Life calls... East on the Tennessee

Well, a lot of time has passed since putting over in Knoxville. It is now August 2009 and I am semi retired and building a consulting business (The Victor Group, Inc.). I have just completed an eight month consulting contract at Hinds Community College in Raymond, MS and am in the final stages of training for my first half-marathon. Pam and I will be traveling to Virginia Beach, VA the first week of September '09 for the race. I'm hoping for no catastrophic events... especially those that may not have medical intervention. About three years ago, in anticipation of moving back to Mississippi at some time in the future, I added my name to the waiting list of the marina at Pickwick State Park. It's a great marina; I found Detour there in July of 1999 and purchased her on my birthday in the same month. I then berthed her at Pickwick for a year when moving to Little Rock. It's difficult to get a dock there because of the popularity of the Pickwick Lake so I started early. Well, as fate would have it, I got the call that a berth was available and with our house not sold in Knoxville (market is so slow it could take a year or more), I had to make the difficult choice of moving the boat almost six hours away or missing the chance to get a berth on Pickwick and closer to our eventual home in Mississippi. Decision made, Pam and I shoved off from Choto on Wednesday, July 29 and tied Detour up at Pickwick on Sunday, August 2. We had five great days on the river and other that a storm or two and a short delay at Wilson Lock (it is under repair; as it was when Mickey and I were heading north four years ago), the trip was without major difficulty. Our trip began smoothly, although I was somewhat anxious about making a 400+ mile river trip with a brand new starboard motor, and we planned for about a 67 mile or so run to Watts Bar Lake and an overnight berth at Terrace View Marina. We cooked steaks on the boat and visited with several other boaters up from Chattanooga for the weekend. Day two was the longest of the trip, 113 miles and took us through the most scenic part of the Tennessee River. The TN river between Chattanooga and Hales Bar Tennessee is by far the most beautiful river I've ever cruised. Night two is spent at Hales Bar Marina, the site of an old lock, dam and electric power plant no longer in operation. What is in operation is the "Dock". The Dock is a restaurant and bar that is mostly bar. However, we had just traversed over one hundred river miles, didn't want to cook and braved the revelry to try the fried catfish. The experience merits one repeatable story. As we sat to eat and the waitress asked us what we would be drinking, I asked if they served beer or wine. "No" was the answer "it's a dry county, but we have Jello Shooters (w/Tequila) in nine different flavors... they are the best in town... I made them myself". I'm still wondering how they do that. Anyway, the strawberry/banana were the best of the group... catfish, well, it didn't seem to matter. The trip to the next marina, Alred's, spanned 73 miles. Alred Marina was the most expensive we stayed in and had the poorest service. Won't be back. Our Saturday trip to Joe Wheeler State Park marina was cut short by one of the worst summer thunderstorms I've boated in for a while. It rained so hard that we really couldn't see past the anchor pulpit and had to rely on the GPS to slowly make our way down river. I was relatively confident until the wind became so strong that I had to turn the bow into the blow and just hold position. Then the lightening began to change the experience from exciting to dangerous and I felt we should look for a place to "hole up". I got out the Quimby's and started looking for marinas. Quimby's is an annual publication of all the marinas on the inter-coastal waterway and one of the most important references a river cruiser can carry. It just so happened that there was a marina close on the descending west bank. I headed that way (It happened to also be marked on the GPS). I couldn't see anything but I knew I was getting close, so I called them on the VHF and told them of our plight. I got an immediate response to "come on in and spend the night". I finally found my way in and they met us on the dock to assist in our landing. We didn't get to see Joe Wheeler State Park but we did have a safe night and a good dinner in the marina restaurant. Sunday's cruise was quiet and we made our Pickwick berth and new Detour home port about 3 PM. It was a long day because we had to clean up Detour and make the 5 1/2 hour drive back to Knoxville. Life moves on.