TN River Trip - Final Notes and a Story About a True Salty Dog.

Our trip from Goose Pond Colony Marina in Scottsboro, AL to Island Cove Marina in Harrison, TN and back, with a stop in Chattanooga, covered 219 miles, and put 39 hours on the Knot-So-Fast's 9.9 hp engine. This brings our total mileage on the boat to about 1200!

Mileage for the upstream half of this trip was 11.09 mpg. I have not filled up again, but judging by past trips and the fuel gauge, I suspect that the downstream ride was done at about 14 or 15 mpg for a round trip average of about 13.

We did better with our food planning this time. In the past we always packed twice as much food as we needed. This time we finished the trip with a little surplus food, but not nearly as much as before. I still packed way too many clothes. I've decided that in the future I need to pack a presentable set of clothing for restaurants or other social events, and wear bathing trunks and a tee shirt while travelling. This would be more comfortable and they could be washed out in the sink and would dry overnight. A couple of pair should be all I need.

Glenda and I are still studying how to move the batteries and fuel tank forward. This would solve two issues; 1) It would balance the boat better, putting her closer to the designed water line, and 2) It would give us some much needed space in the cockpit and eliminate the problematic water flow issues around the covers that I currently have over the battery and tank compartments.

Before this trip I made compartments between the cabin top beams to house 4 life jackets, a book rack on the port side of the bulkhead and a binocular/cell phone rack under the steering wheel. These small changes gave us extra storage under the port seat and eliminated lots of clutter on the dash. I'll continue to work on storage improvements.

The biggest lesson I learned on this trip was the need for a spare pair of binoculars! When our only pair broke on day one, I knew I'd have a hard time finding another pair. I was pessimistic about the super-glue repair I made, but with gentle handling the repairs held up for the length of this trip. I did become acutely aware, however, of how often I used them and how important they are. My aging eyes are not really all that bad, but I have severe color-blindness and can't distinguish the red/green navigational markers by color alone. The binoculars make it easy to see the shapes of the markers from manageable distance. We also use them constantly to read signs, look at wildlife, and a host of other essential tasks. As my Daddy use to say, I would have "been in a world of hurt" without them.

Now for the Salty Dog story. At about 4:30 on Sunday afternoon, we went to our church small group meeting which lasted until about 7:30. Daisy was in the back yard as usual, and Glenda made sure she had plenty of water on the shaded back porch, because it was really hot. Shortly after we got home our neighbor informed us that she had rescued Daisy from the tug boat, where she assumed we had mistakenly forgotten her. Glenda assured her that we did not leave her in the boat. A quick investigation revealed that Daisy had dug under the gate of the back yard, CLIMBED the stepladder we had put beside the boat, and jumped into the cockpit. Once there, she apparently was afraid to make the leap back to the stepladder (or she just chose not to get out). Apparently her condition caused a stir and a two unknown ladies had noticed her, giving her some water and then knocking on the neighbors door to inform her of the cruel owner's (our) neglect. I guess that proves that Glenda was right - Daisy loves to ride on the boat. What really makes me feel like an idiot is that we've been carrying her up that stepladder for over a year!!!

TN River Trip - June 4th, 2011 - Our Last Day of the Trip

We stayed tied up at the fuel dock pier at Hales Bar last night, and had a pretty consistent breeze through the windows. We got up early and pulled out at 6:01, with the "River Dawg" right behind us. River Dawg's owners were headed to their homeport in Guntersville, finishing a 500 mile river trip in the 60'+ houseboat. They told us about locking through at Chickamauga yesterday when, using the stern thruster to keep the big boat against the lock wall, they overloaded the thruster battery and it literally blew up!

We saw more tugs on the return trip from Chattanooga.

When we arrived at Nickajack Lock about 7:00, we were informed that we had about a 45 minute wait, since a towboat was just about to be locked down. About 7:20 the lockmaster radioed to inform us that the tow was almost down in the lock, and they would be locking up a pleasure craft, then we would lock down next. He also asked us to make way for another downstream tow, with 7 barges, that was going to tie up on the lock entrance wall and wait for his turn to lock down after us. We then heard "Mo Jac" a larger yacht that had passed us yesterday and also overnighted at Hales Bar, call to say he was approaching the lock and needed to lock down. It was clearly getting busy.

The small boat that had locked up exited the lock at about 8:00 and we were given the OK to enter the lock. The River Dawg entered first and tied to his starboard side, and we pulled in behind him and secured to a bollard. Although River Dawg's captain had expressed some worry about keeping the houseboat in line without the use of his stern thruster, he didn't seem to have any trouble keeping her firmly against the wall. Mo Jac was approaching the lock and after being warned by the lockmaster to "slow it down" he passed us and the River Dawg and tied up on the downstream end of the lock. This put us in the perfect order to leave, fastest boat first, then the River Dawg, and finally the Knot-So-Fast. The 40' drop to Lake Guntersville level was quick, and we were out of the lock and on our way to Goose Pond Colony by 8:30.

This dock section apparently got away from its owner. It was floating in the middle of the river.

Going upstream we navigated around islands using the normal navigation line on my GPS. Travelling back, we took the opposite side of the islands when the charts showed there was sufficient depth.

Herons were the most commont birds we saw, and one of Abby's favorites.

Thursday evening while we were docked at Chattanooga, a couple with 3 children walked by and the smallest child, a red-headed boy who looked to be about 4 years old, squealed when he saw our little red tug. He obviously recognized my boat as the one he'd seen in the children’s' books, and he was begging his Mom and Dad to let him climb in. His mother explained to him that it was not their boat and he couldn't get on someone else’s boat. I told them that if it was OK with them, he was welcome to climb on and look. He and Dad stepped into the cockpit while Mom took their picture. The little guy was grinning from ear to ear.

Back to Saturday, we were just South of the Willow Creek Steam Plant when we saw pontoon boat in the middle of the river with several people aboard. Several kids started making hand motions for us to blow our horn, and we obliged them with several toot-toots. I then noticed the young man aboard yelling, waving and pointing toward the front of the pontoon. I couldn't hear what he was saying, and had no idea what he was pointing at. I slowed to an idle and turned the tug toward them, pulling up on their starboard side. That's when I saw "Eli", the little red-headed guy that we'd met in Chattanooga! He had the same ear-to-ear grin on his face as we pulled up! We talked with them for a few minutes, said goodbye to our little friend and headed downriver again. Maybe we'll run into Eli again someday.

The Willow Creek Steam Plant.

About an hour away from Goose Pond, we started packing away all the accumulated "stuff" in the boat. When we arrived we found our truck and trailer just as we left it at the marina, and within about 20 minutes we were loaded and headed home. We'd promised Abby a catfish dinner on the way home, so we stopped at the Catfish Cabin in Guntersville. Abby was lured away from the catfish when she saw flounder on the menu. (She said she wanted "real" seafood, not catfish.) Both the flounder and the catfish were great, and the meal would have been perfect had it not been for the fact that our ticket showed that Glenda and I both got a "Senior Citizen Discount" on our sweet tea. (Glenda has a little bit of a denial problem.)

Bridge Construction

I have decided we need a bigger boat. These trips are just too much fun not to share with more of our grand-kids.

Glenda Says:

It was cooler last night! It was the only night we weren't under a covered slip, which may have been the key. We got an early start. Abby just stayed in her gown and slept some more until after went got through the lock. We stayed close to the "River Dawg" up to and through the lock. Even though the trip has been hot I still have mixed feelings about it being over. Being out on the river, even in the heat, makes me feel "real" if that sounds crazy so be it. I watched the river banks carefully hoping for more sightings of all the creatures you know are hiding there. I'm remembering not to take the beautiful herons, magnificent ospreys and charming dragon flies for granted. They are always free with their appearances. I really want the trip to go on but as they say "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak". The heat as left me as limp as a dishrag, as my momma used to say. So it is time to go home and recover.

Abby enjoyed seeing the dragon flies in varying colors. (Look closely on her leg).

Abby Says:

I'm ready to go home too. It has been fun but it is hot. Today I mostly played with my DS but the best part was the dragonflies that kept flying in and landing on me. My favorite one was blue with a large green head. He kept moving his head around like he was looking at me. We stopped a couple of times and walked around some. I liked that too. I told Papa that the trip would be better if we could sleep in more and stop more.

TN River Trip - Friday June 3, 2011

Breakfast this morning was at Panera Bread, just a few blocks away from our dock. After breakfast Glenda and Abby played on the "steps" waterfall and I caught up on downloading pictures and such to the computer. After taking care of some housekeeping, we walked awhile in the dock area. We visited the "Moon Pie" actory store and decided to eat lunch before buying anything we'd have to carry around with us. Another block or so up  the street was "Sugar BBQ" which I'd heard was good. We were impressed by the friendly service, and the BBQ was some of the best I've ever had (and I eat lots of BBQ).


The view from our dock, looking down river last night.

 Stopping back by the Moon Pie store, we loaded up with Glenda's favorite banana flavored pies, and Abby got souveniers for her and her little sister Bailey. Once back at the boat we packed things away and cast off for Hales Bar. This trip would only be about 36 miles, and I hoped the current allow us to make good time. I set the throttle at about 3800 rpm and the GPS registered about 6.7 mph.

Just South of downtown we were passed by the houseboat "River Dawg" who radioed to warn of his passing and assuring us that he was not making a big wake. The crew was finishing a 500 mile cruise and would stay tonight as Hales Bar before ending the trip at thier homeport in Guntersville.

Going back through the Gorge, we deviated only slightly from our previous course, taking the left downsteam route around Williams Island. This proved to be worthwhile, as we saw from this side that the island was mostly pasture land where a fairly sizeable heard of cattle was being kept. There was a small outboard powered barge platform tied up on the island that appeared to be used to transport equipment and cattle back and forth.

As we passed the discharge facility for the Raccoon Mountain Resovoir, Glenda's sharper eyes spotted a large doe white-tail standing ankle-deep in the water at the bank. We approached to try and get a video shot, but she wouldn't stand for that!

We arrived at Hales Bar about 5:05 Central Time, and decided to stay at the fuel dock. River Dawg and Mo Jac, a yacht that also passed us during the day, were both tied up nearby.

Glenda Says:
It was nice to have options for breakfast!  We enjoyed our walk to Panera Bread.  Abby wanted to spend as much time as she could playing on the step waterfall.  She and I played most of the morning.  We made a make shift frisbee from our drink lid.  We enjoyed strolling back down the street for lunch.  But after moonpies I'm afraid I better start worrying more about those calories.  The views of the mountains along the gorge are amazing.  I am very grateful for this opportunity to enjoy these gifts from God!

Abby and I played frisbie with a soda cup lid on the steps this morning.

It was hard to drag Abby away from here. It was one of the only cool spots around.



We have lots of pictures of the steps!



Lookout Mountain

Glenda samples a "factory fresh" banana Moon Pie.

The other side of William's Island gave no clue that it was home to a herd of cattle.

Typical river path through the mouintains in the Gorge.

Abby says:
I got to play on the steps a lot.  Papa even played with me some.  I got a stuffed llama at the moonpie store.  I liked the mint chocolate moonpies.  We got something for Bailey too.  I got to go swimming when we got back to Hales Bar.  While we were gone Daisy wet on my bed.  So we had to wash it.

TN River Trip - Thursday June 2nd

This entry is for Thursday, June 2, but was not posted until Friday, June 3rd.

Knot-So-Fast approahing the Island Cove fuel dock.

This morning was a lazy one for the Knot-So-Fast crew. We woke early, washed a load of clothes, and cleaned up. Then we pulled the Knot-So-Fast out of her covered slip and around to the fuel dock, where an Island Cove employee was waiting to help us gas up. My estimate of 12 gallons of fuel was pretty close – she took 11.75 to fill her 19 gallon tank. That translated to 11.09 mpg so far on this trip, which has been all against the current to this point.

Abby and Daisy wait for "Papa" to finish fueling.

Our experience at Island Cove was a good one. Transient slips are only $0.75 per foot, the restaurant was right next door, and the shower & laundry facilities were clean. The Wi-Fi connection worked perfectly, although a worker there had warned us of occasional problems with it. Island Cove is a busy place, with wet and dry storage for about 600 boats, a very busy boat repair facility and restaurant all squeezed into a fairly small space.

We emptied the porta-pottie and trash bag, then pulled out of Island Cove Marina about 9:05 Eastern Time, headed downstream toward Chickamauga Lock and Dam for our lock-down to Chattanooga. We noticed a tug and barge about a mile ahead of us, and I thought there might be a delay at the lock if we had to wait while they locked the tug down ahead of us. When we arrived at the lock, we learned that there was a problem with a tug that was in the chamber, and we would have an estimated 2 hour waitlock down. We circled awhile, visited the Chickamauga Marine and the TVA boat ramp/park across the river, then circled in front of the lock some more. About 12:30 we were joined by a couple on “Argosy”, a Californian flybridge cruiser, and a runabout with 2 young men aboard. We learned from radio communication with the lock that the plan was to lock us down as soon as the tug/barge could get underway and clear the lock. The Dennis Ross would have to wait a full cycle to lock down, since he had to go through alone because of his size.

Finally, around 3:05 the problem tug cleared the lock and we were given the horn signal to enter the chamber. Argosy went first and moved to the starboard bollard on the downstream end of the lock. The runabout grabbed the bollard directly behind Argosy. This forced us to tie up across from Argosy on the port side, meaning that Glenda had to swap a fender from starboard to port and then lasso the bollard while I positioned the boat as close as possible to the wall. Glenda performed her task better than I usually do, and we were secured quickly. The Argosy had already radioed the lock that they were secure, but then we noticed they had come loose and were moving forward. The captain quickly recovered and moved her back into position, calling again to report he was secured. We let the lockmaster know we were also secured, and almost immediately the water started dropping. The lock down seems much faster than locking up, and in no time we were watching the lower doors open onto Nickajack Lake. The Argosy pulled away and we followed. Once clear of the lock, the runabout pulled up beside us and asked permission to take a picture of our boat. (Permission ????!!!! We love the attention.)

Between the lock and downtown Chattanooga, we were running about 7 mph at 3800 rpm. Current makes a lot of difference in a little boat like ours. Once in in Chattanooga we tried radioing Marine Max to find out where we were to dock. The Captain of “Mas Bueno”, a trawler docked on the Bluff View dock, responded and offered to grab our lines if we wanted to go ahead and tie up beside him. We decided to go to the marina office first instead. We needed ice for the coolers, and I really didn’t want to have to move the boat once we docked for the day.

The marina had us reserved for another dock, but we asked them change us to Bluff View. We wanted to be near other boats, and the Mas Bueno captain had already gone out of his was to help us, so we knew we’d be among new friends. The Fruition was docked just ahead of the Mas Bueno, and we later met her owners and learned they lived on the Fruition at Hales Bar Marina. Like 2 other couples we met at Hales Bar, they remembered the Glen-L boat builders’ “Gathering” last September and were glad to hear that we’d be back there this September.

Glenda Says:

Island Cove Marina was nice. I feel ok about all the calories I’m consuming because I’m walking so far to the showers! We took some nice photos before we left and Tom let us sleep in till at least 6:30. Surprising there was no place for coffee again but when I went into the boat store and ask, the guy in there gave me some of their office coffee. We left the marina around 9:00. When we realized we had a wait to lock through we went over and investigated the marina closest to the lock. We didn’t stay long as Tom wanted to make sure we were ready when the lock opened. Three and one half hours later went got through. I was really fine the first 2 and ½ hours but that 3rd hour was rather frustrating. Abby read aloud some and played with her DS. We arrived in Chattanooga around 4:00. Had a great ,very late, lunch at TGI Fridays. Then we walked across the pedestrian bridge over to the park where Abby played briefly in the park foundation but being a little like her Papa she did not like the crowd. We came back over to the dock and she played on the waterfall stairs. It was rather crowed there too. We had a nice visit with the people who were docked here and enjoyed the comments made about our boat by the people strolling along the waterfront. I did have a little difficulty going to sleep. I was uncomfortable knowing the just anybody could be two feet away just outside the boat. But once I went to sleep I slept pretty good.

Abby Says:

I decided not to go swimming at the marina. I wanted to spend more time in Chattanooga. We waited a long time at the lock. When we got to Chattanooga I liked the steps best. But the BEST thing was a beaver that was living close to the boat. We saw him swimming in the water. Daisy saw him too and wanted to jump in and get him. I hope we see him again before we leave. I am having lots of fun.

Abby LOVED feeding the ducks. Daisy wanted to feed ON them!

Ready for the ride down river to Chattanooga

                                                           

FINALLY inside the Chickamauga Lock!

                                          

This was Abby's favorite spot in Chattanooga

                                          

Abby and Papa take a break on Market Street.

                                         
                                              

The smiles tell the story!

Abby is waiting for the beaver to reappear.

 

June 1, 2011. Hales Bar Marina to Island Cove Marina

Hales Bar Marina

We slept well last night, and were up by a little after 5:00. At about 6:15 we pulled out of Hales Bar and headed toward Chattanooga. There was quite a bit of debris and floating logs as we got started, but it gradually got better and better as we travelled upstream. The heat was tough today - high of 97 degrees!

We continue to see dozens of osprey each day, many times on thier nest, with young.

As we entered the 25+ mile "gorge" where the TN runs in the canyon created by Raccoon, Signal and Lookout mountains, I discovered why it is such a favorite cruising ground. I can only imagine what it would look like in the Fall as the leaves are changing! We tried to take good pictures and video, but they don't do justice to the views in real life.

One suprise I had was the fairly consistent cell phone service I had in the gorge. It wasn't always there, but probably over half the time we had a signal strong enough to make a call or check e-mail.

When we got to Chattanooga, I began to worry a little about getting to Island Cove before they closed. We needed ice and thought I remembered them saying the office closed at 5:00 PM. When we figured in loosing an hour due to them being on Eastern time, I knew we'd have to get through Chickamauga Lock quickly to make it in time.

We arrived at the lock a little before 3:00 Eastern time, and had to wait for another boat that was locking down to clear. We then entered the lock with another small boat, for the lift up to Chickamauga Lake. We exited the lock at about 3:35. We called the marina to tell them that we would be close to 5 oclock getting there, and were pleasantly suprised to learn they didn't close until 6:00! We arrived about 4:50 and pulled into the fuel dock, found the office and got our slip assignment, gate code, bath-house key and information that the restaurant next door was open.

We washed our faces and headed straight to the restaurant, the Fox Cay. Abby and I had catfish and Glenda had grilled tuna. We probably drank about a gallon of water each and enjoyed the air-conditioning!

Back at the boat we straighted up, drained the ice chest and got the berths ready for sleeping. Then Glenda and Abby took off to the showers while I downloaded pictures and videos to the computer.

The "Gorge"

The Chattanooga Star

We've seen the river from this Highway many times. Today the view was reversed. It's much better without the truck traffic!

American Indian Statue.

The famous Delta Queen, now a floating hotel in Chattanooga.

This must really be pretty when the leaves change!

This osprey let us get pretty close before leaving her nest. She didn't go far.

Mountains all around you!

 Glenda Says:

We got off to an early start this morning but no coffee.  Tom saw a boat launch with a store and offered to stop and see if I could get a cup of coffee.  I ask a man fishing there if he thought I could get a cup of coffee at the store, he sort of chuckled and said probably not but I could get a cold beer.  As we were tying up a couple rode down in their golf cart and I ask them if I could get a cup of coffee at the store.  She said no since the owner did'nt drink it he did'nt sell it.  She offered to go to her place to make me some.  You know some people are just so nice.  I declined of course and we went on our way. Abby  went back to sleep until about 8:00 ,but she was awake early enough to see most of the  beautiful scenery.  Many of the houses along the route are beautiful.  We loved the one with the indian statue.  But the area called the "skillet"  was the most beautiful.  There were mountains all around us.  In years passed as I have driven through Chattanooga I have always said I wish I could see this view from the water.  Today I was able to.  We arrived at the marina too late again for Abby to get in a swim.  But she was a good sport.  We fed the ducks and the fish and we ate a nice meal at the "Fox Cay" resturant.  Heck Abby thinks its cool that the showers had a dispenser with body and shampoo soap.  Come to thnk of it that is pretty cool!

Abby says:

Today two funny things happened.  Daisy was laying in her bed on the stepdown but she was too close to the edge and flipped over.  She did not like that!  And for the first time someone was in the lock with us.  They had a dog and a cat on board the boat with them. (Papa claimed he saw a bird in there too but me and G.G. did not see it)  The dog started chasing the cat and the man began to yell loudly!.  Here at the marina there are all kinds of ducks.  About 7 came over to our boat and G.G. let me get a piece of bread and feed them.  There were so many different kinds of ducks, 3 white ones, 1 multi colored one and 4 green headed ones.  We ate supper at Fox Cay, a wierd name for a resturant. But it was good.

May 31, Scottsboro to Hales Bar Marina in Guild, TN

Sleeping on the boat last night was about a 6 on a scale of 1-10. We were under a covered slip, so the afternoon sun didn't heat up the boat too much. We ran the fans in the v-berth until around mid-night and the heat was tolerable. About 3:00 am the swallows that had nest under the dock awning woke up and thought the needed to wake the rest of the world. I turned my fan back on to drown out some of their chirping, and finally got back to sleep. I woke at 5:00 am and Glenda and Abby finally got up about 5:30. (Have I mentioned that Glenda is NOT a morning person?)

The grill at the bait shop was open at 5:00, so we had the deluxe breakfast this morning (that's canned biscuits and bacon instead of the usual honey bun or granola bar.) I had put my foot down with Glenda and Abby and insisted that the Knot-So-Fast was pulling out to head upriver at 6:00 AM sharp, NO MATTER WHAT. So about 6:33 we untied and left the marina.

The weather was clear with just a little haze on the water. As we entered the main channel of Lake Guntersville, I noticed that the depth finder was still not working consistently. I had hoped that the sensor had just moved out of alignment, but a quick check showed that was not the problem. Throughout the day it seemed to get better, so I won't worry about it now.

The broken binoculars that I  super-glued back together last night seemed to hold, and we handled them very delicately all day. We use them constantly, and I really can't imagine not having them. Hopefully the glue will hold for the duration of this trip.

Today's scenery was great, and we wound through some smaller mountains and around several islands that split the river. There were lots of bass boats on the water, and several areas were covered with drifting "noodles". Catfishers use a 1' piece of swimming noodle, with a line and hook, to drift fish, putting out dozens of noodles and letting them float with the current. After a sufficient time, they retrieve them and (hopefully) the fish on the end of the line.

We passed no commercial traffic at all today, which was suprising to me. I had assumed that there was a lot of barge/tug boat traffic here, but if today was a normal day I was certainly wrong.

We lost count of the osprey we saw today. Many of them were on nest at the top of navigational markers, with what appeared to be nearly grown chicks. About 11:00 oclock I spotted a bald eagle flying across the river in front of us. He flew until we had to use the binoculars to see him, and we then noticed that another had joined him. The sighting lasted probably less than a minute, but it was still a thrill for all three of us. When I was Abby's age everyone was predicting that the bald eagle would become extinct, and to see them now as we have on several of our boat trips is fantastic.

We held the Knot-So-Fast's little Yamaha 9.9 to about 4000 rpm most of the day, which translated to about 5.5 mph running against a slight current. When we were about an hour below the Nickajack Lock and Dam, I called the lock tender on the VHF radio to let him know we needed to lock through upstream. We were glad to hear that he had no other traffic, and when we arrived the gate was open and they were waiting on us. He directed us to a bollard on the upstream side of the chamber, saying there would be less turbulence there. The water rose quickly and were exiting onto Nickajack Lake within about 20 minutes of entering the lock. After clearing the lock, Abby took the wheel for about an hour, until she handed off to me as we approached Hales Bar Marina. After checking in and resupplying with ice, Abby and Glenda took a dip in the pool, then headed off to the showers and to do laundry. The restaurant at the marina was not open, so supper was sandwiches again. We made the decision not to bring the propane grill on this trip, hoping to eat one meal each day at a restaurant - I guess if you count the bacon biscuit, we'd already eaten out once today.

Tomorrow we'll entered the section of the TN river that everyone say's is the most beautiful section of the whole river - the Gorge that forms a canyon between Raccoon, Signal, and Lookout mountains.

Glenda Says:
I AM TOO A MORNING PERSON!  Just not a 5:00 A.M. person.  I just enjoyed the view early this morning while Abby and Daisy napped.  I seem to always see the big splash but miss seeing the big fish that made it.  I like sitting out on the back and feeling the warmth of the morning sun before it gets too hot.  Abby read aloud some from "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" after she got awake.  There's just something magical about floating down the river enjoying God's creation.  The "regulars" here at Hales Bar are super nice.  We were immediatly met with welcomes and questions of what they could do for us.  One older couple insisted on leaving their fan here for us to use tonight!   Of course for Abby, the most important thing once we arrived at Hale's Bar was getting to the pool.  For most of our couple of hours we had the pool to ourselves.  We've showered and are now ready for the worst part of every trip.  Getting the beds ready.  By the time I am finished I need another shower!

Abby says:
Today we had FUN!!! First we headed off on the Knot-So-Fast from AL toTN. We passed the AL/TN state line! When we got here at the marina, there was a pool, and this time the pool closed at 9:00. So we got to go swimming. We also got to see turtles. Lots and lots of turtles. Some turtles were as big as a wadded up shirt, others as small as the circle you can make with your pointer finger and your thumb.



Daisy says:
I WOOF am WOOF sweating WOOF!!!

May 30th. We are in Scottsboro, AL and will start our TN River trip tomorrow!

This post was written last night, but we didn’t have Internet access, so it is being posted now.


Glenda and I, accompanied by our oldest grand- daughter Abby and Daisy our miniature dashound, are embarking on river cruise from Scottsboro, AL to Chattanooga and back on our 20’ tug boat Knot-So-Fast.

On Monday (Memorial Day) we trailered the Knot-So-fast to Scottsboro, AL to Goose Pond Colony Marina. On the way we stopped in Guntersville and at Wintzell’s Oyster House. We had hoped to go to Wintzell’s by boat sometime, but we learned that the two causeway bridges between the restaurant and the main Tennessee River channel only have about 6’ of clearance, a good 18” too short for the tug get under.

By the time we launched at Goose Pond , it was almost 4:00 pm. As Glenda parked the truck, Abby and I motored around the point from the ramp to the marina slips. I handed Abby the binoculars and asked her to read a sign on the bank for me. The binoculars came apart and fell onto the floor, broken. Without my binoculars, I’ll have to depend on Abby and Glenda more to help with the navigational markers, and I’m sure we’ll miss the close up views of the wildlife and birds on the trip.

After originally tying up at the wrong slip, we finally found where we were supposed to be and secured the Knot-So-Fast. Abby was disappointed that the pool was already closed for the day, but the parks sandy swimming area on the river made a decent substitute. We took a short ride out of the marina to the main channel of the river, just to make sure the boat was running correctly and to get a little breeze on our faces – there was no wind at the marina and we were going through our water supply pretty fast in the heat. After a shower, we settled in for the night. Tomorrow morning we’ll head out at daylight for Hales Bar Marina in Guild, TN.

Abby says: Today Monday (Memorial Day) we took a long car ride from Montevallo to Scottsboro. When we finally got here we had to get settled. Then it was time to go swimming, but a nice lady came up to us and said the pool closed at 5:00. Of course it was 5:00. So my grandmother asked another lady if there was a place that we could swim in the river. Yaaaaa!!!!!! We got to go swimming! After that we dried off. We were on our way back to the boat when my grandmother and I saw a muskrat in the water! Today was a great day, and I am looking forward to the next day!



P.S. It is now 9:36 and I am sweating in my bed!





Glenda says: Time to unwind. I can’t explain how refreshing it is to have 9 year old eyes to see the world through. All is well as long as you can go swimming and it is really exciting to see a muskrat swimming in the water! I need to be reminded of the simple joys in God’s creation. I think tomorrow will be a “great” day too!