Sewee to Goosepond

Sunday March 18th 2018

Well the adventure has begun! Cruisers know that cruising is an adventure, not a big vacation. And we had our first Adventure this weekend.   It all started on Friday morning. Wayne noticed that his leg was itching, and asked me to see what it look like. It looked like shingles. 

Now we've been told that shingles isn't contagious and I found sources that go further to say "unless you come in contact with the lesions). Dermatologist, internist, pediatrician...all said the same thing. So... We went to visit David and family during the time I had shingles about a month ago. David got shingles a couple of weeks later... And now Wayne. Just saying! 

So we left Sewee Creek Saturday morning and made it down to Chattanooga in time to go to an ER. We called Lyft and who should show up but Sam, the driver that had taken me to a walk-in clinic back in September of last year. Sam recommended Memorial Medical Center and took us there. We checked in only to realize it would be a 3 hour wait. We decided to wait until Sunday morning to visit the when the wait time should be less. Called Sam and he took us back to our boat home for the night.

This morning Sam picked us up and we met Joe, Sam's husband.  I couldn't get the Lyft app to see Sam's car... So they ended up taking us to the hospital, coming back to pick us up, and dropping me off at the pharmacy near the boat so I could get Wayne's meds for, yes, shingles. Thank you Sam!! 

Armed with steroids, antivirals, and pain meds, we left Chattanooga Waterfront front at 12:30 p.m. 

There's a storm a-brewing tomorrow afternoon in areas we will traverse. We are anchored tonight at Burns Island, mile 420. Got through Nickajack Lock before a tow was coming up stream. Tomorrow we hope to be in a covered slip at Goose Pond Colony Marina by the time the severe storms (that is winds,rain, and hail) begin.

Monday March 19th, 2018

We left Burns Island at around 8:10 and went through several big downpours of rain before the skies cleared up a bit.  We took on fuel when we got to Goosepond and are now safely tied up in a covered slip...ready as we'll ever be for the severe weather expected this evening.  We borrowed the loaner car and picked up a few groceries, then Maggie and I took a nice hour-long walk.  That pup's a good walker!  She needed it, too.

Sewee Creek

We had another good day on the water today. A little cool this morning, but it warmed up nicely during the day to about  high 60s. (I ended up in short sleeve shirt! ). We had an easy tansit through Fort Loudon lock and Watts Bar lock.. to an anchorage at Sewee Creek, mile marker 525.5, around 5 p.m. It's a nice quiet place right now as we're sitting on the back deck. We're anchored in about 9 feet and let out about 30 feet of chain. It's a place about like Bashi Creek, maybe a bit wider. 
We got a nice push coming out of Watts Bar... Almost up to 11 miles per hour! 
Maggie's enjoying the trip so far... Probably because we kept her up on the bridge for a lot of the day. 

Tomorrow we hope to make it through Chickamauga lock and have reservations at the Chattanooga Waterfront. You may notice I'm blogging daily?  I finally found a good blogging app for my Android phone and can record from my written journal for the day! Don't hold me to a daily schedule... But surely I will do better than last trip. :-)

Off to the Panhandle of Florida!

So...we had planned to leave on Monday, but it was a bit too cool.  Left Concord around noon and (after fueling up at Ft. Loudon Marina and filling up with water) we are anchored near mile 604 in a little cove that should give us some protection from the wind this evening.  Tomorrow we hope to make it down to Watts Bar Lock.

Home...

Saturday, December 24, 2016 -

We got home Wednesday, December 14.  Our friend Ben picked us up at the marina around 3 PM. Somehow, I haven't thought much about the blog since then.  For one thing it took us a few days to rest up.  We'd spent six nights in a row on the boat...and as I walked through Kroger that afternoon to pick up the few groceries needed, my legs felt a little like jelly.  ;-)

We're in the swing of things now.  Well, as much as we've ever been, I'd say.  Looking forward to the next few days as we travel over to see Dave and family.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Hope to see you all soon....

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!

Chattanooga dock by the aquarium

Sunday, December 11, 2016 -

Left our anchorage at 6:30 AM central this morning...no fog!  Nickajack Lock was waiting for us when we got there and the majority of the trip today was spent on tranquil waters.

Let us talk now about the last part of our trip...the last hour before we docked.  Suddenly the winds picked up big time...like gusts of 17mph and sustained of 12.  They must have been behind us because we were flying upstream at a lower rpm than we've been running on this trip.  Our intent was to go through Chicamauga Lock today, arriving there at around 3:30 PM eastern.  So much for plans! We called to check on conditions and see whether we could get through and were told that it would be 6 hours before we could lock through because Bear Cat (a tow known well by boaters in the Knoxville area) was taking 6 barges through, one at a time.

That being a no-go we had only one choice and that was to stay on the docks at Chattanooga.  We called ahead and got an answering machine.  Left a number and name...and haven't heard anything from them yet.  We are tied up near the pedestrian bridge downtown Chattanooga.  The gates leading from the dock to land are locked on our side...and I presume on the other side.  Pizza delivery is, of course, on our mind...but I think we can still do that by slipping the pizza under the locked door.  ;-) Hopefully the marina rep will call us sometime this afternoon and make it even easier.  I could actually take a walk if they come before dark!!

Took a picture today of a steam plant between our anchorage and Nickajack Lock.  Then I played with the Paper Camera app and came up with this...  See the sea monster in the water?  ;-)

This is the original photo...

Things got even weirder as we went further up the river.  It looked like we were headed into a big, open mouth!

Hey!  What's a gal to do on a boat going 8 mph for days, and days, and days?  We'd better get home soon.  Not sure where this will lead....

Crow Creek Island

When we left you last we were in Grand Harbor Marina at the top of the Tenn Tom and poised to get on the Tennessee River.  We were talking about staying several nights there so's to be tied up to the dock during the cold weather coming over the next couple of days...

Wednesday, December 7, 2016 -

So, Tuesday night we started plotting and planning and decided we really didn't need to stay tied up to a dock to see the cold weather out.  See, even if we were tied up to a marina slip/dock we'd need to run the generator during the night for warmth because the plug for our AC/Heat connection to shore power failed us several nights back.  We hadn't needed heat during the night until now.  If we plot our course so that we're "near" a marina in case the generator (THE generator that is practically brand new) were to fail us.  With that in mind, we decided to stay only until Thursday morning when we'd take off up the Tennessee.

We had no problem getting the courtesy van from the marina since we were the only fools  people there as transients.  We took off for some more groceries...don't need the laundry.  Groceries under control we struck out for Corinth, MS, and Abe's Grill which was highly recommended by Barry, the Harbormaster (super nice guy, as was Dale, his cohort). [When we walked into the marina office this morning to meet them for the first time it was, as Barry put it, "colder than my x-wife's heart!" ]

Abe's did not disappoint.  Little old building with advertising signs (authentic old ones) all over the outside.  Inside we found a long lunch counter with red covered stools that showed wear indicating they'd been here for a while.  The restroom (they are ahead of times here at Abe's) was unisex.  When Wayne took his turn to the restroom, Abe told me it might be a while 'cause he'd have to look a while at Angelina Jolie.  Funny, I didn't notice her.

Abe declared that everything on the menu was delicious and bought local.  (Wayne pointed out later to me that it could have been MADE in Egypt, just bought local. ;-)  We both had hamburgers and shared a pile of french fries.  Topped the meal off with two large freshly made chocolate chip cookies.  Good as lunch was...breakfast is the star meal at this place... White Lily biscuits, gravy, etc. Why, they even have chocolate gravy, something I thought our Mother had made up.  When we returned to the marina and told Barry about our lunch he said we really needed to do breakfast.  Even if we were leaving out tomorrow morning Barry would give us the car keys and Abe's opened at 5 AM.  Tempting though it was...we declined.

But, if you're ever in Corinth on a Mon-Friday, 5 AM - 3 PM...and IF it isn't a holiday week, cause they close a week for most holidays...and IF the family crew, Abe, wife, and son, haven't decided to go travel somewhere...as they seem to do pretty often...you just might get to experience Abe's Grill for yourself.  It would be worth it!

Thursday, December 8, 2016 -

So on Thursday morning we took off up the Tennessee River as first light came.  The wind was blowing pretty good that morning and with Pickwick Lake being so wide in spots, it blew us around a bit.  We made it up to Wilson Lock above Florence, AL, knowing that the lock was busy handling "a big tow," as the lock master said.  We tied up on the auxiliary lock wall for the wait.  An hour and a half later, the biggest tow and load that we've seen since the Mississippi River finally lumbered down the river...The load was three barges across and at least four sets long.

Wilson Lock done, finally, we set our sights on getting above Joe Wheeler Lock before night fall.  It would be close.  We called Wheeler when we were about 10 miles out and they said they could take us through...and that it only took 15-20 minutes to transit.  We got to the lock at 4:30 PM and were in our anchorage, Second Creek right by the lock on the RDB (right descending bank), by the time it turned dark.  Whew!!

Friday, December 9, 2016 -

The Sunrise on this chilly morning (low 20's) was pretty as we left Second Creek.

The good thing about having the bridge enclosed with plastic is that it acts like a solarium and heats up nicely when the sun is out and shining, like it was that day.  We started out with all our winter clothes on (remember...we were supposed to be in Florida!) and peeled them off as the day progressed.  We spent the entire day on the Joe Wheeler Reservoir and finally anchored at the Flint River, m 339.1, knowing we couldn't make it up to and through the Guntersville Lock, next on our way.

Saturday, December 10, 2016 -

It wasn't foggy in the anchorage, but it sure was when we came out on the Tennessee...

Beautiful as it was, it took a while for the rising sun to suck up all that fog that had been settled in on the water.  We left about an hour later than we'd planned...but we don't mess around with fog.

Much as we wanted to get way up close to Nickajack Lock for the night, the anchorages just didn't fall right for us.  We ended up stopping at 3 PM and anchored at (a familiar one for us) Crow Creek Island, m 401.  Nickajack is at around 425 so we'll have a few hours to go before getting through there tomorrow...then up as far as we can go in one day.