Day 28

All is well. No water in the boat. We are only going to make about 20 miles today. We are headed for Pickwick State Park and Marina. But first we have to make it through a major lock and dam. This one is also 55 feet. We are still going upstream so this lock will raise us. It was even more massive in the daylight. It takes an average of 20 years to build a lock. Even more if there is a dam or power plant associated with it. We called this lock to see if we could get a tour, but because it has a dam or power source attached to it, after 9/11 they discontinued allowance of the public with this lock. We will have to try another one later.

We pulled into the Pickwick marina around 12:30. The people in these parts are still not very friendly. At least not the ones on the water. We are still waving and smiling like pageant princesses but to no avail. The employees in the marina were very friendly and answered Grants endless questions with a smile. We have been to several state run marinas now. We are always looking for bike trails to utilize but it seems that people in the South are not interested in biking. So we decided to go for a run instead and do some exploring in the woods. We found an old abandoned Inn/Lodge that the state locked and boarded up. They had built a brand new facility down the road. It was fairly large and it didn’t look in that bad of shape. Grant put his real estate goggles on and started dictating how he would develop the Inn into a large mansion. It was a prime piece of property with excellent opportunity, just in need of some funding…… We tried to find a way into the Inn without “breaking” inn but it was locked down. So we went home to take a shower. (2nd ickiest showering facility yet. 1st was in Fairport.) Anyway, we take what we can get.

Later that night, on recommendation from several staff members, we went to a buffet at the local Inn. It was pretty good. They had two kinds of catfish, pulled pork, hushpuppies, and beef, mashed potatoes, tons of different vegetables and deserts, a salad bar and shrimp! We ate until we could barely walk. (And then walked a half mile home) In bed by 8pm. We want to get an early start.

Lock walls.

Inside the lock

The dam.

Day 27

Tabbie once again drove most of the day. Maybe Grant will have to relinquish the title of Captain to Tabbie. We started the day at about 8:30. We need to go about 70 miles today. It is still cloudy, but at least it is not raining. Last night we woke to the sound of pouring rain several times. We were afraid that it was going to pour on us all day again. The river was very calm and quiet today. There was not much traffic of any kind-barges or fishing boats. The people here are becoming less friendly. We always smile and wave, but they hardly ever wave back. Grant thinks that it may have something to do with envy? A boater going full speed down the middle of the channel also yelled at Tabbie. Evidently there is a sand bar somewhere on the side he was traveling on, but without any buoys to mark it, and there are hardly any buoys anywhere on this river, you wouldn’t know. So she just put the boat in idle and let him fly by. All the books that we have read about traveling down the various rivers warn about not making too much wake and after seeing several craft just speed around, we can see why. It is a good thing that we are taking it nice and slow. People seem to get really mad about the wake.

We finally made it to the island that we were looking for. We have to stay out of the channel because of the barges and there was an island listed in our handy guidebook that would provide us with some coverage for the night. Tabbie got some practice driving at night, because we arrived there a little after 5pm. The current was pretty strong still, so Grant had to keep an eye on the anchor. In fact, at about 12 midnight last night, a large log must have hit the hull of the boat. Grant woke up and flew out of bed, thinking that pirates must be invading our boat. Tabbie was sound asleep until she heard all the cussing in the boat as Grant was looking for a flashlight or a wrench to use as a weapon. He did find his wrench, but by that time the pirates would have had us all tied up. A quick check of the water level in the engines and he was back to bed. No worries, we have had encounters with many other logs. We will just have to wait until morning to see if we are 2 feet under water again. The only worry is that Grant is waiting on a piece to fix the water pump. It can only be turned on manually at this point. Maybe abduction by pirates would be the better scenario.

More calm waters.

Calm waters.

Building a new "stilt" house.

What a view!

Taking gravel from the bottom of the river.

Day 26

Up early this morning at 8am!!!! Tabbie had to drag Grants but out of bed. Showers and then into town!!! Thank you to everyone for the mail/cards/gifts. Tabbie was looking forward to hearing from everyone. It made her day! Next post to be received will be in about 3 weeks in Mobile Al. We will post the address on the website in a few days or so. We also stopped at the local grocery store to pick up some supplies for our Thanksgiving diner next week. Tabbie is determined to make a complete Thanksgiving diner for Grant.

The scenery in New Johnsonville is beautiful although the actual town itself is run down. They call this town J’Ville for short. Lots of mobile homes with various junked cars in the yard, strip malls, and closed gas stations or stores. There is a state park that rests along the river, which we drove through to get to the marina that was very scenic. Minus the deer carcass that was lying on the side of the road, half decomposed, it was beautiful.

Grant made another friend at the marina. His name is Neil and he bought a small 25-foot sailboat for $500.00. We are not sure where he is exactly from, but he said that he was coming from Michigan and he left with $150.00 in his pockets and ran out of money at Pebble Isle marina in New Johnsonville. He was planning on docking there for a while and then going into town to see if he could pick up an odd job or two to make some cash. But as chance would have it, the owners of the marina were building a new house, so he is working for them in exchange for free rent and food I suppose. Maybe some cash also. He looked like the typical castaway. Long gray hair pulled back into a ponytail, a long beard and mustache. He was wearing a thin holey shirt with the picture of a ship on the front. He was a very nice gentleman who had some interesting stories. The old saying goes, you can’t judge a book by its cover. This guy was definitely living life……

We left at about 11am today. Tabbie was driving again. We met another boat that had approached us from the rear that was making close to the same trip as us. He was heading to Clearwater, FL. He radioed us from behind to let us know he was passing. And Grant strikes up a friendly conversation with him. Come to find out that he makes this trip several times a year. What do these people do for a living??

The one thing that we have noticed that is different about this part of the country is that the fishermen on the river are very rude and stubborn. They will sit in the middle of the channel. Tabbie saw a boat today that would not even move out of the channel for a barge. The barge had to come around the corner and maneuver around it. That boat could have been squashed!!!! Several times we had to snake ourselves through because they were strung out across the channel. We would wave and they wouldn’t even wave back. Grumpy old men!!!!

We decided to anchor behind an island because the weather was turning sour. We made about 29 miles today, going upriver still. The current seems to be really strong, so it is slow going. Once we hit the Tennessess-Tom Bigbee it will be downriver again. We anticipate that we will get there on Saturday. Grant tried to fix the water pump that failed to alert us when our boat started filling with water. Tabbie was crocheting Haleigh’s scarf. (Haleigh--I am almost done-I will mail it out on Saturday or next Monday) Don’t we sound like an elderly couple? Tabbie to her quilting and crocheting, Grant to his “house” projects and maintenance… We love our life.

Tree at the end of an island we anchored behind.

The water was high. These are tree tops!

Day 25

Up at 7:30 and on the water by 8:00. Had a little difficulty trying to find the channel in the morning, we were between the buoys, but the water was only 4 feet deep, fortunately there was an alternate route, so we took that and had no trouble… Tabbie drove most of the day today from upstairs. After noon the clouds broke and we had a beautiful sunny day of 70 degrees. We even stopped at 2:30 for a swim… Yes, I said swim – we are in the water on November 17th!! It was a little chilly, but hard to resist since the water is soooo much cleaner than the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and it was such a calm day on the river. The Tennessee River is absolutely beautiful, and there must be numerous state parks or protected shoreline, because there are few homes along the river. Building sites are perfect though… Maybe we should live in Kentucky/Tennessee along the river or on Kentucky lake…It reminds us of Minnesota/Wisconsin except that the average temperature during the winter is 45 degrees.

We arrived at a Marina called Pebble Isle Marina around 5pm. Tabbie had some mail directed to the town of New Johnsonville which is the town that this marina rests in. The sky was clear and brightly light up with every star in the sky. It won’t last long as they are calling for rain for the next 7 days. When will it end????? A nice gentleman greeted us by the name of Sam, who had stayed after to wait for us. Sam was a little deaf with a dry sense of humor, but if he couldn’t hear whether or not we were laughing at his bad jokes, I guess it didn’t hurt him. We settled in for the night and Tabbie made a dinner of Salmon with Parmesan rice and salad. To bed early tonight, Tabbie is excited to get her mail tomorrow…..

Another beautiful sunset. The pictures really don't do it justice.

An old train station. This area was flooded prolly due to the dam.

Grants prelude to his belly flop. Which was hilarious!

Tabbie even jumped in!

Grant getting ready to take a dive into the water.

Look how clean the water is. Makes you want to go swimming......

Grants new project. Fixing the pump switch. This is where the water came in downstairs in the bedroom.

Day 25

We woke up today at 8:00 but decided to stay another day in the marina and make sure the boat was in tiptop shape before moving on… We took the bikes out for a couple hours in the state park that was attached to the marina. They have 56 neat little cottages for rent throughout the year, a golf course, and access to the marina/boat launch for the lake. Tabbie found a post office for her mailings, and Grant was itching to rent some golf clubs, but we decided it was a bit too overcast and cold today.

The rest of the day was spent drinking, playing cards, and our new favorite game – Lord of the Rings Risk… We went to bed early so we can get a good start in the morning. Pushing to get 70 miles up river to the next marina. That would put us on track to be at the Tom Bigbee riverway by Friday night, which is almost exactly halfway to Tampa!

Tabbie had to leave her little duck friend “Jose” whom she had befriended from the day we arrived here. If we were in the boat he would wait patiently under the swimming platform for Tabbie to come out and feed him some crackers or bread. And if we happened to go somewhere, he would go back to his nest, but as soon as we got back, sure enough you could see him swimming from across the bay, back to the boat. Sometimes he had a friend with him, but in most cases he just hung out by himself. Even all night. Tabbie was going to build a little nest for him on the platform. It seemed like he was so fat that he couldn’t fly, so she wanted to help him get south. However, Grant nixed that idea. He wasn’t about to take responsibility for feeding another mouth!

Here comes Jose from across the marina. He knows we are home!

It is just turning fall here in Tennessesse.

Bike ride through the woods

The marina

Grant and Tabbies next boat. This was the one being delivered to Florida.

Day 23

We woke up this morning to a frightful sight… The boat had started to sink over the night, and we had 3 inches of water in the back bedroom, and about a foot of it in the engine compartment – NOT GOOD!! We hurriedly turned on the bilge pumps and fortunately the water was leaving the boat quicker than it was coming in… Now to diagnosis the problem… We talked with the harbormaster and he called the local mechanic to come take a look. By the time the mechanic arrived the water had subsided enough to see where the leak was. Remember the strange sound we heard on the Ohio yesterday?? Well, that was the pacing nut spinning loose where the transmission shaft leaves the hull of the boat to go onto the propellers. Everything was still operable, however it caused a minor leak, and since we didn’t notice it until morning was able to look serious. The mechanic was able to fix the problem with a few quick turns of his wrench, and said we should probably replace the seal inside the nut once we get to FL. No big deal… Whew!

After we knew the boat wouldn’t sink we topped of the fuel tanks (151 gallons!) Ouch, going up river is not very economical… We pumped out the remaining water, and then it was cleaning time. The carpet in the basement was soaked, and stunk. We did our best with the gallon sized wet/dry vac and empted it about 15 times! All we can do now is let it air out…. Grant hired the mechanic to do some oil changes on the engines, and the guy was really nice and went through all the systems with Grant and taught him a few things about general marine maintenance.

Grant went up and talked with the harbormaster for an hour or so, trying to get as much information out of him as he could. I think he is coming up with another one of his “great” business ideas… Yep, buying marinas and living on a boat the rest of our lives… I suppose I could live with that!

The marina had a courtesy vehicle so we took that into town and did some more grocery shopping. Grant is such a food Nazi!

Our dreamboat drove into the marina about 8:00 that night. It was a 62 foot Carver Mistique, and it was beautiful! Two guys got off the boat and Grant of course had to go talk with them. The boat was brand new, and they were delivering it to Ft. Lauderdale, or Puerto Rico, depending on where the owner would be when they arrived in the area. They had left Alton, IL that morning and traveled 270 miles in one day, the same distance that took us five days!! The boat had two diesel engines that were 1,500 HP each. Comparably, Grant’s boat has two gas engines that are 240 HP each!!

Tabbies pet duck "Jose"

The sunset.

Go Badgers!!!

Need we say more.......

Tree in the river! Watch out for the logs Grant!!!

The massive lock walls.

Day 22

Today was quite the eventful day. We spent 90% of our time battling the river going upstream. (We are on the Ohio River now and we have to travel it upstream to the Tennessee) There were several logs in the river and lots of other debris. We hit a log several times and had to stop the boat to make sure that there was no damage to the rudder or engines. At one time we thought that the transmission was going because it started to make a whining noise, however all was well after Grant slowed the boat and then started again. The weather today was sunny with some cold wind. Grant spent most of the day driving from the top. We didn’t make as good of time as we would have liked, but that was due to the river being high at this time and the current going against us. In fact, the river was so high both lock and dams that we needed to go through were completely under water! We called the lockmaster on the radio and he told us to just be cautious and stay in the channel and go directly over the dam. We could see parts of the lock (antenna and cement pillars) sticking out of the water, but that was it. The depth gauge consistently read 20 feet! Wow, the river is high and moving fast…

After we finally made it through the Ohio we had a decision to make: Take the Tennessee River or follow the Ohio for an additional 12 miles to the Cumberland River which would eventually run into the Tennessee. They say the Cumberland is quicker, but the Tennessee is a shorter distance. We surveyed the fuel situation and decided to play it safe and take the Tennessee… Paducah, Illinois is at the junction of the Tennessee and Ohio rivers. I think that Tabbie is going to make her resting place here for a while. She has been talking about working on the barges and we passed the training center for the INGRAM barge company. (See picture) She would really like to take a tour of the inside of one, but Grant is afraid that they might kidnap her to be their chef and then he would be eating beans out of a can the rest of the way!

We had a beautiful evening drive along the Tennessee and enjoyed yet another gorgeous sunset. Along the Tennessee we saw a brand new barge container that was about to be slid down into the water. It is amazing how big those things really are. Kind of like an iceberg. I think that we really only see about 1/5 of them when they are in the water... Grant also saw several tows pushing upwards of 25+ barges at the same time (while Tabbie was sleeping!). We never saw that on the Mississippi, and are guessing it is because the locks are not wide enough to support 5 or 6 containers at a time. It becomes quite intimidating when trying to pass…

We arrived at the Kentucky dam at about dusk, and called ahead to see what the timing looked like. This was where everyone says you can lose a lot of time; because it tends to be quite the bottleneck along the river as it takes 20 minutes just to pump the water out of the lock. It was a 56-foot lift for us (as compared to the Mississippi locks which averaged between 10 and 12 feet). We were extremely lucky, and there was no other traffic in the area, so we were able to get through right away. Take a look at the picture – this thing is massive!! It was a good thing we choose to use the Tennessee River and got through the dam quickly because the port engine fuel tank was running on Empty for about 15 miles… We thought for sure the tank would run out of gas, thanks to Tabbie thinking it was necessary to run the generator the past two nights!

We pulled into the marina about 7:30 and were in dire need of a shower, so much so that we did that before we ate even though we were also starving. We hadn’t had a hot shower in a week! Grant was really beginning to stink, but Tabbie was of course smelling like roses, as always! That was a long 12 hours of driving today…