Tennessee River

We left Green Turtle Bay Marina, Grand Rivers Kentucky early on Monday morning. I longingly looked at our other "friends" boats and saw no one stirring that early in the morning. I was jealous as I really wanted just another day of "nothing" but we were pushing to get to Joe Wheeler State Park Marina, Rogersville Alabama by Friday. Once underway- that familiar joy was back and I was glad to be on the river again. We had been traveling with buddy boats for so long that out of habit I would continue to look back to see if our spacing and speed were working okay for them. It was a strange but exhilarating feeling to be on our own again! We had excitement almost right away as we came through the Barkley Canal a tow boat captain hailed us and told us that we need to "put it on" and get out into the river as soon as we could as he was going to have to make a wide turn to get into the narrow channel. After we finally figured out what "put it on" meant we sped up and avoided him passing us in the canal. The Tennessee River was wider than I had pictured in my mind and very picturesque. Dave reminded me that we were in the Kentucky Lake which is also the TN River so that is why we were seeing so many cottages. We anchored that first night in a beautiful anchorage off Panther Bay in Dry Fork Anchorage. We were joined by one other boat from Canada and we enjoyed a quiet evening on the hook. We woke up to a cloudy morning that looked like rain at any minute. We originally were only going to go 31 miles but decided to push through to Birdsong Creek anchorage. There is a marina further up the creek that also has a freshwater pearl museum and store. We decided not to go up as the approach to me looked very shallow. This area is famous for its pig toe mussel which the fishermen use the mussel for fishing but the most valuable part is the shell which is exported to Japan to use in pearl making. Apparently, they have experimented with all sorts of different materials (concrete, sand, other shells, etc.) but none make better pearls than the pig toe mussel. We did see several dive boats with their flags out and their drivers obviously under the water.

The next day was cooler and cloudier as we pushed through 67.8 miles to an anchorage off Shallow Bluff Island. This was my first day of completing captaining the boat (I usually drive it out of anchorage and then Dave takes over). I drove for the majority of the day. I really didn't think I got the appropriate "whohoo" or "atta girl" as I successfully passed a 27 and 24 barge tow. I really thought there should have been a little more enthusiasm on the "Captain Admiral's" part that day! All in all I think it went really well and it gave Dave confidence that he could work in the engine room without having to constantly check in and ask if everything is okay. We are having some alternator combiner issues and he has been working hard to troubleshoot the problem and find the right "fix."  It still works on one side so we aren't dead in the water. The Prisocharge combiner is under a five year warranty so we hope we can get new parts while here in Joe Wheeler.

We stopped the next night at Rock Pile anchorage. It was windy all day and into the night. The wind was straight into the anchorage from the north a 15+. You don't sleep well when you comfort is hanging on a 42 lb chunk of steel being stressed by the winds. The boat never moved and when the anchor came up it had two basket ball sized chunks of sticky clay on it. Friday we  hit Joe Wheeler State Park and Marina. All in all- I must say that the Tennessee River is my favorite river that we have been on. The scenery is beautiful and reminds me so much of the valleys of PA. Beautiful sunrises and sunsets and cool early mornings made cruising the TN just the best! We will be at Joe Wheeler until after the Fall AGLCA Rendezvous and then we will continue up the TN River to Chattanooga. We are excited because the Fall colors should be approaching peak by then.

We are doing a little car trip on Tuesday to Nashville and Dave and I both are very excited. Thanks to our friend Lola on Sunny Days we called the Grand Old Opry and were able to get tickets for the 9:30 show on Tuesday to see Miranda Lambert, Alan Jackson, The Gaitlin Brothers (Dave's more excited than me about this one) and others. It is their 60th birthday celebration. Will do another blog post after Nashville to share our time there!

Thanks again for reading and I miss you all!

 

 

This is our track since leaving Green Turtle Bay. We were in Kentucky, Tennessee and now we are in Rogersville, AL

 

 

 

 

 

This site was unusual for us along the rivers. We had seen so many houses built on top of limestone cliffs that it reminded us of Canada. This house unfortunately (and others in it's neighborhood) was so close to going over the cliff into the water due to erosion. Reminded us of the poor people on the Chesapeake Bay going through a similar crisis.

 

 

 



Dave has never been one to enjoy the "maybe" game that Robbie and I perfected while cruising in Canada. But he did say "maybe that barge is carrying equipment that is going to a nuke plant" I was proud of him actually :-)



We saw this frequently along the river where a tree would appear in the distance to be growing out the water. They would always be Cyprus trees and we think that eventually even they will succumb to the rising and swift waters.

Sunrise as we were coming out of Birdsong Creek. It was absolutely outstanding. This was the day that I got to pilot for the majority of our cruise.

The night before we had caught a news report about people who were using storage pods and tractor trailer beds to build houses and one suddenly appeared. Aesthetically, I hope when the are finished the build that will paint it a solid color so it brings it all together. We were both excited to see it!

A bee along for the ride

These are typical of the limestone walls that we saw all along the Tennessee River

Interesting marina sign we saw. Dave said she was very anatomically correct!

Hey Ben, I thought of you. " IF IT FLYS IT DIES!" You crazy bird guys.

We are seeing more and more geese migrating south. After the cool rainy weekend that we have had (temps staying in 50s and low 60s) we are glad we aren't too far behind them!

Not sure why I get so excited when I see the cows grazing beside the rivers but I am happy for them that they are able to just go for a dip in the river whenever they want to. I told Dave they are probably "free range Angus and taste better!"

This dredging operation fascinated Dave as they were pulling river rock right out of the river and putting onto barges. They had different barges for the different sizes of rocks they were pulling up. I guess it was a double benefit as they would make money from the sale of the rock and it dredge and added depth at the same time!

When I first saw this structure I thought it was lighthouse nestled up in the trees, but Dave said they don't put lighthouses on rivers and the closer my camera lens got I could see that it was someone's house. Pretty Cool!

This should have been earlier in the picture sequence as this was my day of piloting!

Sunset in Shallow Bay

Sunset from Between the Rocks Anchorage

Early signs of Fall along the Tennessee River

Enjoying a great book after working hard all day at the helm!

Cool duck blind on wheels!

This abandoned place looked spooky.

Bridge to no where

Redneck Houseboat! Notice the peace signs on the front!