Tennessee River (Part 3)

Tennessee River (Part 3)

Sept, 28, 2012

We had every plan to leave Pebble Island Marina and head back into the Tennessee River to anchor out, but then all kinds of Looper boats showed up and we decided to stay another night and visit with friends. We were joined by SV Forget me Knot from Texas, MV Tango from Montreal, MV Bucket List from Grafton and SV Friedeborg all the way from Sweden, and Bill, Steve and Nancy from SV Kathryn.

On SV Kathryn enjoying Steve's famous Margaritas!!!

The marina was having a fund raiser for one of their clients. Last year he was on his bike, on his way to the marina, when he hit a deer. His first hospital bill is around $400 000 so they were hoping to raise some money to help him out. They had planned a motorbike rally with a fish fry for the afternoon and that evening they had a country band playing and a beer tent.

Gary and I decided to take a walk and mingle with the locals. Everyone was having a great time, listening to music and drinking beer. I had one of those “pinch me” moments. Here I was in Tennessee, listening to country music being played by a band; on the back of a flat-bed tractor-trailer, drinking American beer, seeing good ole country boys and girls, just enjoying themselves; a quintessential American experience, if you ask me.

The Hydrilla and warter milfoil are aquatic weeds that have spead to Kentucky
Lake . They can really foul up a prop or the intakes - best
to be avoided!

September, 29, 2012

Yellow and orange rock mark the western end of the Highland Rim
on the Tennessee River

We set out the next morning with SV Flying Free and anchored in behind Denison’s Island. MV Tango was already there and invited us over their gorgeous boat for cocktails.

We had a hard time anchoring. There was 30+ feet of water under the keel and not much room to swing in the narrow area behind the island. Eventually we put out a stern anchor to keep us parallel with the island and our bow into the current.

In the middle of the night (these things always happen in the middle of the night when it is raining and blowing out) the wind had turned and was hitting us right on the stern. Gary thought it best to pull the anchor before it dragged and re-situate the bow anchor. We noticed that MV Tango was up and around re-setting their anchor as well.

In the cold rain and wind Gray tried to get the stern anchor loose but she held tight, so we decided to tie a marker to her and retrieve it in the morning.

With that done, we pulled the anchor and dropped it in the middle of the bay, our absolute worse anchoring situation, deep water , wind coming from one direction, the current coming from the opposite and ZERO protection from either one. We usually avoid anchoring in places like these and this was a good reminded why.

Anyhow, with the anchor set, the boat insisted on staying side to the wind. We tried straightening her out using the engines but no luck. So we had a cup of tea and stayed up, keeping watch on the anchor and making sure we weren’t going anywhere. After a while we headed back to bed and even though it was pretty rocky we both fell asleep.

September 30, 2012

As soon as it was light I said to Gary we had to get going. I was not going to spend another day at the anchorage where we were so exposed to wind and current.

Poor Gary got into the tender and headed out in the rain to go and retrieve our stern anchor we had marked with a fender the night before.

Back on the boat we noticed MV Tango heading out as well. They also had a bad night trying to reset everything in the dark and rain.

A random circle of sticks in the middle of a bay , some sort of marking
for fishing purposes (I think) .
This makes many nice little anchoragages impassable.

We found a great little anchorage in Lick Creek, only 2.5 miles from where we had spent such a restless night. The entrance to the creek is well marked but the whole creek is “littered “with fishing sticks. I think these are sticks that mark good fishing spots and I believe some of these sticks have line and hooks tied to them and is used for fishing in some way , but I am not sure how. What I am sure of, is that I don’t want to get the props tangled with the fishing lines, so it is always best to keep away from these marked areas.

A harmless looking stick , reflected on the smooth water surface?
NO indeed, it is a stick with line and hooks attached which could foul
a prop up very quickly

Even in this well protected little creek the water never laid flat and we could hear the constant clock-clock of the little waves against the hull, but it was WAY better that where we had been, so we settled in and relaxed the rest of the day and evening. The next morning we decided we liked it, so we stayed another day.

HIs work is never done: repairing the plunger
for the toilet in my bathroom

Around 11am we had a little power boat approach us. It was a local cottager who was concerned that we were in some sort of trouble. He said he didn’t see and activity on the boat. Well, it had been raining like a sun of a gun so we kept ourselves inside and napped most of the day. But it was nice that he at least came and checked up on us to see if we were ok.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and reading. I am glad I have over 13 000 books downloaded on my computer to read on the Kobo.

October 01, 2012

First day of October and we just heard that a tornado touched down in Tennessee somewhere. Yikes!!

Gary pulling the anchor on a very foggy morning

Meeting up with a barge in the foggy Narrows. 

Lady Finger Bluff
A limestone bluff, where fossile indicate an
ancient sea.
In the pioneer days a lady jumped to her death here rather than
be captured by Indians

Setting off in the early morning we had some major fog to deal with before we reached Clifton. Here the SV Flying Free joined us and together we anchored in Hardin Creek and spent time playing Rummy cub a tile version of the card game. I won twice. J

SV Flying Free anchored in Hardin Creek

Young Erik, soaking wet after falling in the water while trying to get into his
kayak to retrieve Gary's remote control boat

That evening we heard raccoons chatter in the trees and then heard a screeching howl.  I freaked out and made Gary bring the cats in the boat and close the door……images of Blair Witch came to mind.

The next morning we realised it was probably an owl.

Strange thing , the Mortenses’ on SV Flying Free heard singing, like the sirens singing in the movie, Oh Brother where art thou….Henning said it was probably me singing, while Erik thought it must have been Gary. Yeah, because that is what we would sound like if we sang……at night…..at anchor….Ha-ha

October 02, 2012

The upper helm where we steer from
(and yes, that is me in my pajama pants and slippers you catch a glimps of on the left side)

We enjoyed a warm day meandering up the Tennessee. I spent the most of the day at the helm while Gary gave Time and Tide a thorough cleaning on the inside. I am lucky to have such a good husband.

Cherry Mansion built in 1830 on a prehistoric Indian mounds.
It is here where Gen Grant  was eating breakfast on April 6, 1862
when he heard the artillery fire as the Confererate forces suddenly attacked his
army at Shiloh.

This evening we anchored behind Wolf Island. The guys from SV Flying Free cooked lunch and we headed out to go for a stroll on the island when our dinghy came to a sudden halt. The bolt holding the pulling mechanism in place had come undone. Fortunately, because Gary is so good with this kind of stuff, he got it working again, but not before uttering some choice words!

Wolf Island - Dew covered spiderweb

We explored the island and found traces of raccoon and of course humans, who never cease to amaze me. If you are going to camp on a remote little island, why would you leave your garbage lying around and spoilt the place for the next person who shows up?

A Tattered American flag is amongst the items left behind
by visitors to this little island

At night we heard some more strange noises, Gary shone the spot light on the shore, sure he was going to see deer or at least a raccoon but we saw nothing. We did hear howling again, this time it sounded a lot like wolfs or at least a few coyotes.

Pictures just never do it juctice

The next morning we noticed the river had dropped at least 4 feet, weird.

SV Flying Free had run out of transmission fluid
so we delivered a bottle to them
via "the net"

October 05, 2012

All along the river banks are houses/trailers/mansions built on stilts

Pickwick Dam and Lock

Using his "big balls" to lock through

We had to fight a strong current as we continued on our way. Even though we were at 18000rpms the boat was only doing 5 mph. We locked through Pickwick lock without any hassle and anchored off Pickwick Landing in a little cove. We explored the shore and came to found out it was actually a state camp ground. This is Columbus Day weekend so there were many campers setting up for the long weekend. Back on shore I saw a huge clam shells and after a little bit of searching found some fresh water clams. Gary said they were probably not good to eat so I just put them back but not before one squirted me!

Fresh water clams

Back on the boat we decided to have a swim/ bath as it was a lovely warm evening.

In the middle of the night we woke up to rain and howling wind. (Did I NOT tell you these things always happen in the middle of the night!!??!!) Gary let our some more anchor chain (which isn’t very nice to do in the dark with rain and wind howling around you).

Oct 06, 2012

In the morning we awoke to a very chilly day. A cold front (the weather man keeps referring to it as a Canadian Cold front) had moved in and the weekend forecast was gloomy.  We headed to Grand Harbour Marina which is on the border of Tennessee and Mississippi, where we had a vehicle reserved to tour the Shiloh Civil war battle grounds. Of course the car wasn’t ready for us when we got there!! GRRRRR!!! So I did some laundry and Gary enjoyed watching TV because it was too cold to do anything else. The locals tell us it is 20 F colder than normal. And yet, there is a tropical storm brewing in the gulf that could potentially become a hurricane.

Yesterday we swam , it was so warm. Today we are wearing scarfs and jackets...go figure!!

Let there be peace!!

In the afternoon we got the vehicle and we were able to visit the Shiloh Battle ground.  It was a very educational experience and gave us plenty of insight into the civil war and the effect it had on people in this area. Little did we know where we went for a walk yesterday evening, at Pickwick landing, was where Grant’s battle ships landed. This is also where the reinforcement troops showed up which turned the battle into the Union’s favour. The bloody battle fought over two days left as many as 30 000 casualties. Ironically the battle was named after a church and the word Shiloh means place of peace.

We ended off the evening with dinner at Broken Spoke with the folks from SV Kathryn.

Broken Spoke
Very good food