10/10-12/2016
We left early in the morning with Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water in our heads. We tried to catch the little swirling vortexes on video but were unsuccessful.
Fall was in the air, so it was time to head south again. Of course Kentucky Lake gave us plenty to see on our way. The landscape here is dominated by forests and stark cliffs.
Every now and then you get a reminder that this is a flooded river valley. Sometimes it’s just an old road that goes into the water, often used for boat launching nowadays. Other times it’s a bridge to nowhere, that once spanned the river.
Then there are dramatic reminders like this old grain loading dock. Once on the banks of the Tennessee River, it now sits flooded and surrounded by water. No one seems to know why this structure was left when the TVA tore down the other buildings before flooding the valley.
As we cruised along we saw all sorts of boats, and we often wondered how far they were going. Many were doing the Great Loop of the eastern US. We think this guy might have the perfect boat for cruising the river system. Shallow draft, low cost and all the comforts of home.
We saw catfish jumping (or maybe Asian carp again) along the way.
Anchoring in a quiet cove at night and then pushing on the next day.
The Tennessee River is truly God’s country with breathtaking scenery around every bend.
We were starting to see some fall colors, just a hint of what was to come. Of course that also meant cold weather was coming. With no real heater on the boat we had to keep moving.
We were still seeing eagles as this is their winter nesting area. Unlike us, they don’t mind the cold, but they do need open water to fish in. This pair of males seemed to be just hanging out together.
Mornings often greeted us with still water and brisk temperatures. You just can’t get tired of scenes like this. The only ripple on the water was made by Pearl Lee’s passing.
Of course we also saw where men encroach, but nature always wins. Someone has a real problem on their hands here.
We pressed on towards Pickwick Lake. This is another TVA project, smaller at 67 square miles, but deeper than Kentucky Lake. Pickwick Lake’s waters are often crystal clear.
At the Pickwick Lock we got a nice demonstration of discourteous boating, as a powerboat jumped the line to get ahead of us. We were then treated to a demonstration of how NOT to lock through by the same boater. During his, uh “maneuvers” we heard a few loud crunches. No one was hurt though.
We made it to Aqua Yacht Harbor Marina just as the sun was setting, directly in our eyes. For some reason they booked us into a covered slip with inadequate depth due to an underwater structure. We ended up docked next to another Endeavour, how cool is that? To their credit, when I mentioned the issue, they gave us a free night. Nice folks.
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