South Pittsburg to Revere Ware anchorage

It's been another exciting day on the river for Happytat!  After I finished the post this morning, I got ready to throw off the dock lines on a stunningly beautiful morning. I had some of Angie's oatmeal cookies and tea, then I started the motor, put her in reverse and...nothing.  Motor running, transmission in reverse...no movement.  I'm stuck in the mud. It seems that while we were sleeping peacefully, TVA lowered the river levels a few inches, and I had no inches to spare.

Now, in all honesty, it was laziness on my part.  Last night, I was preparing to anchor in a little dip in the riverbank, but then saw a small dock a few yards away.  "If I can tie up to that dock,"says I, "it will be lot easier than lowering an anchor and having to pull it back up tomorrow morning."  Alison warned me against it, but I thought I could do it.  So I edged up closer and closer to the dock, watching my depth carefully: 14 feet, 12 feet, 8 feet, 6 feet, 5,4,3 feet and stop.  Now, I know that I need 6 feet to float my boat, but I figured that if I backed up just a couple feet, my keel would be in the 6-8 feet of water that I just passed.  So I backed up and she cleared the shallow water and was floating.  I tied her off and we went happily walking to Walmart and back, then went to sleep.

This morning, when I was unable to get free, I summoned my US Boat rescue number. A few months ago, I wisely bought a towing policy that gives me free towing should I get stuck.  I've used it twice now and it has paid for itself ten times over.  Within a half hour, a boat came to my rescue and pulled me back in to deep water.  We were on our way!  But it was already noon and we had many miles to go.  A few miles down-river, I came to a fork in the river.  The map wasn't handy, so I followed the most prominent set of river markers to the right. Wrong!  A couple miles later we saw a bridge that clearly was too low for our 52 foot mast.  I called Alison to the cockpit and we consulted about the problem.  After looking at the map, we concluded that I turned right when I should have turned left at the fork.  So we backtracked a couple miles to the intersection and made a u-turn to the right channel.

But my problems weren't over yet.  I had turned into the channel just ahead of a large towboat with a mile of barges in front of him.  It was like pulling onto an on-ramp and suddenly finding yourself on the Indianapolis 500 racetrack in your little Honda civic in front of a row of race cars heading your way.  Alison got on the VHF radio and talked to the tow boat captain who told us to pass "on the two whistle."  Now, I have found that, on the water, normal terms like "right" and "left" are never used.  Instead, we sailors use "port" for left and "starboard" for right.  But we had to look up "on the two whistle."  It means to pass on his starboard (right) side. So we stayed on his right and he soon passed us.  A few minutes later, we passed under a railroad bridge that had been raised to let us and the tow boat through.

I'm not given to getting upset about things usually and I didn't think I the past few minutes had caused me any particular stress, but my stomach started burning.  A couple Tums and a hot lunch brought to the cockpit by Alison settled it down fine.

Now let me catch up a little.

On Sunday, we were met on the fuel dock by family and friends who came to see us off.  Kyle and his friend Rob, Angie and Terry, Heather and Ron Landry, Becky Garner, and my brother Robby.  We were wished bon voyage by Andre, the marina owner, and Eric, the marina manager and by several friends we had made on the docks over the past year.  It was bittersweet leaving all of them, but the adventure beckoned.  As I rounded the final turn out of Sale Creek, I looked back to see what I think were Angie and Terry still there, watching us disappear around the bend.  Thank you all for coming to see us off!  It make the event seem even more special!

We didn't actually leave until about 3:00 pm Sunday and we were exhausted from the battle that was the past week to get ready to leave.  So we  cruised down the river for about an hour, eating the delicious oatmeal cookies Angie had given us as a going away gift, to Possom Creek and dropped our anchor.

Next morning, I ate some oatmeal cookies and tea, Alison brought up a delicious breakfast omlet with english muffins, orange juice and hot tea! Yum! Then we sailed down river past many memorable places.   It felt like we were saying to them: "See!  We really did it!  We're sailing past you right on to the Gulf!"  We sailed past Possom Creek where we had parked our RV for three months last year so we could be close to the boat to work on it.  We sailed past Privateer Yacht club where we bought our first sailboat, a sweet little Catalina 22 and learned a lot about sailing from some great people.  We sailed through the Chickamauga Dam locks that we had driven over in frantic traffic for many years.  We sailed by the seafood restaurant on Amnicola Highway where we sat many

Goodbye Beautiful Chattanooga!

Its hard work being a ship captain!

Enjoying the view.

Another dream fulfilled!  Our boat docked in front of the Aquarium.

Railroad bridge near South Pittsburg, raised for us to pass.

Peaceful harbor sunset at Revere ware anchorage.

Another peaceful harbor picture.

times at the open tables facing the river and dreamed of the day we would sail down it.  We sailed by the Riverpark that we had spent so many great times with our kids at.  We sailed by the Bluffview district where we had often stood on the overlook and dreamed of sailing down the river. We sailed by, then stopped at the docks at the Aquarium where I had stopped often and looked at the boats tied up to the docks and wondered if one day, I would have a boat tied up there.  We sailed around Moccasin Bend and under Lookout Mountain and marveled that we were really doing this!

We stayed that night a few miles past Moccasin Bend At Williams Island.

The next day was the most scenic day of the trip so far!  I ate some oatmeal cookies and tea, then we sailed through ferocious rapids named Tumbling Shoals, The Suck, Suck Shoals, The Pot, The Skillet and The Pan.  No kidding!  It's on the map!  There were no rapids, but these interesting named sections of river took us through the "Grand Canyon of the South".  I had always heard of it, and about the tourist boats that took people on Fall Color Cruises through this area.  But I guess I thought it was probably mostly hype.

It's not hype!  I've been to the Grand Canyon.  It's lovely and dramatic.  And I've been to Yosemite, and it's breath-taking.  But I felt as though I was cruising through a wonderland of beauty.  It compares in every way to the big names of Grand Canyon and Yosemite in beauty!  I turned off the motor and let the current slowly take us for a tour of this truly Grand Canyon.  We felt like talking above a whisper was too loud here. Alison and I both tried to take pictures so that we could bring this place with us, but it was futile.  There will be no pictures of this sanctuary.  I do not have the language to describe it.  But to have missed this lovely place would be a great loss!  And I know of no way to see it other than sailing your own boat down it.  I doubt a Fall Color Cruise would be capable of helping you experience the serene beauty of this wonderful place.  I'd LOVE to see it in the Fall though!

Shortly after that, we came to the lock at Nickajack and entered the Guntersville reservoir and then on to the aforementioned dock at South Pittsburg.

We have anchored in a little cove for the night and maybe for tomorrow night too.  The weather is predicted to be pretty severe tomorrow, so we'll play it safe and stay here till it's over.  After that, we'll be sailing to Huntsville Alabama.
That's all for now.  G'night!