October 24,2015

Arriving in Chattanooga

 

Heading upriver toward Chattanooga we saw the beautiful Tennessee River Gorge but those pictures are in the previous post. Here we are about to dock on The Bluff in downtown Chattanooga.

Our night time view from The India Jayne

Our 43 foot boat looks small all by itself on The Bluff dock. Last night the Dock was
completely packed with other boats.

Looking up the hill at the Hunter Museum of Art. All around the grounds and in the neighborhood we saw beautiful Sculptures.

 We had a bike ride through town and then out on a bike path to Chickamauga Dam. It was about 15 miles on our little fold up bicycles. Not bad.

Glass walking bridge



Friday, October 23, 2015

End tie

Having recovered steering, we locked through, docking at Guntersville Marina.  Another Looper, Jack Nickerson (Patty) appeared to take our lines, take us on errands and take us to dinner! Wow, The Loopers! Harbor Hosts Jack and Jane Conway ferried us to the restaurant and even supplied technical support about the steering failure.

 Many, many beautiful homes line much of the river (all homes with docks are beautiful).

After cruising past miles of pristine forests...  You think you are in the wilderness...  then, Yikes! A nuclear power plant pops out! 




The waterway is sometimes unimaginably beautiful and tranquil.

 Now we are getting into the Tennessee Gorge country. Rocks look painted with an artist's brush.




 Here is where we start the day, doing engine and system checks.

Twin Yanmar 370 hp

 One must descend the stairs to the laundry department to wash clothes.

Pam has become an expert at looping a bollard.

Raccoon Creek Sunrise

 After anchoring out for the first time, the evening was serene, followed by a gorgeous sunrise.

Raccoon Creek bugs species are not endangered but at least stayed outside.

Leaky steering fluid 

Guntersville Lock

New method of looping line to bollard

Bit of trouble yesterday when The India Jayne lost steerage as we were the head of a flotilla about to enter a Lock. We managed to "crab" the boat out of the way and get to a shallow area to drop anchor. Then we rummaged all the storage looking for Steering Fluid. Found it, fixed it and proceeded to lock through. Kind of scary and took several hours. But the scenery was beautiful!

Gorgeous cliffs

Islands in the River

Traveled today and pulled into Riverwalk Marina, Decatur, Al. around 3:00 pm this afternoon. Marina is just before the traffic bridge and right after the railroad bridge. 

The railroad draw bridge was the first one we had to have opened for us.  Both are full of cars and trains.

We can see the Meow Mix plant just down the river. Pretty industrial part of our travels so far. Enjoyed a bite at the " Hard Dock Cafe" and watched the sunset. 

On our way here we passed the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant. Noticed how the fishing boats like to fish right off the Plant because the fish seem to like the " warmer water" from the Plant's discharge. Mmmmm.....

Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant



Hard Dock Cafe sunset over Decatur, Al.

 

Oct. 11-18

2015 AGLCA Fall Rendezvous, 10/14-17

We arrived a couple of days early at Joe Wheeler State Park, Rogersville, Alabama to get situated and the boat organized.  A few were here already, most coming after to total about 70 boats. It was quite a sight to see as the marina crew ran from one dock to another to assist with landings of groups of 5 or 6 at a time.  Someone flew a drone taking pictures:(http://mkmartin.com/csa/JW2015/). 

We had 4 days of classes on route details, navigation, medical preparedness, safety issues and  marine communications.  There were group breakfasts, lunches, beer and wine receptions and dinners.  The 265 participants got to know each other and exchange information and travel plans.  It was a great experience.

Sunrise. Spiders get to work.

This years' cotton crop

This morning most headed out enmasse with an organized plan to get through the nearby down bound locks heading to the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway that leads down to Mobile and the Gulf of Mexico.

We will wait on that  and continue up river towards Chattanooga for a side trip, chilling here for another day to let the crowd disperse a bit.  No class today!

October 11, 2015

Left Florence to tackle the next two Locks - the deepest we will encounter on the entire journey - the Wilson Lock and the Wheeler Lock. I may have already said this but the Wilson Lock pours in or out over 64 million gallons of water each time it raises or lowers boat traffic. No problem - we're old hands at this now.

October 8, 9, 10, 2015

Some pictures of boating down the Tennessee. The river and dam system on the of the Tennessee River is controlled by the Tennessee Valley Authority. I have not done the research but have heard that back in the 1920's when the dams were built and valleys were flooded many homesteaders lost their land to the TVA. So there are areas on the River where you can see remnants of previous times.
Building the Dams and the Locks and controlling the flooding was done to make the River navigable for commerce.

October 7, 2015

Locking through Pickwick Lock. It was going to be our first time going through a lock and this one was going to raise us up 64 feet. We left Clifton Marina with three other boats, all of us heading to the lock together. By the time the India Jayne arrived there we were alone as the other boats arrived ahead of us and, uncharacteristically, got locked right through. When the Lockmaster opened the huge gates and rang the loud bell we timidly floated in and looped a bollard. The gates closed and we were alone in this giant concrete pool.

Here we go...got to find a Bollard to loop on to...

Yep, those doors are holding back the flood

Kit drives the boat, I get to handle the lines

They raised us up and they let us out