This Looks Familiar

When you do an up and back trip, you're going to see the same things twice.  Sometimes you see things that were'nt in view from the other direction and somtimes you just don't remember, because you are old.

One thing that was different were the colors.  Over just a few days, the fall colors are now peaking.

And, I didn't see these cows the other day on the way up.

Note the one at the bottom standing in the water.  I wonder if they ever make a swim for it.

At 10:40 AM, I was surprised when I saw Geo with a beer in his hand.

He claimed he had reached for a Diet Coke and didn't know he had a beer until he took a drink.  Then at lunch he claimed this one was in fact the same one from earlier.

I'm not so sure, because soon after he was taking a nap.  I think some of my crews along the way have taken pleasure in the fact that I have imposed a strict rule upon myself and will not imbide until the anchor is down or Tranquility is tied up for the night.

There are two charted short cuts that can be used by "pleasure craft", like me.  We found this one on the way up the river and on the way back took a few pictures to capture just how narrow it is. 

The term "pleasure craft" was imposed on me when I got into the Illinois river.  That's the term used by lockmasters and tow captains to differintiate us from the commercial traffic.  When I was in Florida and on the east coast, I was a motor vessel.  That term differintiates me from sailing vessels.

I posted a picture of the Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant in the last post and here's another picture of it. 

An interesting note about the ride past is the turbulence encountered.   There's a warning about it in the Tennessee River Cruising Guide that says cooling water is being released at the rate of 1 million gallons per minute.  We did get a little push sideways and first were slowed down by about a mile an hour and then once past were pushed about a mile an hour faster, which lasted for a mile or more.  The water temperature is monitored and when it has increased by 5 degrees, extra cooling is initiated by the use of the cooling towers.

We anchored in a wide spot in the river and again awoke to dense fog.  It was well after 10 before we could get underway.

This leg of the trip took us back through downtown Chattanooga.

We anchored just past Lookout Mountain at Williams Island.  I had read about the history of the island as being the site of an Indian Village and the home of an early settler, but I thought it was now just a vacant wooded island.  We were surprised when we listened to cows mooing all night.  It sounded like maybe they were'nt too happy.

While it was foggy when we got up, it seemed to be lifting earlier than previous days and visibility wasn't too bad, so we were off before 9, even though there were still some patches near the island.

This stretch of the river is known as "The Grand Canyon of the Tennesee."  I previously posted pictures of this area and don't have any new ones to share.  That's because after just a half hour or so we drove into fog so dense that we had to slow to a complete idle and even then I felt like we were going too fast for the amount of visibility we had.  It was awhile before we could faintly see the sun trying to burn through.

And eventually it did.

Also along this stretch is Racoon Mountain.  On the top is a 520 acre lake that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) created by pumping water from the river at times of slack power needs.  Then at times of peak power demands it is released down the mountain through giant tubes and turbines, generating electricty.   At the bottom, the water comes back into the river.

Eventually the fog was nearly gone and we were able to enjoy the scenery again.

And the colors.

Take a close look at this next picture.  Click on it to make it larger.  On the far left, about half way down, note the wake in the water.  At the front of that wake is a deer.  Geo was driving at the time and had to slow the boat to avoid hitting it.  We watched as it made its way completely across the river.  I tried to get a picture when it came out of the water, but it was out and into the woods in a flash.

In 1974, construction of the Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant began in Hollywood, Alabama.

After 40 years and billions of dollars it is still not operating.  Only recently has the TVA begun the process of getting approval to re-start construction with the target of power generation in 2020.

It had turned out to be a very nice day for cruising.

We planned a stop at the Goose Pond Marina in Scottsboro, AL because they have a courtesy car and we needed a couple of things from a hardware store as Geo was working on one of the heat pumps on the boat.  I am posting a picture of the license plate of the courtsey car because the number has special meaning to Denise.

One other note about the car.  The speedometer didn't work right.  As I was driving out of the marina I noticed I was doing 75.  At least that's what the speedometer was reading.  It was a 30 MPH zone and I'm pretty sure I was around that speed.

We thought Thursday was supposed to be a rainy day, but it was clear when we awoke, so we took off fairly early. 

Just above Guntersville Lock and Dam is this cave along the river.  Note the fence.  This is home to over 20,000 gray bats.

The guide book warned that if you were here near dusk to keep your distance as thousands of bats leave the cave to feed on insects.  Ron and I had anchored just a couple hundred yards from here on the way up the river, but we didn't notice any bats.  It could be because they have already migrated to cooler caves in the hills north of here.  They do that in the fall and spend the winter there.

Soon it was cloudy though, but the rain held off most of the afternoon and we pulled into a marina in Decatur, AL just as the rain started.  It rained all night and until early afternoon today, that and the low 50's temperature have kept us here.  The forecast for the next several days though is sunshine and eventually temps back into the mid 70's.  We are 90 miles from the turn south on the Tenn-Tom Waterway.

Brrr!

There's been another slight change in the plan.  Ron decided he was just too busy to come back to Chattanooga with me, but I think what really happened was that he somehow got some insight into the weather forecast and found out it was going to be FREAKING COLD!  Apparently George didn't get that same insight, because he moved his flight up a week and came in early.  Actually, when I arrived on Tuesday it was in the mid 80's and very nice, but a front came in and by 7 PM it was raining hard.  It rained all night and was in the low 50's on Wednesday when George arrived.

Thursday was very cloudy and still quite cold, but we put on all the clothes we had and took off anyway, continuing up the Tennessee towards Knoxville, about 170 miles northeast.  After only 7 miles, we came to the Sequoyah nuclear power plant.

Waterfront properties were abundant in some stretches.

Alot of houses are built right up on the edge of the water, with significant retaining walls to hold everthing in place, but apparently these do not always work as intended.

By late afternoon we were at the Watts Bar Lock and Dam, where in addition to the hydroelectric dam, there is another nuclear power plant.

There used to also be a coal fired power plant here too, but it has been shut down and is now being razed.

We found a quiet cove and anchored for the night.  Pasta was the dinner choice, because this would require the most use of the stove and would provide some heat.

The forecast promised sunshine on Friday and warmer temperatures.  We headed for the sun.

It was early afternoon before we finally caught up to it.

Once it was out though, it did warm up nicely and eventually I had my shirt off for an hour or so.  Fall colors show up better in the sunshine too.

The shoreline was a mixture of homes and farms.

And bridges continue to pique my interest.  This is I-75.

For nearly a mile along the "right decending bank", on our port side going up river, is the A.H. Staley corn processing plant. 

Corn, mostly from Indiana, arrives here by barge and is processed into corn syrup, ethanol and an animal feed protein additive.  The ethanol is transported by barge to Louisana.  Each barge holds 400,000 gallons.  This fact helps to understand how water transportation is still so much in use.  Even though its somewhat slow, one of these ethanol barges is equivalent to 40 truck loads.

The Fort Loudon Lock is the last one on the way up to Knoxville.

We were quickly through by 3 PM and I decided to fuel up at the marina just above the dam.  If I've calculated it correctly, I'll be able to make it all the way to Columbus, MS on this tank.  I want to arrive there on fumes, because their current price is an amazing $2.88 a gallon.  Hopefully, it will remain near this price when I get there in a week or 10 days. 

We identified a spot on the chart that looked like it might be a good anchorage, but when we arrived, it wasn't.  We ended up just anchoring in a wide spot on the river, well outside the channel.  It got really cold overnight and we were fogged in when we awoke.  George was getting antsy by the time I got up, but we couldn't go anywhere in the fog.  It was 10:30 before we pulled the anchor, but only 21 miles to downtown Knoxville.

Approaching downtown, the first bridge we came to was this railroad bridge and we arrived just in time to pass under while a train rumbled overhead.

The University of Tennessee is right on the river at the edge of downtown. 

Their basketball arena and football stadium are prominent waterfront landmarks.

In fact, Neyland Stadium is one of just two college stadiums adjacent to navigable water and on game days there are usually hundreds of boats anchored and rafted along the river for a huge tailgate party.  We weren't sure if we were lucky or unlucky that the Vols were out of town on this Saturday.  The other such stadium and boat tailgating is the Univeristy of Washington.

We secured the last spot at the Volunteer Landing Marina in downtown Knoxville.

What looked like a once interesting bridge design is in the process of being demolished.

It was early afternoon, so Geo picked up some Knoxville visitor info and we decided to go to the East Tennessee History Museum an 8000 sq foot exibit that chronicles the interesting history of the region. 

This is one of the main streets through Knoxville.

Just up the bank from the marina dock was a steam engine driven excursion train that ran from downtown about 4 miles up to the beginning of the Tennessee River, which is where the French Broad and Holston Rivers meet.  It made several trips while we were around and I took lots of pictures, including a few when they were putting the engine and coal car away for the night.  I also got this picture when we went up the hill to downtown.

Also parked on a siding was an old diesel switch engine.

Knoxville was a good stop, but we were heading back down the Tennessee on Sunday morning.  Plans were to go about half the day and stop at another marina in time for Sunday afternoon football.  It was less foggy, but there were still areas where it lingered.

I also took a few pictures of waterfront homes along the way.  Some where older and looked like they were a weekend getaway type place.

Many appeared to be more than weekend getways.

It was obvious that at one time, not that many years ago, this was all farm land and there are a few spots where it still is.

I'm not sure what happened here though.

The marina we are at tonight is just above the Fort Loudon Lock and Dam, which is the only lock on the Tennessee that doesn't operate 24 hours a day.  It won't open until 10 in the morning tomorrow, so we plan to take the marina courtesy car 3 miles to the town of Lenoir City, TN for a few miscellaneous provisions.