Tuesday, April 2, 2013

54 miles!

How about this...a day with no catastrophes! On the minus side, Mike's cough and cold are a lot worse.

Today was mostly sunny, pretty chilly in the morning, but very nice motoring. We got going around 7:30 and an hour later went through the Nickajack Lock, our third. We had been worried about having to wait at locks for barges and other traffic. Not so far. There was one other small boat in the lock with us at Watts Bar, in both of the others we were the only boat. We haven't even seen a barge yet.

We also had our first bout with a railroad lift bridge today. I radioed ahead as we approached, but got no reply. I tried again, on both channels 16 and 13, as per my guide. Nobody home! A train went over...nothing. So I got on the phone and finally reached the railroad and was beginning to get some info to the person at the other end when a guy walked out of a shed and waved. I talked to him on channel 13. He said I should have called him on 13, which they always monitor. Grrrr. Anyway, he lifted the bridge and we were on our way. We probably lost only 15 to 20 minutes. Not so bad.

Pretty scenery today, if not as spectacular as yesterday. We are holed up at another marina tonight - Goose Pond Colony Marina near Scottsboro, Alabama at mile 377. So we covered 54 miles today. We got here around 4:00, so we were on the water for 8 and a half hours.

The marina has a courtesy car which we used to drive to Scottsboro for some cold and cough medicine for Mike. We were in a grocery store so we also picked up a loaf of bread, a bottle of wine, and some candy bars. Not realizing when we left that we could get groceries we didn't make a list and forgot to pick up lettuce and an onion. Not a tragedy.

Tacos for dinner and then Mike took some NyQuil and he's out!

Bad weather headed our way. But we have a plan...tune in tomorrow!

Today's photos...
The map
Cormorants
The lift bridge is finally up
Widows Creek power plant
Under another bridge
Steve cruising along
Docked at the marina















2 comments:

  1. What? No catastrophes? I thought you were becoming the modern day Sophocles or Euripides, here to steadily churn out more tragedies. But maybe Mike's cold and cough are foreshadowing something you have in mind. Sure hope not! Mike is keeping you afloat and moving forward! Sticking with the Greek theme, he is Hercules unchained on this trip so far! Once again, great job with the photos. It is enjoyable to get a sense of what you are seeing on the wondrous TN River. Keep your camera handy! We're anxious to see more!
    Rich

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  2. Charlotte and Jeffrey love being read your entries and looking at your photos. Charlotte hopes Mike feels better soon. She suggests snuggling with a mommy, taking purple medicine and watching Dora to get better fast. Also, she requests you find and take a photo of a real mermaid; preferably one with pink hair.

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