Tuesday, December 13, 2016

First Class Harbor above Watts Bar Lock to Caney Creek

Just a little update on our last night at Chattanooga dock: You know we had our hearts set on pizza, but the PapaJohns people didn't know what the "docks in front of the aquarium" meant...and required a physical address for delivery.  Last time we were in Chattanooga...a couple of months ago...we ordered from them but we were at the docks right below the marina's office.  Ah, well, we won't hold it against them.... ;-)

Monday, December 12, 2016 -

It was raining as we pulled out of Chattanooga and headed for Chicamauga Lock.



Fortunately for us, the rain that morning dried up around 10 and afternoon we had a beautiful ride up the Chicamauga Lake.  We stopped at Shady Grove Harbor for fuel and were ready to see if we could make it all the way up to Watts Bar Lock.  We did!!!  Went through the lock and had just enough time to get to the nearby first class harbor and anchor.  We felt like we'd had a pretty productive day: over 60 miles, 2 locks, and a fuel stop.  Here was our home for the night...




And these are some of the pictures from today...



As we got nearer to the lock we also were getting closer to the Watts Bar Steam Plant and it's STEAM....










Our view from inside the Watts Bar Lock...


And finally, our view of the steam from the upper side of the lock as the sun began to move down...



Tuesday, December 13, 2016 -

The day began as usual.  We had coffee, breakfast, caught up on news and mail, while waiting for the 7:30 AM sunrise.  We had a weather alert for this area about heavy fog, but saw none where we were. We took our stations for bringing up the anchor: me on the bridge and Wayne working with the anchor.  Wayne went inside to start the engine........and it started but stopped after a few seconds.

Knowing there is usually a problem with fuel getting to the engine when this happens, Wayne went down and changed the main filter and a smaller filter.  It still wouldn't start.  We ended up calling our friend, Ben Birdwell, who kindly drove down to the nearby (deserted) Watts Bar Resort.  It was raining by then, just to make thinks even more exciting.  Wayne picked Ben up in the dingy and they were able to fix the fuel supply issue with a process called "bleeding" off air in the fuel line.  Thank you Ben!!!

We ended up having a short cruising day because in the late afternoon it started raining again and causing fog.  We are anchored in Caney Creek for the night and are prepared tomorrow for getting home!








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