Trip Diary for August, 2005

Aug. 1-14: We finished IN business quicker that expected, so we drove back to Kentucky Dam Marina (KDM) on Aug. 3 in order to do some preventive maintenance and belated spring clean-up on the Lola Marie.  This provided an opportunity to bring additional clothing for changing seasons and "stuff" we had delayed bringing aboard to accommodate more passengers during the early stages of the trip.  One guest stateroom has now become a closet and storage area; thus, we can sleep only two guests on beds.  On Aug. 12 we drove to Evansville, IN for the wedding of grandson Nick Leitem to Jamie Buttry .  After a delightful celebration on Aug. 13, we left our car for daughter Sandra to drive back to Noblesville (and ultimately W. Lafayette) with a load of wedding gifts.  We hitched a ride back to KDM on Aug. 14 with daughter Judy and family as they returned to Memphis.  Pre-departure shopping at KDM yielded a clock that seemed the perfect complement for our trip's motto "No schedule; and we're sticking to it!"

Monday-Tuesday, Aug. 15-16: Our trip up the Tennessee River to Knoxville began with a 9:50 AM cast-off.  Again we used one of Fred Myers' excellent guides, The Tennessee River Cruise Guide.  The huge Kentucky Lake reminded us of boating on Lake Michigan, except the water was totally flat and 90+ degrees.  Given this expanse, the rather late departure, and a goal to make 74 mi. to the new Pebble Isle Marina near Waverly, TN, we ran at cruise speed; thus, we arrived at 2:15 PM, just before several brief showers began.  Surprisingly, we met only two tows.  After passing the Land Between the Lakes area, the shoreline became more developed with beautiful homes and private docks. After a great meal at the marina's local restaurant, we decided to spend two nights and use their courtesy van to explore the local area Tuesday.  The highlight was the Nathan Bedford Forrest Park museum.  It chronicled the history of the river, its people and a bit about Forrest's audacious Civil War victories.  The museum is on Pilot Knob, the highest point in western TN, and gave a spectacular view of the river.

Wednesday, Aug. 17: We dropped lines at 6:45 AM!  Back to using only one engine making 7-8 mph, we reached Clifton Marina at 3:15 PM, just as it began to sprinkle.  It seems afternoon thundershowers are standard for the season/areas in which we are now moving.  We left Lake Kentucky today and were back to real river conditions, but without debris hazards and with low turbidity water it was delightful.  There was more commercial traffic today plus a TVA dredge.  Spectacular home sites were common. Our destination was Clifton, a town of 800 only a half-mile from the marina. It has four restaurants; we had excellent Angus beef dinners at the Kountry Kitchen.

Thursday, Aug. 18: With only 49 miles and one lock to Pickwick Landing Marina, we left at a more reasonable 8:05 AM.  The river topography alternated with limestone cliffs or eroding sand-clay banks, some threatening homes. To avoid a wait at the Pickwick lock, we had to run the last 5 miles; the current increased from 1 to almost 4 mph, making the increased speed essential.  Temperatures reached 93 and the humidity must have been close to that number; tomorrow is to be even hotter.  Buffet at the beautiful Pickwick Lodge was very good, especially the catfish.  Water miles traveled to date: 1525.

Friday, Aug. 19-20: A very hot, humid day (97 at 3 PM)!  Destination was Mystic Harbor Marina in Florence, only 50 mi. up Pickwick Lake and the river.  Departed at 7:45 AM to reduce travel during the hottest part of the day and arrived at 2:30 PM.  The big news for today was returning to full cell service, our first since departing KDM.  While we've had roam most of the time, that doesn't support data (no web updates) and we have very limited roam minutes.  With free transportation available, only a few bad features like broken air conditioning and the brake warning light constantly on, we shopped and relaxed for a day.

Sunday, Aug. 21: Before departing at 10:10 we drove to the 8:30 service at the large FUMC in Florence.  Today's modest 21 mi. trip to Joe Wheeler State Park marina included two locks.  We managed to make the Wilson lock in time to avoid a wait, but with the 93.5 ft. depth and temperatures in the 90's combined with high currents at our tie position, it was the most sweltering 40 min. and difficult lockage we've had.  We again started seeing logs and other floating trash in Wilson Lake.  For the first time on the Tennessee River, piloting required more attention.  The next lock, Wheeler, required only a 30 min. wait because we were allowed to accompany a small tow.  Only 43 ft. high, it was much easier and quicker than Wilson.  Wheeler Lake also had considerable debris and huge islands of floating weeds that could foul a prop.  Joe Wheeler State Park is the site for the AGLCA rendezvous on Oct. 3.  We had driven there for last year's rendezvous, so were already familiar with its beauty and excellent accommodations.   Experienced a brief, severe thunderstorm just after docking at 2 PM.  Had a delicious on-board dinner of salad, lamb patties, and green beans.

Monday, Aug. 22: Since we will be docked at Wheeler for a month starting in late September, we decided to move upstream to Decatur, AL.  Just after departure at 10:10, we noticed that yesterday's storm had blown away our AGLCA burgee and staff; guess it was more severe than we appreciated.  Both Wilson and Wheeler lakes have more private homes and lakeside development than other TVA lakes we've traveled.  In addition to the hydro power plants at each of the TVA dams, today we passed their Brown Ferry nuclear plant. The 28 ft. dock fingers at Riverwalk Marina presented a challenge for tying, but we successfully backed in at 2:10 PM. After getting hooked up and starting the AC, Lola baked a banana cream pie!  After delicious Cajun catfish dinners, the marina's Hard Dock restaurant's specialty, we returned to the boat for slightly warm pie.

Tuesday-Thursday, Aug. 23-25: With an 8:35 departure we made the 28 mi. to the excellent Ditto Landing Marina in Huntsville, AL by 12:40 PM.  After lunch and showers (Riverwalk had none), we rented a car to explore Huntsville.  Taking local advice, we had an outstanding Italian dinner at Carrabba's, which "just happened" to be located in the largest shopping center.  Wednesday was an early departure for a half-day at the Space and Rocket Center. It chronicled the history for which Huntsville is famous.  We also attended an IMAX show about the International Space Station and Larry rode their 4G machine.  Next, we toured Huntsville's beautiful historic district.  The oldest "hardware" store in AL, now operated by the city's Historical Society, was fascinating.  Its 108 year history was told by using more than half the shelf space for memorabilia from throughout its lifetime. The "surprise" of the day was returning to the boat to find the refrigerator partially defrosted (without this automatic feature!).  After hurriedly moving food to a cooler and the icemaker, we finished defrosting it and restarted it.  It made all the proper sounds, so we decided to await a morning reassessment.  Thursday found it "somewhat cold".  Calls to each of two local Norcold authorized service dealers, both RV businesses, determined they required us to bring it in.  Obviously, they expect a road-type RV that could be driven to their location.  We decided to conduct an experiment before more drastic measures.  We switched it to battery power since we had noticed other devices acting strangely on this marina's AC power.  Since it required a few hours to determine this test's outcome and we still had wheels, we left to continue exploring the area.  We drove back to Decatur to visit its historic district.  Fantastic homes: and a wonderful lunch at the new Bank St. Deli (opened May 1)!   We also discovered a source of exceptional ice cream in Huntsville: Bruster's.  In honor of our anniversary tomorrow, when we'll again be on the river, we decided to have some before driving to Decatur and then again when we returned to turn in the car.  When we reached the boat, the refrigerator was again freezing things, but just barely, so the uncertainty continued.

Friday-Saturday, Aug. 26-27: With only a 10-minute wait at the Guntersville Lock, we arrived at the large, excellent Alred Marina across the lake from Guntersville, AL at 12:45 PM.  They were offering a special: two nights free dockage if you purchased 100 gal. of fuel at $2.49 (the lowest we've seen the past two weeks). They also had a courtesy vehicle and recommended LaStrada for our anniversary dinner.  We stopped at Wal-Mart on the way, leaving a few items and locking the van.  To our surprise, we returned to find the keys would not open any of the doors.  By then, we were due at LaStrada in 20 minutes.  Lola phoned the marina which had closed 2 hrs. earlier and by luck the owner, "WR" Cranford, had returned to pick up something and answered.  He remembered they had recently replaced the ignition switch and agreed to call us after looking for a set of old keys.  Ten minutes later he called to say he could not find other keys, but would personally take us to LaStrada.  We called LaStrada to reschedule and waited for him to drive the 8 mi. to pick us up.  He arrived, drove us to the restaurant, left his personal Yukon for us to use after dinner, and called his son to come pick him up.  The van was left at Wal-Mart for pick-up Monday when a locksmith was available.  What a unique anniversary evening with really delicious dining!  Saturday morning was cooler than most days the past three weeks, so we used the dinghy to explore a bit of the huge Guntersville Lake within 5 miles of the marina.  A big challenge to these beautiful upper TN lakes is vegetation incursion (hydrilla and water milfoil).  There are literally hundreds of acres of weeds on this single lake! We marked many fish from the dinghy; it made Larry anxious to stop moving for a few days and get in some quality fishing time.

Sunday, Aug. 28: Church was at Guntersville FUMC, the most dynamic, alive church we have attended.  It was standing room only at the 8:30 service!  Looking over our shoulders at hurricane Katrina's forecast to interfere with our plans to reach Chattanooga by Wednesday, we decided to run at cruise speed to cover 74 miles and one lock to Nickajack Marina (aka, Hales Bar) at Guild, TN before closing.  Refrigerator continued to work acceptably, so confidence in it was slowly returning.

Monday-Wednesday, Aug. 29-31: Looking at Katrina's forecast to reach Chattanooga by early Tuesday, we dropped lines at 8:05 AM and ran.  Fortunately, there was no wait at the 48 ft. Chickamauga Lock east of Chattanooga, but currents made it a difficult lockage.  We reached the Chickamauga Marina just above the lock and dam at 1:15 PM (with a time zone change), fueled and tied to ride out the expected rain and wind. We'll stay here for a week.  The reach of river traveled today is called the Grand Canyon of the Tennessee; however, it reminded us more of Switzerland. Regardless of what you call it, it's beautiful; pictures can't do it justice.  We continued to see many tremendous homes along the river.  Examples:   Downtown Chattanooga, with its new public docks below the renowned aquarium was also beautiful.  By Tuesday morning, Katrina's worst had passed us.  The marina provided good protection, so the 20-30 mph winds and occasionally stronger gusts presented no problem.  Rainfall was much less than we expected, little more than 1 in.  Wednesday we rented a car for a trip back to IL/IN to attend the surprise retirement party for sister-in-law Barbara Kater on Sept. 4.

22 locks and 1,790 water miles traveled to date.

Comments or Questions?  Just e-mail us.