Memorial Weekend

We sure had a lot of fun this weekend.  The weather was hot, so we did a lot of soaking in the Hiwassee River.  At one point on Saturday we had seven of us rafted together by the time "Throttle Back" and "Triple Bogey" joined us, although "LivEZ" departed from in between us and "Doug Out" before night fall.
Sunday morning "Triple Bogey" needed my battery charger to get going.
This morning we sadly had to depart so lines were thrown over our bow from "Conched Out Too" to "Doug Out" so they could tighten up the hole I left in the raft up.  After some sad see-you-laters it took us a little over four hours of travel time to get back to Gold Point Marina. It sure was busy on the lake.
I finally got the outside of the boat cleaned up pretty well this afternoon and then did a little fishing just for entertainment.  The big catfish got away before being landed in the net.

Chickamauga

We departed downtown Chattanooga just after seven o'clock this morning.  We remembered last night that it would be light a little later now that we were in the Eastern Time Zone again.  At 8:20 there were three of us in Chickamauga Lock for a 48 foot lift that took about 20 minutes.  Another 20 minutes later and we were docked at Chickamauga Marina to fuel up and pump out.  I filled up with water while there also.  An hour later we were headed 20 minutes across the lake to Gold Point Marina.  I pulled into slip BL09 while "Conched Out Too" pulled on the outside of B Dock.
After some hellos I got the Caprice started and pulled over to the top of the ramp to pick everyone up with their shopping bags and core batteries.
It wasn't until 2:00 p.m. that I was all set after loading groceries and eating lunch to head to the Hiwassee River.  "Conched Out Too" departed shortly thereafter waiting for their water tanks to get filled.
After 29.2 miles of up river travel, we found "Doug Out" and "LivEZ" anchored and rafted together as planned.  The rest of us questioned as to the plan of being anchored so close to shore.  Some wind kicked up and they were not swung the way that was intended.  The idea was for me to set my anchor out away from them then raft to them so that my anchor would pull us around in a better direction. That was semi-completed after the second attempt, but the wind direction was not going to change which way we were going to swing.  The wind got worse as "Conched Out Too" attempted to raft to me in the same manner.  It took a few attempts, one we had to abort because once we did get a line from them, my stern line came unattached from "LivEZ" and there was no way I could swing us both into position.  The successful landing did not include "Conched Out Too" getting their anchor down. Bill Livezey and Doug ended up taking it out via Bill's dinghy "Little EZ".  All of that was finally accomplished at about 7:00 p.m.
"Makin Memories" came to join the raft up a short time later.  By then the water was almost as flat as glass.  Go figure.

Fast Hour

Our usual six o'clock departure time stayed true for this morning.  All we had to do was untie from "Conched Out Too" though.  No anchor lifting.
I pretty much let Bill and Patty enjoy the amazing scenery for this part of the Tennessee River known as the Grand Canyon of the Tennessee.  I figured the guide book pointed out most points of interest.  I did see one bald eagle land in a tree, but could not find it after that.
At 9:35 Central Daylight Time we entered into the Eastern Time Zone.  Man that hour flew by.
The Guntersville Yacht Club boats once again overtook us near Moccasin Bend.  I went ahead and called Erwin Riverfront to see if we could get on the floating Olgiatti Dock instead of the hard Aquarium Dock.  I let Bill and Patty get tied on the outside of the dock first so they could help grab my lines as I tied to the inside for my favored port side tie.  By around 12:30 p.m. we were settled in.
I rode Ray's bicycle to our friend Doug's who so graciously offered the use of his truck.  We decided to do some needed provisioning this afternoon.  It took all afternoon to get house batteries, oil, filters, a UPS package and liquor for "Conched Out Too".  We were way late for our 5:30 p.m. dinner date by time we got unloaded and Doug's truck back.
Once we were in Chattanooga, Bill realized why the Coca-Cola stage was not across from Hales Bar as the guide book said.  It's already down here for the Riverbend Festival.

Long Trip

Another six o’clock departure this morning from Honeycomb Creek.  It sure was a peaceful place to rest for the night.  Not a lot of excitement traveling today, which is good.  I tried pointing out the points of interest I knew about to Bill and Patty for on their way back down.  It seems Guntersville Lake has plenty to explore, we’ve just never taken the time.  One bald eagle was spotted today.

When we went under the Jackson railroad bridge between Stevenson and South Pittsburg a train went overhead.  About that same time five boats from the Guntersville Yacht Club overtook us.  They are all headed up to Chattanooga for tomorrow night I know because when we called for reservations ourselves, there was no floating dock space available.

Just after three o’clock we were in the state of Tennessee.  The other five boats got out of Nickajack Lock just in time for it to be turned around for us.  We were in there at 4:30 p.m. and out of there in 15 minutes for a 39 foot lift.

Shortly thereafter we were pulling into Little Cedar Mountain anchorage where six of the Guntersville boats were already rafted up.  I continued on back into the anchorage where we normally anchor to show Bill.  He went ahead and got secure at anchor.  I rafted to his port side.  Yes, we finally rafted.  Reason being, at lunch time I intended to heat up some leftovers, but after three attempts, the generator would not start.  I gave up as I could not hear what the generator was doing while underway.  So I wanted Bill to help me with why it wouldn’t start.  As soon as we were settled in around 5:30 p.m. I decided to try the generator.  It started right up.  I didn’t need it right then, so I turned it right back off.  Now however, I need to go make dinner, so I am going to attempt it again.

Batty

A short delay this morning and we were off the dock at Decatur by 6:15 a.m.  A little more than an hour later and we were transiting under the I-65 bridge.  Our second north bound time under it.
A very quiet and uneventful day on the water.  Just the way we like it.  The scenery getting more mountainous as we traveled.
By 1:00 p.m. we were in Guntersville Lock for a 39 foot lift that took only about 15 minutes.  An hour later we picked our spot in Honeycomb Creek.  We anchored on the east side to get the little bit of wind protection, but also to get a more broad view.  It was a 49 mile travel day.

Peek a boo (third from left)

After a while Bill and Patty came to pick us up in their dinghy.  We rode to every forked end of Honeycomb Creek.  We stopped on the way back under one of the low bridges to capture a couple of pictures of the barn swallow nests.  These are on most bridges.  We went around Goat Island which we are anchored behind, and tried to find a General Andrew Jackson name carving in the stone up river without success.
We enjoyed left-overs from Stan and Shirley the other night aboard "Conched Out Too" for dinner before heading down river via their dinghy to watch the tens of thousands of endangered gray bats emerge from their cave at dusk.

Mellow

It was a glorious cruise today.  The water was close to glass all morning.  We were out of Joe Wheeler State Park around eight o'clock and in Ingall's Harbor at Decatur before noon.  Pretty non-eventful. Just the way we like it. A whole 26 miles.
We got all four bicycles down and rode to town for a late lunch.  We first stopped at the post office.  I dropped off some mail, but Bill didn't bother to wait in line to send his.  A lot of restaurants were closed on Monday so we opted for Moe's Original BBQ even though we had BBQ last night on the dock.
After lunch we rode our bicycles through the Old Decatur neighborhood looking at the nicely maintained late 1800's to early 1900's homes.  We read a couple of the historical plaques to get our culture, then went back to Moe's for happy hour.
Carlton and Becky from "Seamoore" came over to the boats around five o'clock for some cocktails before showing us their home outside of town.  Unfortunately Shirley and Stan from "Joint Venture" had a long day and did not make it to join us at Mellow Mushroom for dinner.  We thank them all for their gracious hospitality the past two nights.

Joe Wheeler

We got out of Little Bear Creek at about eight o'clock this morning.  The temperature was about 57 degrees, but the sun was shining with little clouds.  By 9:30 a.m. we were in Wilson Lock for a 93 foot lift.  The lock master was very nice and informative coming out to talk to us as the lockage was just about done.  He started out by saying "I've got to tell you something."  I said "Uh-oh!"  He said "No, it's a good thing."  He said in all his 20 years at that lock no one had ever asked him which bollards were the least turbulent for locking up.  He said he used to tell boaters all the time not to take the center bollard for that reason, but they would inevitably never listen and brag that they had been locking for 12 years.  I explained that we had been on the wrong bollard before and learned.  As he explained the valves that open up to fill that chamber could potentially fill it in 12 seconds, but there is a control that he cannot override to keep it slower.  With that knowledge and a couple anchorages to pass on to Bill and Patty for Wilson Lake, we were on our way.

This cute little bird took a ride up on the bollard in front of us.

We took a detour into the second cove on port side to show Bill and Patty a small anchorage that Ray and I call The Cow Pasture, where we have ridden out a couple storms over the years.  They said they liked it and would keep it in mind for future reference.
Then it was on through the 15 miles of Wilson Lake and into Wheeler Lock at 12:15 p.m.  We timed both locks just right.  There was a tow going into Wilson when we came out and one coming out of Wheeler when we went in.  Wheeler was a 48 foot lift that took about 20 minutes.
A couple more coves to port and we were in First Creek, where we had originally intended to anchor, but just prior to our arrival, Shirley on "Joint Venture" called and said we could tie on the outside of the last set of covered slips.  Stan and Shirley were there to grab our lines and we were tied off by 1:15 p.m. right next to their slip.  "Conched Out Too" tied in front of me.
After our 28 mile trip, we enjoyed hanging out on the dock and catching up with old friends and new. The spread they served for dinner was a fabulous bonus.  They plan to meet us again tomorrow in Decatur where they live.