Tennessee, continued
Armadillo, Air boat, and Aquatic “lawn mower”
Beautiful, foggy morning in the anchorage when we left on Tues. Sept. 17, with “Til You Can’t.” More bluffs, smaller and larger, with and without houses plus low lands on the opposite shore still.
Though not nearly as much debris in the water here as other inland rivers, we still have to be on the watch for it.
We’ve seen a great deal of fishermen in this inland river, and a good number of them use a technique called “jugging” which we learned about at the Folklife Museum in New Johnsonville. The fishermen use lines and baited hooks attached to floating objects – while previously jugs, it appears that they mostly use pieces of pool noodles now.
Because we had to wait for the Wheeler Lock to open, we stopped at Florence Marina where were we able to fuel up and walk the dogs. While there, we met Doug on “Ripple” who is also doing the Loop. His wife had to go home briefly for a medical issue, but he was waiting to meet his neighbor, Arlon, who would join him for a stretch of the Loop. We ran into Doug and Arlon again, so more on that later.
At Wheeler Lock, we were delayed for quite some time. We later discovered that these birds wait at the lock, too – for their dinner. It must be that fish surface when the lock is filling.
After locking through, we had a decision to make as to our destination that night. There is a portion of the river further along that is currently closed to traffic between 6:00am to 6:00pm. TVA is using helicopters to string wire across the river at mile marker 296 near a nuclear power plant. Because there may not be a place close by to anchor, we’d be taking a chance that we’d (a) find a place and (b) it would be close enough to that spot to cross before 6:00am. Also, it would be dark when trying to do so that early. Further, if we didn’t make it in time before 6:00am, we’d be stuck there until 6:00pm. Or, we could have a very long day, passing the spot after 6:00pm in twilight …
… then running in the developing darkness …
… and then nightfall when we’d have to find the dock we were heading for in the dark. As you can see, we opted for the latter. God gave us a beautiful full moon that night! We made it to the dock with “Til You Can’t” between 8:00 and 8:30pm. Below is a picture of the dock in the welcome sunshine the next day.
In the morning, “Ripple” came in and “Til You Can’t” left, but we stayed and departed on Thurs., Sept 19. While we were at Decatur, Loopers Teresa and Pat on “Rock and Roll” gave Den a copy of the Tennessee River Guidebook, as they would no longer be needing it given that they were “crossing their wake” (finishing their loop) the next day at their home marina, Goose Pond.
Below, a last look at a couple of sights from Decatur.
Leaving Decatur, we discovered that the Tennessee River just keeps getting prettier as we go. We passed everything from a National Wildlife Refuge to bayous to bluffs.
However, there are also many areas marked “Submerged Timber” on the charts, places that years ago must have been wooded areas prior to flooding. Some of these areas do have a significant amount of floating limbs, pieces of bark, or stumps.
When the scenery was not so wonderful, Dennis started the generator and compounded and buffed on the bow. No sense in wasting time!
We met up with Doug and Arlon on “Ripple” at the Guntersville Lock and then ended up stopping with them at Goose Pond Marina in Scottsboro, AL. This is a big marina/resort, complete with a boat ramp that has eight lanes. We were able to have dinner that evening with Doug and Arlon as well as Teresa and Pat (“Rock and Roll”), the latter able to report on their adventures having completed their Loop. On our way to dinner, we were briefly joined by this guy (below).
After rising early on Friday, Sept, 20, to do some chores and to take the courtesy car for provisions, we left Goose Pond with “Ripple.” The first picture below shows the route into Goose Pond Marina; note the weeds (hydrilla) on either side of the waterway. When we were leaving, we saw an aquatic weed harvester (“lawn mower”) readying to begin its work controlling the growth and spreading of the hydrilla.
Following “Ripple” on Friday, Sept. 20 (below).
On our way on the Tennessee, we have seen multiple nuclear power plants, hydroelectric plants, and suspension towers. The one below (left) they built and evidently never used.
Passed a very small ferry that crosses a narrow channel to a dirt landing on opposite shore.
Also, passed a barge called the Coca Cola Stage that was evidently formerly used for the Riverbend Festival in Chattanooga.
Made it to an anchorage past Nickajack Lock that evening.
We took the inflatable over to “Ripple,” as we were invited to join Doug and Arlon for a fish fry.
Bringing the dogs back from shore (below), a necessary task.
Unfortunately, though it was quite hot, we were not able to swim, as there were notices in the nearby park about the spraying of herbicides in the water to control the hydrilla.
We had two very different experiences with bass boat fishermen while at anchor here. In the first instance, a fisherman approached Doug’s boat right before we began to eat our fish dinner and asked if he could make a run for anything any of us needed, as we were clearly traveling through. Very thoughtful and above the call of duty. However, the next morning, a fisherman in a bass boat that had been fishing in the small cove in which we were anchored sped up and drove directly at our boat, quickly turning right before making contact with our boat which caused us to rock considerably. I guess he didn’t like us anchoring in his favorite fishing hole. Ah, well. Both sides of human nature on full display.
More to follow on our experiences continuing up the Tennessee River.