This week we continue our inland rivers explorations, headed south on the Tennessee River, which is actually a tributary of the Ohio River. The 652-mile-long Tennessee River is formed near Knoxville, TN and flows southwest through Chattanooga, crossing into Alabama, near Huntsville, back near the Mississippi border then back into Tennessee, running north into Paducah, KY. Whew! Since the Tennessee River is running north, and we are headed south, we are running upstream against the current. For the most part the current hasn’t been too bad except when we got near the Pickwick Lock & Dam, we were running against an almost 4-knot current. Dave pushed our engines up to 10 knots to make headway (we usually run about 8 knots). The dam controls the waterflow and we were even there on a “lighter” spill day (how much water they let out). I’m not sure how some sailboats can make headway on a day like today.
Here’s Slo Pace with 3 other looper boats in the Pickwick Lock (next to the dam mentioned above) and us heading into Pickwick State Park Marina with Murphy on safety watch. I also included a picture of a fuel barge we passed as he locked through. We pass several barges a day as we motor along the river, communicating with the tow boat captain before the pass.
We stopped at a few anchorages and marinas this week, once again meeting up with some old looper friends and meeting new ones.
Here are some pictures as we traveled up the river
Murphy is now sporting non-skid boots to help him climb down the stairs from the flybridge. I posted a video on Facebook of his reaction when Dave first put them on. He did great in acclimating to them quite quickly and he has regained his confidence to scoot down the stairs.
We are now on our second side trip, this time headed to Chattanooga. We must arrive prior to sunrise at our next lock, which will be an adventure in itself. The lock was damaged from a barge and is now working on a reduced schedule. Just another day on our life on the loop!
Fun Facts: Distanced traveled so far: 4,700 miles in 6 months and 3 weeks, stopping at 128 unique locations, passing through 59 locks.
Thanks for following along on our adventure,
Brenda with Captain Dave, and Non-Skid footed Murphy