Friday June 1 –
Chickamauga Back to Chattanooga
(Pics to be added later)
It rained during the night, but we didn’t get an storms, and
it was peaceful at the Chickamauga Marina fuel dock, so we slept pretty good. I
woke up before the ladies, and took all our dirty clothes to the laundry room
to wash, and took Daisy for her morning walk.
A check of the radar showed that we would probably have more
light rain, and we did until about 11:30 this morning, so we took the time to
relax a little. When the rain stopped we thanked Melanie for letting us stay
and use their facilities, and Abby gave her an autographed copy of her book.
After a short stop at the TVA park dock for the girls to
feed the ducks, we headed out for the lock. I called by radio and the
lockmaster said he’d be ready to lock us downstream in 10 minutes, and just as
we arrived the green light flashed and the lock’s horn sounded. We were lowered
the 50’ in just a few minutes, and during the lock through the last of the
clouds passed and the sun came out. We exited to sunny skies ahead of us, and a
noticeably cooler wind.
With no set schedule, the girls talked me into stopping at
the Riverwalk park at Chickamauga River again. Before tying up to the park’s
dock, we travelled up the Chickamauga River for about a mile and half. The
riverbank looked remote and made you feel you were in the middle of nowhere,
but the occasional sound of machinery and glimpses of a chemical plant and
Coca-Cola plant over the treetops let us know were still close to “civilization”. All along the bank there were dozens and
dozens of animal den holes, some at the water level and some a foot or so
higher. I’m not sure what type of animals built those, but I suspect they were
otter and/or beaver dens. Abby and Dakota caught a glimpse of a brown animal
they described as looking like a small otter as he slipped into the water.
We arrived at the Chattanooga Docks about 4:00 and found the
Bluff Dock empty again. A couple of other boats arrived before dark though, so
we weren’t completely alone. We spent the evening watching the herons, ducks
and a mink scurrying along the rock bank. The weather was cool – about 75
degrees and sunny – a near perfect day!
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