The Majestic Tennessee

On Friday, October 5, we left Buzzard Rock Marina on the Cumberland, passed from Barkley Lake of the Cumberland formed by Barkley Dam, through Barkley Canal into Kentucky Lake of the Tennessee River, formed by Kentucky Dam. Kentucky Lake is magnificent, 184 miles long and has 2,400 miles of shoreline. Between Barkley Lake and Kentucky Lake is a National Park known as the Land Between the Lakes. The park was created in 1963 by President Kennedy as a recreational and environmental education area. On Friday night we anchored in Cypress Creek, just north of the Kentucky/Tennessee border.

On Saturday we motored south up the Tennessee 34 miles to Johnsonville, TN and Pebble Isle Marina. Today Johnsonville is an industrial area with a DuPont plant and large TVA coal fired power plant. All along this section of the Tennessee we will see historical parks commerating battles of the Civil War. At Johnsonville a major river port was here where Union supplies were loaded from rail to boats. On November 4, 1864, Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his cavalry attacked and destroyed the river port depot of Johnson. The historic park was 1/2 mile from the marina and an easy bike ride away.

Sunday brought us behind Densome Island. It had been a hot day so soon after dropping the anchore we were in the river swimming. Monday was another hot day, we anchored behind Swallow Bluff Island, another delightful swim.

Today, Tuesday October 9, we anchored ODYSSEE near Shiloh National Military Park, took the dingy and bikes into a landing at Catfish Hotel, a restraunant next to the National Park, had some lunch and then spent the afternoon touring the park by bike. Tonight we are anchored behind Diamond Island.

Tomorrow we pass through Pickwick Lock, a 55' lift up to Pickwick Lake with plans to get to Florence, AL for the next couple of days.

We did spend Wednesday and Thursday nights at Florence. On Friday, October 12 we went through both Willson and Wheeler Locks and are currently at Joe Wheeler State Park for the AGLCA fall rendovouis. We will leave on Friday, October 19 to go up river to Decatur, our first planned stop as we cruise up to Knoxville.

Looking up to the top of Wilson Lock as we start our 93' lift.

We are back on the river, moving up river towards Knoxville. We did stop a Decatur on Friday, October 19. On Saturday night we were invited to spend the night at the Lake Guntersville Yacht Club. Not only did we have an enjoyable night, the imprompto party was great fun. On Sunday night we anchored above Nickajack Lock and today, Monday, October 22 we arrived at the new waterfront in Chattanooga and are tied to the wall just ahead of the Delta Queen.

Tennessee River just above Nickajack Dam, we anchored to the left of this point.

On Tuesday we continued up the river towards Knoxville, anchoring out on Tuesday night at the mouth of the Hiwassee River. Wednesday we motored up the river another 68 miles and anchored in Little Paint Rock Creek. On Thursday, October 25 we made it to Knoxville and moored at the Volunteer Landing Marina. Friday we did maintenance chores on the boat.

ODYSSEE anchored behind Fort Loudoun

On Saturday sailing friends from Lake James, Indiana joined us. Sunday we started back down the river to the junction with the Little Tennessee River, turned east and went up the LTR 20 miles to Fort Loudoun. We dingied into the fort, toured the reconstructed fort and grounds and then returned to the boat for the night. Monday we went up the LTR to the 29 mile mark, the end of the bouyed channel. The view to the east of the Smokey Mountains was spectacular. At this point, our GPS told us we were only 291 miles from home as the crow flies, but it will take us 3,000 miles in the boat to get there! We turned around and went back down to rejoin the Tennessee at Fort Loudoun Lock. The lock was putting a tow load through and we had a five hour wait to get locked down. We exited the lock at 6:00 PM and continued in the dark to Little Paint Rock Creek where we anchored for the night. Tuesday we woke up to thick fog, so couldn't leave our anchorage until 10:00 AM. We got down to Spring City and spent the night at the Spring City Marina. Today, Wednesday October 31, we have arrived in Chattanooga again and plan to spend a couple of days seeing the sights.

The Smokey Mountains off to the east.

We were able to see all the sites in Chattanooga using their bus system. They have a free downtown "loop" electric trolley that connects to all of the outgoing busses, neat. Were able to ride the Incline, see Lookout Mountain, visit Chattanooga Cho Cho, and visit both Aquariums, rivers and oceans. As we left they were setting up the waterfront for their annual rowing regatta, 1500 boats competing from virtually every college and rowing club. Impressive organization!

As we continued back down the river we stopped at Gunterville, Huntsville, and Wheeler State park, all in Alabama. As we turned the corned onto the Tenn-Tom Waterway and into NE Mississippi, we had put 5,807 miles under our keel. About 3,000 miles left back to South Carolina.