Friday, April 19, 2019 - Chattanooga to Goose Pond Colony Marina mm. 378

We didn't plan to go 97 miles today...it just worked out that way.

We left Chattanooga at 8:15AM Eastern.  We were thinking we'd probably anchor at Burns Island below Nickajack Lock.  But shortly after leaving Chattanooga we went into Central time and it then looked like we'd be anchoring at 12:30 or so, Central time.  We like to cruise for a full day: 8-4 is ideal.  So we started looking for a stop further down river and realized we could get all the way to Goose Pond before 6PM Central.  As it turns out, we ran at 9 mph or better for all but the last hour of the trip (due to a push from the current) when we'd drop back to 8.8 or 8.9.  Bottom line, we got to Goose Pond before 5 PM Central.

Now, granted, it was a lousy day to travel.  We had rain, mostly light, all day.  Winds picked up towards the end of the trip.  And it was cold.  Nasty stuff!

Looking at the forecast for Saturday we decided last night to stay 2 nights here and leave on Sunday in hopes of seeing sun as we depart. ;-)

We watched the engine and oil levels all day, of course, and had no more problems.

Going through the area below Chattanooga, known as "The Grand Canyon of Tennessee," we watched the depth finder to see how deep it got in the "pan" area as the water flows through the gorge that follows an ancient earthquake fault.  We saw 136 feet!

And this is Baylor School in Chattanooga as seen from the water on a rain, foggy morning....

The greens are even greener when they are wet and backed by the grey sky and water....