Trip Diary for September, 2005

Thursday, Sept. 1-5:  A quick land trip home, then to IL to visit Larry's mother and attend a surprise retirement party for Lola's youngest sister-in-law Barbara Kater and a return to Chickamauga Marina in Chattanooga (1,400 mi.).

Tuesday, Sept. 6: Hosting Purdue alum Dyer Butterfield, '40 ECE, was the highlight of the day.  He joined us for lunch on the boat and for reminiscing about Purdue and the dramatic changes since his student days.  We had noticed our house battery (runs everything aboard except engines) was about to give out, so we had Erwin Boat Service install a new one before restarting our trip.  A brief shopping trip prior to turning in the car followed by a light dinner aboard completed this transition day.

Wednesday, Sept. 7: "On the Road, er River, Again!"  The weather is absolutely perfect, i.e. much cooler.  No marinas were within the range we wanted to travel, so we planned a short trip of only 30 mi. by dropping lines at a leisurely 8:50 AM.  We anchored at 1 PM, 2 mi. up the Hiwassee River, a major tributary to the Tennessee. In this secluded bay about 500 ft. from our boat was an eagle's nest; unfortunately, not occupied at this time of year. After a light lunch, we launched the dinghy to explore about 7 mi. of the beautiful Hiwassee. A wildlife refuge near the river's confluence supplied numerous birds and a group of deer with two fawns drinking at the river. Upon returning to our anchorage, two more boats had joined us: the NanSea II that had docked next to us at Chickamauga and Sea Knight, from our stay in Nashville now coming back down the river.  Tom and Gerry Clare invited us all aboard Sea Knight to share drinks, munchies and stories.

Thursday, Sept. 8: Weighed anchor at 7:55 AM with the temperature a delightful 65 degrees; it was wonderful sleeping without AC. Steam from the water added a special quality to an already beautiful river scene. Our destination was Euchee Marina on Watts Bar Lake near Ten Mile, TN.  We had no wait at the 58 ft. Watts Bar Lock, going through with NanSea II in only 20 min.  Howard and Nancy Roth from NanSea II joined us for dinner at the marina's Lighthouse Restaurant.

Friday-Saturday, Sept. 9-10: Light fog softened the marina scene as we departed at 8 AM for Fort Loudon Marina, 60 mi. upstream.  Watts Bar Lake is one of the most picturesque of the TN River lakes and a bit less developed along its upper reaches. Cell service returned along the way so we invited Purdue alums to join us.  With a wait-free 72 ft. lockage we made the excellent marina at 2 PM.  Harmon and Anna Towne joined us for dinner at Calhoun's at the marina and for dessert aboard. Saturday was a time for shopping with the courtesy van, laundry and periodic cleanup.  Harmon's invited us to their new home for a nice dinner and a land tour of the area.

Sunday, Sept. 11:  After the contemporary service at Central UMC in Lenior City, we departed for Knoxville at 10:30.  Ft. Loudon Marina is only 25 road mi. from Knoxville, but 48 water mi.  River homes got larger and more incredible as we neared Knoxville. However, a few fancy condos seemed over-dense (sardines?) to us. By running the first hour, we made Volunteer Landing Marina at 3:30 and survived (barely) the challenge of docking right on the river at 90 degrees to the current with modest wind in the same direction.  The navigable TN River ends about 7 mi. upstream; total water miles traveled to date: 1,961 mi.

Monday, Sept. 12: The scheduled Purdue alumnae visit in Knoxville cancelled so we departed Volunteer Landing at 8:50 AM to return to Ft. Loudon Marina, arriving at 2 PM.  The current, though modest along this stretch of river/lake, helped speed the return trip without running.  We scheduled the van for dinner at Little Joe's Pizza in nearby Farragut with John and Cyndi Esch from Fet*Esch and Clyde and Pat Honeycutt from Mamacita V.

Tuesday, Sept. 13: We dropped lines at 9 AM to start exploring the Little Tennessee River/Tellico Lake that connects to Ft. Loudon Lake via a short canal near the dam.  While not very long, it may be the most picturesque of the Tennessee River system with leaves starting to turn. We anchored the Lola Marie 13.3 mi. up-river in the embayment on which Ron and Eva Stob, AGLCA Directors, live in a beautiful home about 75 ft. above the river/lake in dense woods. Larry prepared to launch the dinghy for exploring further up river.  Having remembered, after removing straps and just before lowering, he had not tightened the drain plug, he laid across its back end to insert the plug.  The combined weight of the motor and Larry caused the dinghy to tilt and slide off its supports into the lake, engine and Larry going briefly underwater!  The water was delightful, but bathing with clothes, shoes and the lift remote control resulted in some delay in starting our river exploration. Sorry, no pictures were taken of this incident.  We eventually went 8 mi. further up the lake, enjoying the beauty and the many wonderful homes before reaching the restored Fort Loudoun and its museum. It was built by the British in 1756 to strengthen relations with the Cherokee as they sought their help in the French and Indian War.  Next we took a 2 mi. side trip up the Tellico River to the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum. Sequoyah is famous for having solely developed an alphabet that enabled the Cherokee to write their language.  Upon returning to the Lola Marie, we found its anchor wasn't holding.  Fortunately, as the bottom was suspect when we anchored, we had also attached a line to a tree root.  Nevertheless, this required relocating and caused us to be late for visiting the Stob's.  After drinks and crackers, we boarded Li'l Looper for a quick ride to the Tellico Village Yacht Club for a delicious grouper dinner.  It got dark as we returned, ending a most interesting and enjoyable (mostly) day.

Wednesday, Sept. 14: Weighed anchor at 7:50 AM, to go 66 mi. back down the Little Tennessee and the Tennessee rivers.  A brief 15 min. wait at Ft. Loudon lock enabled us to make Blue Springs Marina near Ten Mile, TN by 3:30; of course the 2-3 mph current below the lock made the downstream trip much quicker than going up.  The advertised van was undergoing repairs, the rumored wireless connection was "not for transients", and we were on the fuel dock.  Despite those disappointments, the nice showers were most welcome as temperatures and increasing humidity had not yet begun their forecasted retreat.

Thursday, Sept. 15: Time to install the new burgee and staff acquired from Ron and Eva , for Larry to purchase TN fishing license, and for a pumpout prior to departure at 10:25 AM to return to the Hiwassee anchorage.  Arriving at 4 PM with the temperature and humidity both reaching 90, we started the genny to enable AC. At 5 PM we grilled hamburgers for an early dinner in anticipation of fishing in the evening hours.  While eating, we noticed dark thunderheads to our west.  We cranked up the radar to observe their progress almost directly toward us and then experienced our first real storm "on the hook."  The anchor held and everything was fine, but fishing was scratched.  By bed time the rain had stopped and it had cooled sufficiently to turn off the genny.

Friday-Monday, Sept. 16-19: A steady rain began about 6 AM, so plans for some morning fishing before heading to Chickamauga Marina in Chattanooga were scrapped.  Rain continued until 11 AM.  Made a brief stop along the way at Shady Grove Marina near Soddy-Daisy, TN to acquire a highly recommended solution for cleaning spider droppings from fiberglas, Capt. John's.  Seems Shady Grove is one of the few places to stock it and they had only one bottle.  A combination of wind on the wider parts of Chickamauga Lake produced white caps for the first time on this trip.  However, white caps on these inland lakes are nothing compared to those we know so well from Lake Michigan.  Docked at Chickamauga at 2 PM (it was only 32 mi. from our anchorage) and called Enterprise to get a car for the weekend.  Ken and Darcy Searl, aboard Just Us and planning to begin their loop trip in late-October, noticed our AGLCA burgee as we docked and came by to introduce themselves.  This is their home port, so they invited us to join a group 7 others for dinner at Sydney's at Island Cove Marina in nearby Harrison, TN.  Saturday was a day for boat maintenance and shopping.  After church Sunday at the 2,700 member First Centenary UMC, it was back to more boat polishing, laundry and ironing.  We decided to stay here an additional day and move downstream Tuesday.  This provided an opportunity for shopping and more polishing on the topside of the boat.

Tuesday, Sept. 20: We spent enough time in Chattanooga to gain a sense of familiarity with the city, but it was time to head further downstream to receive daughter Sandy and son-in-law Klaus Leitem from Noblesville, IN aboard Wednesday evening.  We departed Chickamauga at 9:25 EDT with only a 10 min. wait at the nearby lock.  Down-locking is much easier than up-locking.  Hot, humid weather had returned; it reached 92 as we arrived at Hale's Bar (Nickajack) Marina at 1:25 PM CDT (note timezone change).  A courtesy truck enabled us to purchase fresh rib-eyes for dinner grilling.

Wednesday, Sept. 21:  An early 6:55 AM departure for the 74 mi. trip back to Alred Marina offered the special beauty of the river with soft mist in the mountains and, following a 10 min. wait for the lock, a view of one valley ahead literally "in the white clouds." Arriving at Alred at 3:35 PM, we had time to take on 180 gal. of fuel, tie-up, shower and then depart in the generously provided manager's vehicle for Joe Wheeler State Park, 100 mi. away, to pick up Sandy and Klaus.  Incredibly, their arrival from Noblesville, IN exactly coincided exactly with ours, enabling us to return by 11 PM.

Thursday, Sept. 22:  After breakfast we took the dinghy across the lake/river to view the Guntersville shoreline and area around the marina.  After returning to the boat, at 11:52 AM we noticed a single engine sea plane coming low into the bay beside the marina for what appeared to be a normal landing.  As we watched, the plane touched the lake then flipped nose-over and began sinking!  Three fishing boats in the vicinity immediately headed for the crash, about 3/4 mi. from us, as we called 911 and the marina office to report the incident.  The plane sank in about 2 min. leaving only its belly and wheels visible. Fortunately, the pilot managed to get safely out; the crash occurred because he forgot to retract wheels (it was a belly fuselage-type seaplane).

Friday, Sept. 23: A leisurely 9:25 AM departure for Ditto Landing Marina only 25 miles and one lock away.  With no wait at the lock, we made Ditto by 12:30 PM and spent a relaxed afternoon reading, napping, catching up on e-mail, etc.  Docked next to Sea Knight, we invited them over for drinks and munchies before grilling hamburgers for dinner.

Saturday, Sept. 24: Left Ditto Landing at 7:50 AM with the new crew, Klaus and Sandy, in charge. The wind was the strongest we had experienced with gusts into the 20s and our first discernible boat pitching since Lake Michigan.  The wide Wheeler Lake stretch, combined with a wind direction ideal for building 2-3 ft. waves, made the narrow barge-formed entrance into Bay Hill Marina treacherous.  Their narrow entrance and poor wave protection had been aggravated by earlier hurricane Katrina damage.  After docking we decided conditions were unsatisfactory, called Joe Wheeler Marina to find they could accommodate us, and then immediately left.  Wheeler will be our dockage for a month.  28 locks and 2,357 water miles traveled to date.

Sunday-Friday, Sept. 25-30: With Leitem's car available, we attended the Florence FUMC church again and then proceeded to Corinth, MS to meet daughter Judy and son-in-law Glen at Ruby Tuesday's. They brought us an Explorer for our planned month-long stay at Wheeler.  Hurricane Rita remnants were arriving in the region so we monitored the radio while returning, noting on a map which counties were under tornado warning.  Wheeler had a windy evening with 3-4 in. of rain, but no serious problems at our dock.  Monday was still cloudy and misty, but the wind had subsided.  We decided the weather was unsuitable for dinghy exploration, so we took the Explorer for a day of shopping in Huntsville about 50 miles east of Joe Wheeler State Park.  Tuesday morning was the time for Klaus and Sandy to pack and head home.  The weather was now great: sunny, low humidity and a high in the mid-80's; a perfect match for this gorgeous park and marina. Wednesday: Being at the same port for an extended period provided a much needed opportunity for relaxation and starting postponed projects. First priority was laundry and then a dinghy survey of bays in the vicinity.  Upon returning from that modest but pleasant sojourn, Larry began working on an accumulating list of non-critical boat maintenance needs.  Thursday was devoted to projects and boat maintenance, starting with the waste holding tank full alarm repair.  Throughout the day eight additional looper boats arrived.  Tom and Gerry from Sea Knight, again docked next to us, came aboard for an evening of the dice game Yahtzee following dinner.  Friday morning the temperature was 53; what a treat to sleep last night without air conditioning noise.  We drove to Huntsville for Lola's nail refurbishing and to shop.  Naturally, a Huntsville trip meant returning to Bruster's Ice Cream to re-confirm they have the best we have found to date.  We returned to Wheeler in time to participate with the early evening ad hoc AGLCA BYOB Happy Hour.  Following those munchies, we were joined by John and Cyndi Esch from Fet*Esch for excellent pizza at Big Daddy's in Rogersville.

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