Chattanooga Special!

Happy Mother's Day!

Another peaceful anchorage except the three boats of fishermen that returned to the boat ramp at three o'clock this morning.  Thankfully the water did not drop overnight.  We departed Old Lock #1 at about 6:45 a.m. again.  It was just as scary watching the depth finder on the way out though.  Looks like we are going to need to find an alternative anchorage for the future unless the water level is high, but we don't plan on doing that again either.
We were a couple hours into our trip when we saw this coming at us:

We knew exactly what it was!  It was Casey's Barge.  The eyesore that has been on the waterfront of Chattanooga for years that everyone wanted gone.


It was almost as ugly from the back side.

We hailed them on the VHF radio as "Casey's Barge".  No answer.  We hailed them as down bound tow at the mile maker we were at.  No answer.  We stated "nothing heard" on the VHF.  A few minutes later the tow operator hailed us and requested a one whistle pass.  No problem.  As you can see on the picture below, it must have been quite a challenge for the tow operator to see through the second story of the structure.  Once he was passed we thanked him for getting it out of Chattanooga.  He said it has been a long, stressful trip.


Rest assured Chattanoogans, it is gone!

Shortly after that we heard an up bound tow hail him on the VHF radio stating where he thought might be a good place for them to pass safely on the river.  The Casey's Barger operator kind of puzzled the up bound tow operator because he stated that he did not know where he was on the river and they would just pass when they saw each other.  Hello!  Maybe the trip wouldn't be so stressful if you had a CHART?!  OMG!  Even these heavily licensed commercial captains don't know what they are doing?  We thought it was just some of the pleasure boaters!



Next was our first locking in about a year and a half.  Now let me catch you up.  On Thursday while we were still in Fairhope, Alabama, celebrating our last night there with some all you can eat crawfish and libations, Ray announced that he could not make a "Mikey face".  This is just basically blowing up your cheeks and pursing your lips like our friend Mike does on "Nauti Nell".  By the way, yes, we have lots of things named after people it makes us think of.  Anyway, I thought it was just too many libations.  However, on Friday while crossing Mobile Bay he announced that he could not feel the right side of his face.  I was immediately concerned and checked for stroke symptoms, although it was obviously too late now if that were it.  All other functions were cognitive and cleared him of probably having a stroke.  Through research and continued symptoms we decided he has Bell's Palsy.  This right sided facial paralysis has now affected his right eye in that it does not blink, which is drying out his eye and causing a good bit of irritation, so it was determined that he should not operate the boat in the lock with his vision somewhat impaired (more than usual).  Therefore, Linda is at the helm as she has been for most of the trip since Mobile Bay for this same reason.  We were in and out of Coffeeville Lock in about 20 minutes for an approximate 29 foot lift.  Twenty-nine feet above sea level!
Throughout the rest of the day we spotted two alligators, discovered the pretty and unusual black and white birds we saw on a couple occasions were Swallow Tailed Kites, passed the down bound tows "Thelma Parker" and "Capt. Earl Devall", and then again came upon the up bound tow "Wilsey Dupre" shortly before our intended anchorage.  We were just going to stay behind again when he hailed us on the VHF to come on around him.  Just as we got that accomplished we thanked him and told him we hoped we did not hold him up.  He was very gracious and said he didn't care, he had 20 more days on that tow.  At the same time we commented to him how "Moondancer", a pleasure boat that overtook us about mid-day, now looked to be anchored in a bad place, in a curve of the river.  Again the tow operator was courteous and did not say anything negative.  "Moondancer" however immediately got on the radio and asked the tow operators opinion.  We already knew from other conversations heard over the VHF that this captain had not been up the Tenn-Tom in a couple of years, so he did not have any specific knowledge of this river as it changes every time there is high flowing water like there just was.  He did explain that it was never safe to anchor in a curve, especially in the outside of a curve like he was because that is where tows slide to make their turns.  At that point we told "Moondancer" where we intended to anchor at the place we usually do in more of a straightaway inside of the red buoys.  He thanked everyone, said he would go there, lifted his anchor, and overtook us once again.
A few miles up the river, we found him at the mile marker we designated, but anchored on the opposite side of the river, right in the tows path again.  We hesitantly got back on the VHF to explain to him that he needed to be on the other side of the river when he was lifting his anchor and said he was going to move over inside the one red buoy that was still there because he needed to get the pups to shore anyway.  Good idea!  So on his way to shore via dinghy he thanked us for the information and proceeded to tell us how he has been up and down this river many times.  Well then how could you not know where it is safe to anchor, and you were also wrong as to which side to overtake a tow earlier today when the tow operator requested a two whistle pass.  See what I mean about some of the pleasure boaters not knowing what they are doing either?  How do these people live this long?
Once we were anchored, taking a half hour less to go the same amount of miles as yesterday, we awaited the passing of the tow "Mr. David" whom we heard behind us most of the day.  That never happened before we went to bed, so I'll assume it was him at about 10:00 p.m.