Chattanooga! ...and more problems

Got underway this morning at 8:45 under cloudy, threatening skies. We did have some very heavy rain as well as some occasional sunlight. I was chilled and bundled up with two pairs of socks, four layers on my legs, seven layers on my chest, boots, gloves, and a winter hat! My outside layer was rain proof, so I stayed dry...and warm. Much of the day we took turns, one driving and the other below. That worked pretty well.

The Tennessee River is really quite gorgeous with incredible and varied wildlife (read birds), very interesting forested land, and dramatic hills and bluffs. So even on a day like today there was lots to see as we made our way slowly down the river. We run the diesel at a very comfortable 1800 rpm which moves us along at around six knots. Add the flow of the river we are traveling downstream and we're making between seven and eight mph. We covered fifty miles today in a little over eight hours, including another lock.

We really need a marina. Our 52 gallon water tank is empty and we're making do with one gallon of distilled water that we have aboard for the batteries. There are five marinas along the Tennessee River in Chattanooga that we passed. Not a single one was open! We are hoping that they are closed because it's Easter Sunday, but there are indications that they are still closed for the winter and haven't opened for the season yet! There are very few marinas coming up in the next hundred miles or so and if they are all closed we could be in real trouble. Our diesel supply looks OK for now. Our fuel tank gauge says we have used a little over a quarter tank so far, 85 miles. So if that is an accurate reading, we can go another 250 miles on this 20 gallon tank. Plus we have a five gallon can with diesel fuel strapped to the deck. But we can't make it to Lake Barkely without refueling. And we need ice. And a shower wouldn't hurt either!

Right now we are tied to a pier in downtown Chattanooga. We might get a taxi tomorrow to get some water. We'll see. We will try all of the marinas again tomorrow to see if they were just closed because of the holiday. And we'll try to reach someone who might know where there is an open marina.

A nice bottle of Chateau Smith with dinner tonight (sloppy joes and salad)...and the moonshine chaser.

We're on the way!

High anxiety gave way to ease of mind as the day progressed.

The leak in the engine turned out to be a dry gasket that had swelled overnight and there was no leak in the morning. The cabin water pump, about which I had had concerns, seemed to be acting up again, but ultimately worked properly. The three batteries, which we use for starting the engine, cabin lights, pumping drinking water, operating the bilge pump, and other stuff, also seemed to not be functioning correctly. And in fact the charger isn't charging two of them. But the alternator, which runs when the motor is running works fine. And since we are running the motor all day, the malfunctioning charger (which we only use when we have shore power) shouldn't be a problem. And we had some difficulties with the head (toilet) which turned out to be (mostly) operator error.

So after all that, and a nice visit from Chad Tallant, the former owner, who came over to the marina and was very helpful to us resolving these issues, we took off!

I have to say it felt like leaping off a cliff! After all the planning and preparation it was time. It reminded me of having a baby. For nine months all of your focus is on the pregnancy and delivery. And then wham! All of a sudden it's real. You have a baby! It felt like that.

We left a little after 1:00 heading down the Tennessee river. I used the radio for the first time to communicate with the lock master. And we passed through our first lock without incident. It was pretty cool, though. We dropped about sixty feet!

After that we just motored down the river. We are navigating with the Garmin chart plotter and Army Corps of Engineers nav charts. Between the two of them and watching where we're going and monitoring the instruments, especially the depth gauge, we haven't gotten lost or run aground yet!

We did have some more excitement when it appeared that the stupid water pump wasn't working. Mike went below and discovered that a hose had blown off and the pump had emptied the entire water tank (52 gallons)! We'll have to find a marina to refill. Mike fixed the blown hose. In the mean time we'll drink wine and wash dishes with boiled river water.

We started at mile 548 and we are now moored at an abandoned marina at mile 513. So we went 35 miles today in six hours. A good start.

Just finishing up our chili dinner with wine and moon shine afterwards (thanks to my Paducah neighbor Bob Dwyer, who knows somebody). We're developing quite a taste for the stuff. I'm sure the quart jar won't make it through the trip.

Here are today's pictures starting with a map showing the route and where we are.
Then refueling before we left, about to take off, just starting in the lock, boy you of the lock, Mike fixing the water pump, dinner!

Rainy Day!

The forecast said "Sunny. High 67". Hah!

We left Paducah at 5:00 in the rain. It rained and sometimes poured on the five hour drive to Watts Bar Lake. We went through a dry spell just before we got here, but it started raining again just before we arrived and hasn't stopped since. It never got warmer than 50 degrees.

We hustled to get all our stuff aboard before it got worse and were largely successful. it was cold aboard while we were finding places for everything. We had the space heater on, which we can do while hooked up to shore power, but there was a power outage shortly after we tuned it on that lasted two hours. We figure our little heater took out power in the whole Tennessee Valley!
We did manage to get everything stored, but most of it is in awkward places that will be challenging to retrieve. Oh well, such is life on a boat!

Rich and MaryAnn Toppe arrived with Snowy. We huddled under a gas heater on the marina restaurant deck, trying to keep warm while we ate lunch. The logistics of this trip required us to not leave a car behind, and to have a car waiting for us when we're done. This trick is accomplished with the very generous help of the Toppes who volunteered to drive my car from here to Kentucky and park it at Green Turtle Bay Marina, our destination on Lake Barkley.

After they left Mike and I started the engine, which seems to running just fine, except it's leaking water from the impeller. Best case scenario - we need a gasket. Worst case, we need a new pump and this trip is effectively over before it begins. We find out the answer tomorrow morning when one of the mechanics pays us a visit and has a look. We also suspect that there may be an issue with out batteries. They don't seem to be charging the way we would expect. We'll talk about that tomorrow too.

We're having dinner at the marina restaurant watching the Oregon Ducks get their butts kicked.

On my first post I managed to figure out how to intersperse photos in the text. But I can't seem to find a way to repeat that. So here are today's photos, all together at the bottom!

On our way to Tennessee!

We're in Paducah!
Mike arrived safely yesterday in Milwaukee. I picked him up there and we spent the night in Rockford.
Getting everything in the car this morning proved to be quite a challenge, as it turns out. And then once we got here we went grocery shopping and filled four more bags! It can hardly fit in the car. I'm really worried about finding places to store all of this stuff on the boat
As we drove south we were watching for the snow to disappear. This finally happened, but not until we were two thirds of the way here!
On arrival we were greeted with blooming daffodils, crocus, and other stuff that Robin and I planted last fall whose names I forget. It was sunny and 60 degrees.

Getting Ready...

Last fall, inspired by my wonderful week sailing on a 44' sailboat with three other very agreeable companions in the San Juan islands in Puget Sound, I bought a sailboat! It's a Catalina 27 with an in-board diesel which Robin and I re-named "Quilty Pleasure". Watch Renaming Video.

Right now it's moored at the marina where it was when I bought it - Watts Bar Lake in Tennessee. But it's going to live on Lake Barkely, near our second home in Paducah, Kentucky. I originally thought I that I would ship it. But when I discovered that I could actually sail/motor the entire 525 miles down the Tennessee River with my mast up, that sounded like too much of an adventure to pass up! So that's the plan!

I asked Mike Dane to accompany me and he eagerly accepted (much to my surprise and pleasure). Mike was our Admiral aboard the boat in the San Juans, so he is an expert on the operation of cruising sailboats. And we enjoyed each other's company, so it seemed like a good match.

We have been planning, collecting, scheduling,fretting, and anticipating for several months and now we're getting close!

Mike flies into Milwaukee tomorrow and then we're off!

I went grocery shopping yesterday. I basically have no idea what I'm doing! I have no idea where we're going to put everything. I'm counting on Mike's experience and genius to solve all our little problems...

Here's a photo of the groceries I got yesterday. This doesn't include all perishables we still need. It also doesn't show all the beer!

And then there's the anchor, rode, inflatable dinghy, fenders, radar reflector, cushions, boat hook, binnacle cup holder, extra line, container for extra diesel fuel, and much more...