Cruising the Tennessee River
August 18th, Saturday, Day 96
leaving Cuba Landing
By the time we got things taken care of
and I typed up the log bringing up to date til today, it was 10:30 before we
headed out. Richard was able to use the Cuba Landing phone connection to update
the web page.
As we headed out, unfortunately, the
throttle cable on the starboard engine broke again so we limped along on one
engine and luckily Pickwick lock waited for us. We called ahead to Aqua Harbor
marina and they said they couldn’t get to the repairs til Monday so we decided
to stay at Pickwick Park Marina just before Aqua to check it out. It was a very
nice marina, but no store or supplies. They do have Ice and a laundry. Also
they will take you to a restaurant reported to have a very nice buffet. We
chose to eat on the boat.
August 19th, Sunday, Day 97
Headed to Aqua Harbor around 10am on one
engine. We stayed there awaiting repair work on Monday. We had a very nice lunch at the St. Claire
Café at Aqua Harbor Marina.
I used the courtesy van and headed to
Wal-Mart in Corinth for supplies. We were docked next to the “Bonnie
Lass” and said hello to the Captain that we met last time we were here.
August 20th, Monday, Day 98
We did manage to get the throttle cable
repaired and we were on our way around 11am. We did have a 45 minute wait at Wilson Lock, the highest lock
on the Tennessee, but got right in at the next lock, Wheeler. The scenery is
really beautiful. We docked at Bay Hill
Marina, formerly Lucy’s Branch. The cruise guide reports the restaurant is open
for Dinner, but beware they have changed their polices and are not open Mondays
for dinner. The grill at the dock is nice and does serve 3 meals a day Tue -
Sun.. I was checking out the breakfast menu on the grill dock and was told I
would have to leave because of Gypsy. No pets, even outside at the grill and
office area.
August 21st, Tuesday, Day 99
Up at cast off at 0830 trying to make 100
miles today. We did make it past the Nickajack lock and anchored about 2 miles
up river in a very nice anchorage. It was a very long day, and we didn’t drop
the anchor til 8:15 pm.
August 22nd, Wednesday, Day 100
Up Anchor at 0830, but changed to Eastern
Time zone in Chattanooga. Saw lots of mountains and scenery passing through the
“grand canyon of the
Tennessee”. We stopped in downtown Chattanooga at the city dock right by the Aquarium and had lunch at
Friday’s Restaurant.
We made it in time to have Dinner at Tom
and Gloria Cannon’s house. They are old friends of Richard’s from when he lived
in Chattanooga. We had a nice relaxing dinner and then Gloria and Tom allowed
us to borrow their car for a supply run. We stayed at the Chattanooga Yacht
club that night. Very nice facilities.
August 23rd, Thursday, Day 101
We spent time going through our mail that
we had sent to Tom and Gloria’s house, and then I headed off to Walmart for
supplies. I dropped Richard by Tom & Gloria’s house to check his email
while I was shopping.
We fueled up at the yacht club and headed
out around 3pm in our boats to the Silverton Rendezvous at Euchee marina on
Watts Bar Lake. Tom and Gloria are in a 46-foot Silverton “Liberty”. Also along because
Sea Ray was having a Rendezvous at the same place, were Sherry and Don in their
38 foot Sea Ray, “ Five PM”.
We set our anchor at what we thought was a
safe anchorage, and they rafted to us for the night. Gloria supplied the main
course we contributed side dishes and dined on Tom and Gloria’s boat.
We were bumped awake a couple of times and
didn’t realize a current had come into the cove and dragged us quite a ways.
August 24th, Friday, Day 102
Woke at 6am, 6:30, & 7am and up to
find everyone scurrying around and taking off because of the problems with
depth and the current. We were the last to go and found that our anchor was dug
in and wouldn’t budge. The water was very shallow and we tried all sorts of
tricks. Tom and Gloria worked their rears off to help trying to pull the anchor
out opposite to the set angle but alas; we had to leave another anchor and
chain at the bottom there also was some damage to the pulpit which would need
some fiberglass repair. The day wasn’t starting out very happily. We discovered
later that it was a no anchor area, but the sign was overgrown with trees and
shrubs and impossible to see. Another expensive lesson; we learned to be very
careful even in an area you’ve anchored in before.
We arrived at our slip at Euchee and went
to the Lighthouse restaurant at the marina for lunch. We all met for cocktails
later and to the Lighthouse restaurant again for dinner & Karoke later. We
met Joyce and Tom Knight of “Knight Dreams” They are just
finishing the great loop after a 3 year trip. We toured their boat, which is
gorgeous and met their 3 cats. They are wonderful people.
August 25th, Saturday, Day 103
Today is my youngest daughter’s 20th
birthday, so I called to wish her happy birthday, but only got the answer
machine.
The Silverton group began to arrive and
Dave and Jan Westberg, one of the sponsors gave us a nice welcome packet as
well as a T-shirt and burgee. Their boat is “Common Passions II” a
beautiful Silverton 392.
We were surprised by a visit from one of
my best friends in Nursing School, Vicki Granade. I haven’t seen her in several
years but we were each other’s maid and matron of honor 24 years ago. Vicki and
Joey will celebrate their 24th wedding anniversary in a couple of
weeks and plan to spend it with us, cruising the Little Tennessee. They met
Richard for the first time and we all felt like old friends. They stayed a
short while then made plans to meet us next weekend in Downtown Chattanooga.
The Silverton group had a happy hour
appetizer get together and we had a blast. A keg was provided courtesy of the
Knoxville Silverton dealer and we all brought different appetizers. About 20
people attended.
We headed back to the lighthouse
Restaurant for dinner on the deck and joined part of the Sea Ray group. All
boaters definitely have partying in common.
A very good band was playing outside at the marina so we danced and sang
and had a great time.
August 26th, Sunday, Day 104
Woke to rain which stopped around 0900. We
headed back to Chattanooga Yacht club following “LIBERTY”. We were
certainly hoping that we would find someone to do the repairs to the pulpit
there. It was a great weekend and we met lots of friends.
August 27th, Monday, Day 105
August 28th, Tuesday, Day 106
Slept until 0900. Took Gypsy for a walk. I helped Richard put the Dinghy together. Then we launched her and put the motor on. The motor was from the old dingy and hadn’t been started in months. I noticed as Richard was trying to start the motor, that fuel was pouring out the back. Just as I told him that, the motor backfired and the water and motor were suddenly engulfed in flames. I ran to get the fire extinguisher and pulled the pin and was just about to spray when the fire burned itself out. Miraculously, the dinghy wasn’t damaged by the flames and Richard was uninjured. The motor however has to go in for repairs.
We were both once again scratching our
heads saying what else?
August 29th, Wednesday, Day 107
Richard hosed down the exterior of the boat and I did laundry which took a very long time because of a very inefficient dryer.
Richard managed to get the dingy motor into the shop for repairs. We dined on Spaghetti Bolognese and watched the history channel which aired a very interesting program on “How the Jet Engine was invented.” We are still at Chattanooga Yacht Club.
August 30th, Thursday, Day 108
We continue to sleep til 0900 most mornings. We did get the new dinghy attached to the boat. Just a work morning and cleaning the boat. Tom and Gloria called from their boat and we headed to downtown Chattanooga. We were able to Lock through very quickly at the Chickamauga lock. Four other pleasure boats locked through with us heading down river.The only difficulty was the pouring rain while we locked through. The rain was washing lock gunk all over our boats and those of us doing the line handling.
When we made it to downtown Chattanooga we were lucky to get the very last space available at the city dock. There was no power there, but it was close to everything. I whipped together a stir-fry then we went to Tom and Gloria’s boat for a nightcap. It’s a very nice spot and you are able to see the aquarium from the boat. Luckily, we closed everything up on the bridge and aft deck because it rained most of the night.
August 31st, Friday, Day 109
Woke to more rain. Gloria came to our boat around 0830 and she Gypsy and I walked about 7 blocks to a downtown grocery store. Gloria had to have her onions (she’s a bit of an onion addict). It was a nice walk and we saw lots of the city.
We also got to see the Mississippi Queen as she docked at the city waterfront. A very large paddle wheel boat
Later that afternoon, we took the Electric Shuttle, which is a free service of the city and has stops every few blocks and usually there’s one coming along every 5-10 minutes. We went to the Chattanooga Choo Choo and the rain was still coming down.
My long time nursing school best friend/roomate, Vicki and her husband Joey drove down from east of Knoxville to spend the holiday weekend with us. We decided to eat vendor food that night and headed off to Miller Park for a weekly summer band series. We dined on polish sausages and meatball sandwiches…yummy. The rain finally got to us and we headed to the Pickle Barrel restaurant for drinks and their specialty, fried dill pickle spears. They were very good and Vicki vowed to come up with the recipe to cook them at home. We then returned to the boat to continue partying and a good time was had by all.
September 1st, Saturday, Day 110
Still raining when we woke but we were determined not to let it interfere with our fun. We made it to the Aquarium by 1000 and were able to get tickets and walk in easily before the crowds arrived. So beware, the lines are long after the 1000 opening. It takes about 2 hours to tour the Aquarium and it was crowded in some areas as we moved through, but for the cost and the beauty, it’s well worth a visit. It is acclaimed to house the largest freshwater tank in the world.
We then met Gloria and Tom at Friday’s restaurant, which is right next to the Aquarium. After a very good lunch, we headed to the IMAX theater with Vicki and Joey to see the 45 minute feature, “Deep into the Sea”. It was a 3-D film and the sharks looked as if they were swimming right through your head. It was a lot of fun.
We headed back to the boat and Chef Joey prepared a most wonderful meal of Beef tips and rice,which had just the right amount of wine kick. We were joined by friends from Richard’s Chattanooga days, Marsha and Chuck. We all dined and drank like Kings and Queens then we pulled out the keyboard and Vicki, Marsha and I entertained (at least I hope we did) the crowd with a sing-a-long. We made a date to anchor out with them weekend after next. Everyone else then faded but Vicki and I stayed up talking about old times til 0200.
September 2nd, Sunday, Day 111
We had a bit of a headache when we woke, but you can’t
keep a couple of party girls down. Guess what, it was still raining. We hadn’t
seen the sun since Thursday. We really wanted to ride the Lookout Mountain
Railway (reported to be the steepest railway in the world) and go to Rock City,
but it was to wet and rainy. After talking with Tom and Gloria, we decided to
go back to the Chattanooga Yacht Club and grill out under the pavilion. We
arrived back there around 1pm. Then Richard and Joey borrowed Tom and Gloria’s truck
to pick up Joey’s vehicle in Downtown Chattanooga. The rain stopped long enough for us to have a wonderful feast
created once again by chef Joey with Vicki’s assistance. We had steak marinated
to perfection and grilled onions, Baked Potatoes and sautéed mushrooms. It was
a perfect evening at the water’s edge.
September 3rd,Monday, Day 112
Woke and had nice hot showers compliments of Chattanooga Yacht Club. We then headed back to downtown Chattanooga by car so Vicki and Joey could visit the Choo Choo. Make sure you go inside the lobby of the hotel there. It’s the original train station and has a wonderful high carved ceiling. There are numerous gift shops there and a small trolley that takes short trips. We found that this being Labor day, most restaurants and shops were closed in the downtown area. We attempted to eat lunch at the restaurant in the hotel, but the service was very poor and the menu was quite limited. We left and hopped on the Electric Shuttle and with the help of the very nice Shuttle driver; we went to Jack’s Alley (several restaurants and shops) and had a wonderful lunch at Sticky Fingers. This restaurant was founded by 3 guys from Chattanooga that went to college together in South Carolina. When they graduated, they formed the first Sticky Fingers restaurant. They got the name from a Rolling Stones Album. Now they are a chain with restaurants in many cities across the south. They offer 5 types of sauces and even a sampler rib platter so you can try each type. Richard loved this place and I think he’s on a mission to eat at Sticky Fingers as often as possible.
We still were disappointed that the weather did not allow us to go to Lookout Mountain, but we’ll definitely take a true rain check.
Vicki and Joey made their departure around 3:30. The Captain took a nap. Gypsy and I relaxed and read a book.
We decided after such a big lunch to skip dinner. Tom and Gloria visited at 7pm. Then Richard and I had popcorn and watched TV. It was a nice Labor day weekend in spite of all the rain.
September 4th, Tuesday, Day 113
Awake at 0830. This was an errand day. We
purchased oil for the boat oil change. We stopped by Walgreen’s and refilled a
prescription. Richard needed metric wrenches so we headed to Sears for those.
Of course we had to make a Liquor store stop. We then went on to the Wal-Mart
Super Center for food stock-up and more supplies. We dropped by Tom and
Gloria’s house to pick up our new rope and chain that we’d shipped there.
We lunched at Sticky Fingers. Richard was
delighted and once again we decided to forego dinner. We did finally see the
sun again late evening. After a nice long walk with Gypsy, I talked to my Dad
by phone and everyone in Little Rock sent their regards.
September 5th, Wednesday, Day
114
Today was oil change and fuel filter day. We did odd jobs around the boat. Richard was able to borrow a truck at the Yacht club and picked up the repaired Dinghy motor. We took the Dinghy out for a test ride and Gypsy loved it. We explored a little of the lake then back to the boat for a chicken fajita dinner. We had after dinner cocktails then TV.
September 6th, Thursday, Day
115
Headed out around 0945 after making a quick trip to K-Mart for a new coffee pot. Ours died this morning and Richard didn’t get his morning 2 cups. We then fueled up, paid the bill “Ouch”, and then headed up river. We were leaving Chattanooga yacht club probably not to return this year.
We were able to immediately lock through
at Watts Bar lock and then went to Blue Springs Marina. We tied up at the fuel dock and I took Gypsy
for a walk. During the walk, we discovered a quaint old cemetery on the marina
grounds. There where elaborate headstones dating back to 1796. The real kicker
about this find was the cemetery was a family plot for the “Johnsons”. This is
my maiden name.
The information in the cruise guide about
the restaurant has changed. There is no food served except Friday and Saturday.
I whipped together a Beef Wellington with wild rice.
We talked with Vicki and Joey by phone and
they agreed to pick up a few items at the grocery store tomorrow before they
arrived. I was really looking forward to seeing them again, especially for more
of Joey’s cooking. We are taking them up
the Little Tennessee River for a few days.
September 7th, Friday, Day 116
We got a late start this morning and pulled out around 1030. We were able to Lock right through at Fort Loudoun lock. We headed to the Fort Loudoun Marina in Lenoir City, TN.
Vicki and Joey were waiting for us on the
fuel dock. After fueling up, we headed for our assigned slip. This is a very
nice Marina; they give each transient a packet with keys to the gates and
information about the marina, restaurant, and surrounding area. Calhoun’s
restaurant is open Thursday – Sunday. We decided to try it out. A very
interesting thing about this restaurant is they will supply bread for you to go
out on their deck and feed the ducks and fish. It was amazing. There were
hundreds of giant carp swimming there waiting for food. The ducks were fighting
the fish for the food and actually walking on the fish to get to the food. We
enjoyed the restaurant and the duck/fish entertainment. They are also known for
their ribs, although Richard feels they are not as good as those at Sticky
Fingers.
We headed back to the boat for a nightcap
then off to bed.
September 8th, Saturday, Day
117
We woke around 0930. Gypsy and I took a
nice walk through the municipal park, which is adjacent to the marina. We cast
off for the Tellico River and the
Little Tennessee River. This is extremely beautiful country. We caught a
glimpse of the Smokey
Mountains but it was too hazy to see much. It was a relaxing enjoyable day
and when we passed by the actual “Fort” Loudoun, they were having a
weekend of Civil War re-enactments. A festival was in process with lots of
booths for crafts and civil war memorabilia.
We docked at the Tellico Harbor Marina.
Vicki and Joey and I are all from Arkansas
and huge U of A Razorback fans. Today was the game between UT and UA at
Fayetteville, AR and televised. We all knew that our team is not very good this
year. So our hope was that the hogs could at least hang in there and make it a
decent game. We wore our “HOG” shirts to the restaurant and got quite a good
natured ribbing from the crowd. This is
the last weekend of the year for the restaurant as it closes from Labor day weekend
til April.
There were several dock parties with
people watching the game. Vicki, Joey and I couldn’t resist calling the hogs (a
chant of wooooo pig sooooie). The Razorbacks did end up playing a very
respectable game. We led the game 3-0 ‘til the 4th quarter. The game
ended with us losing 10-3. We whooped
and hollered during the entire game…Loads of fun.
September 9th, Sunday, Day 118
Today was Joey and Vicki’s 24th
wedding anniversary. Once again chef Joey prepared grilled pork chops for
brunch and Vickie cooked a big skillet of pan fried potatoes.
We headed out, back to the Fort Loudoun
Marina so Vicki and Joey could retrieve their vehicle. The marina is adjacent
to the Fort Loudoun Lock and just as we were arriving, Richard hailed the
lockmaster on the radio to get a time frame of when we would be able to lock
down. He was told that we only had a 10 minute window to make it into the
lock. If we didn’t make that, there was
so much barge tow traffic that it would probably be 4-5 hours before we could
get in the lock. We literally threw Vicki and Joey off the boat at the fuel dock as we apologized
profusely. Then we zoomed to the lock only to find a tow was still coming very
slowly out of the lock and it was 20-30 minutes before we actually made it into
the lock.
We made it back to the Blue Springs marina
and were planning on eating in the restaurant tonight. As we tied up at the
fuel dock , Dave and Jan Westburg (the Silverton rendezvous sponsors) met us on
the dock. Their boat, “Common Passions”, has it’s home
there at Blue Springs. They invited us to a dock birthday party
for Larry given by his wife Pat.
We had a wonderful time, good food and
music. I walked back to our boat and got Gypsy to join in the party. She had a
blast. We are meeting such nice people
along the way.
September 10th, Monday, Day 119
Cast off around 1000. It was cool day and cloudy. Made it to the Chickamauga Marina. We had difficulties finding a slip big enough for the boat. We settled in, hooked up the satellite and watched Monday night football while dining on a dinner of baked chicken and rice.
Tom and Joyce Knight of “Knight
Dream” appeared because they were staying on the same dock as we were.
We had met them at Euchee Marina. The cruising world is indeed a small
one. We agreed to have dinner together
on Wednesday night. They are pulling out on Thursday.
September 11th, Tuesday, Day
120
The fiberglass repairman started on the
boat today in his attempt to repair the pulpit. We had not yet turned the TV on for the morning but our friend Tom
Cannon came by to bring us a package that was delivered to his house. He told
us about the World Trade tower and we thought he was kidding at first. When we
tried to turn on our TV, we were unable to get reception because we were pulled
so far up into the covered slips for the pulpit repair. It was frustrating and
I decided to walk to the fuel dock marina office to see if there was a TV
there. I was able to find a TV and what I saw was unbelievable. Another plane
had just hit the pentagon and they were saying that a 4th plane had
also been hi-jacked. We as Americans just couldn’t believe that any one could
ever cause so many deaths and such destruction in our country. The fact that
they manipulated and used our own planes was so much scarier. I cried for the
families and for our country. And we were hungry for knowledge that there were
survivors getting out of the building. As I watched the first Tower collapse, I
was as all Americans watching in a trance. When the second tower collapsed, I
tried to reconstruct in my mind when I was last there a year ago and tried to
remember how it had appeared to me then to what I was seeing now. I had taken
several pictures of the Manhatten skyline from the Statton Island Ferry. It was
unbelievable.
We had dinner with friends of Richard’s,
Clay and Helen Bolling who have a very nice house on the lake. The steaks were
great. It was the first time I had met them and they were so wonderful to me.
Clay took me out to his garden and we picked homegrown tomatoes along with green
tomatoes for frying and okra for frying. He also had several varieties of
wonderful peppers. We watched all sorts of stories unfolding on TV about the
terrorists and had some healing discussions on how someone could do things like
these terrorists did to other human beings. They took us back to the boat after
a really nice evening.
September 12th, Wednesday, Day
121
I woke to sounds of hammering and drilling
by the repairman. We decided to rent a car to run errands and do Laundry. Today
was Shopping day. We had lunch again at Sticky Fingers, and went to the
Wal-Mart Super Center to do shopping. When we got back to the boat, the most
difficult part was finding a place for everything. I did get a few
fall/Halloween lights and decorations to make our boat/home more festive. I
cooked Chicken Fajitas and we went to Tom and Joyce’s boat for dinner. It was
nice to hear their tales of travel, knowing that we will be headed to the same
waterways. We will probably run into them again along the way.
September 13th, Thursday, Day
122
I took the car out and about to find a Laundromat. I spent the morning doing 6 loads of laundry but was able to watch a TV and see 2 firefighters being rescued still alive.
We had leftovers for dinner to clean out
the fridge, then watched TV for awhile.
September 14th, Friday, Day 123
Cleaned the boat in the morning. The repairs were finished by mid afternoon and our new Anchor was mounted. We talked with Tom and Gloria, fueled up, and agreed to meet them to anchor out for the weekend at an anchorage next to the Booker T. Washington Park. We only had 4 miles to go up river so we arrived before they did. Richard really wanted to try out the new anchor, but after all our anchor problems, I was saying let’s let Tom and Gloria drop the anchor this time. Well, we went ahead and dropped our anchor and managed to get the chain down and the anchor set, but the line wrapped around itself in the gypsy and was hopelessly lodged. We made several attempts to get it free and were afraid we would once again lose an anchor, but I was on the bridge slowly inching the boat forward while Richard pulled the anchor up by hand. During this process, Tom and Gloria arrived and I hailed them on the radio and asked them to drop their anchor. We did succeed in manually retrieving our anchor but once again we are in for repairs. We later had cocktails on Tom and Gloria’s boat after rafting off to them. I had a flank steak and new potatoes and green beans in the crockpot, so we had a nice dinner and a very nice sunset.
September 15th, Saturday, Day
124
We used our new dinghy to take Tom and Gloria to shore at the park for their morning 45-minute walk. Gypsy and I went along and walked as well. There was a Boy Scout Junior fishing tournament in progress so Gypsy enjoyed seeing all the kids. We dinghy’d back and had lunch. I then took the leftover flank steak, new potatoes, and green beans and added all the other ingredients for a big crock pot full of homemade soup.
Debbie and Rich Morley brought their boat “Sometimes” up and rafted to Tom and Gloria, then Connie and Ron Merritt on “Merritt Time” rafted to them. Keith Watkins and Kathy Gibson arrived on “Tsunami” and rafted up to Ron and Connie. Courtney and Sherry Sisk on “Dream Boat” rafted to us, and finally Chuck and Marsha Allen on “Attababy” arrived and rafted to Courtney and Sherry. We ended up with 7 boats together.
We took noodles and rafts and jumped into the water and had a great time. Gypsy joined me on my raft and loved being in the water.
I made a pan of
cornbread to go with the soup and being cold after our swim caused the soup to
be a big hit. After dinner we pulled out the keyboard and had a sing-a-long.
Everyone had loads of fun. This event brought back fond memories for Richard
and the rest because this was the group that rafted together most weekends when
he was in Chattanooga.
September 16th,
Sunday, Day 125
We woke at 0800. Tom and Gloria borrowed our dinghy and took it to shore for their walk. I was planning on a nice shower, but we realized that we were out of water. We still have been unable to find the leak that seems to be draining our water tank prematurely. We decided to go ahead back to Chickamauga for the repairs. As we were pulling the dinghy up on the boat, Richard tried to start the motor to rid it of the gas. A nut dropped off and it would never start after that. Once again something else to be repaired.
When we arrived
back at the Chickamauga Marina, Gloria was nice enough to pick me up for a
Sam’s/Wal-Mart run. Richard and I dined on pork chops and baked potatoes and it
was a quiet evening.
September 17th,
Monday, Day 126
Talked with the repair people and they arrived at the boat to assess the damage. The fleming on the gypsy is broken allowing the anchor rode to wrap around itself. We will have to wait on parts to arrive so we'll be here for a few days. Richard was able to borrow a truck here at the marina to take the dinghy motor for repairs. That turned out to be quite simple and they replaced the nut while he waited.
We went out for
a nice dinner with Richard’s old friends, Ken and Debbie Patric. We went to a
new restaurant in downtown Chattanooga called St. John’s. The food was quite
good, but don’t plan to count calories if you go there. We had a nice visit and
they brought us back to the boat.
September 18th,
Tuesday, Day 127
Richard looked all over the boat in an attempt to find our water leak, but was unsuccessful again. I spent most of the morning getting up to date on this journal. I hope you are enjoying these day-to-day adventures and would certainly welcome any suggestions about content or information that would be helpful to you.
We had a quiet
dinner on the boat and watched TV. The temperature is very nice with a high of
80 and low humidity. I smell fall in the air today.
