Day 22 - October 11 – Tennessee River

Very subtly and without really noticing, we slipped out of Kentucky Lake and into the Tennessee River. It kind of sneaks up on ya…and the only way we really knew that it happened was by our navigational charts. As we pass through each area, I think this one is the best and most beautiful area yet only to discover the next bend in the river. I love the Ohio River for its history and heritage and the Cumberland River for is slow pace and country feel, but I have totally fallen in love with the Tennessee River. Never have I seen such breath-taking natural beauty - from the river to the hills and the forests to the isolated river islands. I now understand how generations of “hill people” chose to never leave this area.

There is also something that we had heard about but could not believe and sure enough…there it was right in front of us. A railroad bridge that just stops in the middle of the river and does not continue to the other side AND right next to it is a town that would not sink. I really did think that people were pulling my leg when we were told to watch for these two Tennessee River oddities.



I did not know that we even had pelicans in the Midwest before making the trip. The first time that we saw them was in St Louis and we had not seen them again until today. We came upon an area were they were congregating and it was a marvelous sight to behold. Literally hundreds of them.

Tonight we anchored out again and had some difficulty finding a cove or inlet that was deep enough for us. The Tennessee River is low right now due to the lack of rain this summer so we were reluctant to veer too much off the beaten path especially with our track record of finding sandbars. So we found a very wide spot in the river and tucked Lolligag into a little niche at the base of Ladyfinger Bluff. It was a perfect spot to anchor and well out of the way of barge traffic. It was nice to have the generator working but we have gotten so use to not using it and going to sleep early that we forgot to turn it on…

The dark was wonderful and the stars were so bright that we could actually see the Milky Way. I love being able to see the stars and enjoy the dark. That was the only downside to living in downtown Chicago – we had no dark – so we try to capture a little bit of dark each evening.

It turned rather cool during the night and when we awoke in the morning, the river was full of wonderful mist. It did not burn off until about 10a so Mark got to sleep in a little longer than usual.

Hours on the water: 7.25
Nautical miles traveled: 58
Number of locks: 0
Time spent waiting at locks: 0
Tomorrow's Destination: Clifton, Tennessee
What we're listening to: I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe
What we watched: 0
Lesson for the day: We waited too late in the day to find an anchorage
Obligatory knitting report: Mittens for Wunder Kids