellent.

November 3, 2011

We pulled anchor before 8 this morning.  It was cool again, so had the gen running to take the chill off.  I vacuumed the salon and forward and aft cabins.  Boy, it felt good to get that done. 

It started raining about an hour or so out  today.  It rained consistently most of the morning and early afternoon.  Taco salad and guacamole for lunch, good stuff.

I read while Jerry drove.  Jerry was bundled up.  It was pretty cool on the bridge. I was wrapped in a blanket.










We anchored out in Second Creek, mile 275 on the Tennessee, close to Rogersville, AL.  We were both chilled from the cold, rainy day, so I fixed a pot of black bean soup. It hit the spot.  Could actually get about 12 TV stations so we watched for a couple of hours then to bed to read for awhile.

November 2, 2011

I set the alarm to get up at 6 am.  Jerry was already up.  It was a chilly 57F in the cabin, so we started the genset so we could run the heater, coffee pot and microwave/oven.  It was also foggy again. 

Jerry called the lock master at Nickajack lock about 7:30, he said it was pretty soupy but we ventured out anyway.  This is what we saw.

It seemed to get better once we were in the channel. 

And then we ran into this cloud bank, in fact, we saw a bass boat go in and not come out. It's eerie being out there and so quiet

Here we are in the lock, not 3 miles down river.  Amazing what a little sunshine can do.

This is a long day for us, we plan to make 77 miles today.  Yesterday we only made 36 miles.  Trying to get back to the Tenn-Tom Waterway so we can start south.

In spite of the cold and wind, I decided to grill brats for lunch. 

One of the many Herons we met along the way

  

 We anchored at Honeycomb Creek close to Guntersville, AL,  mile 351.5.  It was a beautiful night as you can see.

November 1, 2011

Back to Panera this morning since we're leaving Chattanooga today.  A few pics of downtown Chattanooga from the water. 

We head back up the Tennessee River and the trees are just as beautiful.  We anchored at the same place just past the I-24 bridge on Nickajack Lake.  We were the 6th boat in the cove, here we are slowly going into the cove.   Being a little more confident with anchoring, we moved further into the cove beyond the other boats.  The other boats had rafted together (3 in one and 2 in the other).

This flock of American Coots were hanging out in the cove and we didn't seem to be a bother to them.   

We had wine and cheese, then I made chicken with grilled onions, peppers and topped with mozzarella, good stuff.  Early to bed.

October 31, 2011

We're in Chattanooga which means we're within walking distance to Panera.  Guess where we're going for breakfast.  What a nice break.  It's the small things we learn to appreciate.

I found a Whole Foods across the river so we biked over later in the morning.  Beautiful day, sun is shining, and we're having a wonderful time.

We had been through the aquarium here about a year or so ago so decided we wouldn't go again this trip.  I would recommend it though, it is fabulous.  They have a building for fresh water and one for salt water.  Well worth the stop. An unsolicited advertisement.

We cleaned up inside the boat, still trying to find homes for all the things we brought aboard.  Jerry rode to the hardware store and I stayed behind.  It felt really good to get the boat in order. 

October 30, 2011

We anchored out last night at a great anchorage.  We were the 3rd boat into this place.  We use a couple of books, Skipper Bob and The Tennessee River Cruising Guide, Fred Myers, to provide recommendations for anchorages and marinas.   The place is an embayment at the base of Little Cedar Mountain at Mile 426.9, on Nickajack Lake.  The first in is Shingebiss, second is Trip Time.  Once we got settled, Trip Time dinghyed over to visit.  It was great to talk to them.  BTW, this is our first anchorage on this trip and only our second in this boat.  Basically, we let out an anchor with enough rode to swing.  Assuming no wind, the boat just sits there.  If there is wind, it will swing with the wind.  We set an anchor alarm to let us know if the anchor drags.  Fortunately, we held all night. 

Morning brought fog. You can kind of see the other two boats in the cove.  The picture below is looking out of the cove towards the channel.  We waited for the sun to burn off most of the fog and took off.

Wind Song crossed under the I-24 bridge that crosses Nickajack Lake.  Every trip to Atlanta, as we crossed this bridge, we would talk about seeing it from the water.  Now we have!  It's much better from the water for sure.

Just passed the bridge is the Hales Bar hydroelectric plant, one of the most historic structures in Tennessee.  According to the Fred Myers book, in 1904, Congressman John Moon introduced legislation to build a dam that would generate hydroelectric power and improve upstream navigation.   The bill passed and the Chattanooga & Tennessee River Power Company soon began construction.

For the next eight years, the 5,000 workers involved in the project faced considerable risk.  Construction accidents resulted in many injuries and deaths.  Finally, in 1913, the Hales Bar Hydro Electric Plant was completed.  It was the world's second largest hydroelectric generating plant, second only to Niagara.

Almost from the beginning, there were serious problems of water leaking through rock strata under the dam.  Faced with exorbitant costs for uncertain cures to the problem and a navigation lock too small to meet modern navigation needs, TVA decided to remove the dam and replace it with Nickajack Dam.

Today, the old Hales Bar power house, stripped of its machinery, is eerily silent.  Sounds like pork to me.

We came around a bend in the river and the sun is shining on the trees.  The colors are spectacular.  And with each turn comes even more beautiful color.  This stretch of the river is known as the "Grand Canyon of the Tennessee".  I'd say it's a pretty big stretch, but we are seeing exceptional scenery.

We're cruising at about 7-8 mph which is much slower compared to other boaters.  We get passed quite a bit.

As we get closer to Chattanooga, there are more and more boats.  One boater exclaimed that it was like driving on I-285 in Atlanta.  It was kind of hairy at times.  Some of these boats are big run abouts others are just big cruisers out for an afternoon. 

We got a call from Janet Arnold, Jerry's niece while we're cruising today.  She lives in Cleveland, TN about 1/2 hour from Chattanooga.  She and her husband Joe are going to meet us at the marina later.  We visited then went to dinner with them at the Big River Brewery.  Had a great time visiting.  They are our first visitors on the trip so far and we are their first visitors too.  Such a deal!

October 28-29, 2011

We traveled up the Tennessee heading to Goosepond Marina close to Scottsboro, AL.  Beautiful shoreline.

Guntersville Lock, the first one I drove the boat and Jerry tended the lines.  Jerry helped me quite a bit.  I'll need more practice but will get the hang of it.  It's kind of scary.

Some beautiful sites along the way.

This is the life!

Jerry worked on the generator today.  It wasn't operating correctly.  Turned out to be a bad impeller.  Fortunately, we had a spare.  It's been tested so we should be good to go.

                                                                                The South Pittsburg highway bridge, Tennessee 156, is architecturally interesting because it features the suspended arch type of construction.  Another feature is it's horizontal clearance, 730 feet, the widest of any bridge on the Tennessee.

These colors are why we went to Chattanooga.  The colors are spectacular.











October 27, 2011

The Rendezvous ended yesterday.  We debated whether we wanted to take the time and spend the $$ to go to Chattanooga, TN.  It would be several days there and back and added cost for fuel.  We would travel 190 river miles to Chattanooga from Joe Wheeler, then 250 back to the Tenn-Tom to start south.  During one of our walks, I decided we would go.  We might not get here again and should take the time to go by boat.  We kept hearing that the fall colors were spectacular.

The morning was sunny but turned cooler by afternoon.  We traveled with 5 other looper boats leaving Wheeler.  Wind Song travels slower, by choice, than the other boaters so they passed us.

This looks like Brown Eyed Girl.

Something Special is passing us and another boat 

This is PassPort passing us.

An island we passed.  Looks like a rookery.  I'm not sure what kind of birds these are.

Another first, this is our first lift bridge,  the Southern Railroad Bridge at mile 304.4 on the Tennessee.  The bridge is pictured in the up position, but we had to wait for a train to pass before it was lifted.  In the down position, vertical clearance is only 9.8 feet.  Interesting factoid:  This bridge is on the same site as the Memphis & Charleston Railroad bridge burned by the Union Army on April 27, 1862, to stop a Confederate advance.

We also passed the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville.  Heard some booms along the way.  Some sounded kind of close.  Spent the night at Ditto Landing Marina in Huntsville, AL.

October 23, 2011

Wind Song left Grand Harbor Marina yesterday and motored to Florence, AL.  We spent the night in the marina and walked around McFarland Park across the road.   We happened upon the end of a bass tournament.  The guy that won 1st place received $3500 and another $2300 because he was in a Triton bass boat.  Such a deal!

Sunday morning, and we're up early.  We have Automatic Identification System (AIS) on the boat. It's required for all commercial vessels.  They have a transceiver so others can see where they are, their speed, and course.  It's a great little navigational tool.  Jerry checked the AIS this morning and saw a tow close by.  He called the Wilson lock which was just about a mile upstream.  The lock master said if we could get there soon he'd have the lock ready.  We jumped up, got dressed and were underway in no time.

The Wilson Lock is a 94' lift.  This is the highest single lift lock east of the Rocky Mountains.  We go in slow with fenders across the side of the boat that will go against the lock wall.  We tend to favor the port side of the boat for some reason.  Once the Capt determines the floating bollard that we will tie to, there are usually 5-7 along each side wall, the deck hand grabs the bollard with a line and pulls the boat close to the wall.  This boat is a handful.  I usually get us close then Jerry comes down from the bridge to help pull us closer in.  We tie the line to the cleat mid-ship and ride up.

In the lock, the water is just boiling around us

This is a shot from the bow of our boat looking back toward the sundeck.

Looking forward you see the lock gate that looks like a fence.  This is a guillotine type gate.  Most that we've seen before are like french doors.  This one disappears down under the water. Watch...

And it's gone.  The lock master sounds a horn when it's safe to move out of the lock. 

Eating breakfast after going through the lock.  It's sunny, but chilly even with the isinglass zipped.  I dress in layers.  It does warm up though on the bridge. 

We make it to Joe Wheeler State Park Marina.  The location of the America's Great Loop Cruisers' Association (AGLCA) Fall Rendezvous.  We'll hang out here for a few days. 

October 21, 2011

Wind Song crew awoke to a foggy morning.  We waited until about 9 to get on the river making sure we could actually see where we were going.  Smart move for the novices we are.

Captain Jerry

This is a day of firsts.  We overtook our first tow, the Addie Belle, 30 minutes later the Beth Wilson.  It was pretty daunting to pass one of these huge vessels.  In spite of the fact that our boat is big to some,  beside one of these massive chunks of steel, we seem really small.  There's a one or two whistle call to the Capt of the tug.  This determines which side you pass him on.  It's at his discretion which side you pass since he has the right of way. 

Here's another tow

That's a lot of rock to be moving.  Some of these tows are impressive.

 

We are 5th in line for the Pickwick Lock.  This is our first lock in this boat.  We had been taking our time when we hear the boats up ahead getting up to the lock.  We kicked it up so we could lock through with them.  Turned out it wasn't necessary.  We got there and had to wait for the lock to open, green light and horn, then heard another boat was about 15 minutes behind us so the dockmaster waited for him.  

This is the boat across from us in the lock.  We are locking upstream.  We were raised 63 feet between Pickwick and Kentucky lakes.

We are leaving the lock and are now on Pickwick Lake. 

I'm the deck monkey returning the fenders to their proper storage and taking up the lines.

We stopped for the night at Grand Harbor Marina located 9 miles upstream of the Pickwick Dam at the junction of the Tennessee river and the Tombigbee Waterway at mile marker 449.7.  We went to dinner at FreddyTs in Iuka, MS, with some other loopers we met on the dock.  Wonderful evening talking with others that were heading south.  Ron and Karlene on the Blue Line were great folks and we really enjoyed meeting them.