Joe Wheeler

It's been a really long time since we have had both a good Internet connection and the time to devote to making a Blog entry.

I'll try to catch us up to date in this one blog.  I have over 2 weeks of stuff to cover.

When I left off, we had just anchored in Dry Creek just above Pickwick Dam.   It had been a long day and we were glad to get somewhere before dark.  The anchorage was excellent, especially after the bad experience at the anchorage behind Double Island.  The weather here was much better, no wind or rain.  In the morning I took a dinghy ride and took some pictures.

Cindy's Observations: I forgot to mention at the Pickwick Dam on the up river set of doors was an owl perched on top.  How excited I was to see this "screecher."  This will be interesting to see what his food of choice is.  The blue herons are good at finding fresh churned chum.  When we rose to the top and the doors started to open, the owl sat motionless.  What balance, what nerves of steel, what the ... its a fake?  How could they do that to me.

While Larry was out on his dinghy, my activity for the morning was to remove as much water out of the carpets as possible with the 1 gallon portable shop vac I thought we needed to bring.  After a few efficient dumps it was confirmed.  The little "sucker" became my newest BFF (best friend forever).  Ok, so now I have a weapon for the next rain storm.

 

 

 

 



We didn't leave Dry Creek until after noon.  It was good to not be in a hurry.  We decided to anchor out again tonight and found another good anchorage at Union Hollow only 14 miles away.  On the way I figured out how to make the autopilot follow the course more smoothly.  Sometimes while changing way points, the boat will make a hard turn to get on the new course.  Rather unnerving when it abruptly heads toward a buoy and you not knowing when it is going to turn onto the new course.  It takes a few button pushes in succession, but it transitions a lot smoother.  When I get a chance to get into the calibration program, I imagine I can change a few parameters to make it work better.

 

When we got to Union Hollow, I used the dinghy to set a stern anchor just to keep us headed in the right direction.  Without it the boat swings in the wind, with the current and wind fighting to take control.  The strongest usually wins!  Of course I took the usual ride around the anchorage to take pictures of the boat.

 

 Cindy's observations:  See Larry?  Larry's happy.  Carpets are drying and we are not going to do any 360's with the stern anchor. The grill worked great and we had a wonderful wildlife show for the evenings entertainment.  First up were the diving ducks.  Union Hollow was a wildlife reserve filled with several native species. The ducks would totally submerge for a while and pop up in another spot. Next the blue heron flew from one side of the cove to the other fishing.  Crows are cawing all around us.  The  last act was a beaver swimming from the cove out to the river.   Life was good on the river that day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to go a little further the next day and try anchoring again.  It's something we are going to have to get good at, rather than spending every night in a marina, which could get rather expensive after a while.  We decided to spend the night in Little Bear Creek, about 26 miles away.

 

We got under way at 9:30 and by 1:30  were anchored in the creek.  The wind and the current were again fighting for control.  A rear anchor would not hold in the mud and the rest of the bottom seemed to be rock.  So I took the rear anchor and hooked it behind a rock on the shore.  Nothing was going to move it now!!  We all took a ride in the dinghy back up the creek and took a few pictures there also.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Cindy's Observations:  When Larry suggested a dinghy ride, my thoughts were who's going  to watch the boat.  I was headed towards separation anxiety.  You want me to get off the boat, put me in an inflatable raft with a pull start engine and take me out of sight from my comfort zone and be excited?  Someone will come by and steal our boat, I exclaimed.  I have heard stories to this nature (but it is dinghies they take in the Bahamas).  Non the less, we slip into the dinghy and off we go.  We cruised to the end of the anchorage site and back.  See my smile, nobody stole the boat!  Everybody was happy.

 

Next we tackled the second highest lock in the United States, Wilson Lock and Dam.  It has a lift of 93 ft.  It took us from Pickwick Lake up into Wilson Lake in one long lift.  The doors did not look as big as I thought they would, until they closed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cindy"s Observations:  Well, let me tell you, this is one big ... lock! You know I have this thing about locks right.  As we waited for our turn to enter into the chamber I was doing some meditation.  Actually I became so relaxed in my PFD I dozed off on the bow in the warm sunshine.  Then reality slapped me in the face as we entered the lock.  We are in a place only a few people will ever have the opportunity to be.   How cool is that!  No s...t sherlock, those were ginormous doors.  The gears to move the doors were the size of an 8 seat banquet table or more.  It became very apparent this lock demanded respect.  It had great presence and appearance.  The walls were made of several beveled edge aggregate horizontal stacked layers. Iron reinforcements flanked both sides of  all the bollard columns.  Truly a work of art. I LIKED THIS LOCK!  Might it be, my fears could be over?   As we rose I was losing sight of the decorative walls that intrigued me.  Now my thoughts had changed from "oh! great, another lock (not)" to "wonder what the next one looks like." 

 

After the Wilson Lock we came to the Wheeler Lock which forms Wheeler Lake where the AGLCA rendezvous is to be held.  Wheeler lock was big compared to Mississippi river lock standards.  It took us up 43 ft or so.  Much more than the 6-10 feet we were accustomed to on the Mississippi.

 

Cindy"s Observations:  This lock had some of the same features as the Wilson but the doors were different from one another.  Is there an engineering reason for this, or was one damaged and had to be replaced?  Now I'm curious about these anomalies.  The real estate along this stretch of river was becoming more ostentatious.  Beautiful homes on the bluffs and at the shore with matching boat houses.

 

 

 

 

Shortly after leaving the Wheeler Lock, we arrived at Joe Wheeler State Park

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Cindy"s Observations:  Wheeler lake is the most populated area on the Tennessee River.  Turtle Pointe is a picturesque golf course along the shore.  Docked by the course was a 4 deck mega yacht.  I wonder what their fees are?

 

 

We anchored in a cove just past the Marina.  The next morning we went into the Marina and spent 2 days there recuperating.  They had a sailing race for small sailing craft (Flying Scotts) on Saturday, so we were surrounded by little sailing boats.  There was a pretty strong wind on Saturday night, and the sound of the rigging beating against the mast made a ringing noise that made you think of sleigh bells.  Noisy sleigh bells!!  There was also a home made boat that looked like a small steamboat, complete with a Calliope.  It was a little out of tune on the high notes, but very entertaining and unique.

 

 Cindy's Observations:  After 5 days of anchoring, I think 3 is my limit.  Even if it was a pretty sunset.  During 40 min of watching this heron, it caught on average a fish every 10 minutes.  Shinny silver ones 6 inch or so, maybe herring or shad.  After docking it felt good to be in touch with the world again.  When anchored (on the hook) Wifi is not, Ceil coverage is questionable, no TV, keep the generator to a minimum and go to bed at 8:30.  First thing on agenda, laundry.  At $1.00 a load and free dryer we washed everything remotely dirty.  Those prices are a deal!  The steamboat was a delight to hear rolling by Saturday Morning from his home harbor at Wheeler. That evening at 5 o'clock there was a wedding ceremony with pictures taken at the end of our dock.  Our boat was unexpectedly included in wedding photos.  That night at 4 am all those sail boats around us sounded more like a drunken bell ringer convention  than cutesy sleigh bells.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pebble Isle Marina to Pickwick Lake

Two more days to Pickwick Lake,  where the Tenn-Tom waterway starts the run toward Mobile.  We are not going that way this time. We intend to go toward Chattanooga, past Joe Wheeler State Park where the AGLCA rendezvous is to be held later in Oct.

We left Pebble Isle in the morning around 9:00 after breakfast (all-you-can-eat) .  It was clear, but rain was forecast for the afternoon.  We had planned to travel around 50 miles to an anchorage behind Double Island on the Tennessee River.  I figured that to make it before the rain hit, that I would need to go about 8 mph.  To do that I would need to run at 9 mph to make up for the current that we were facing. 

I forgot it was Sunday, every bass boat and Jon boat in the state of Kentucky was on the river today.  We don't make that much of a wake but I still slowed down a bit for some of those little Jon boats with a lot of people.  The go-fast bass boats that don't seem to care about the wake that they make, not so much!  Three or four cruisers coming down river came blasting by without a care.  No one seemed to get too upset.

Since the autopilot is doing most of the driving now, it gives me more time to get out the camera and take pictures.  As long as the isinglass is down, no problem, other wise I need to go unzip one far enough to get the lens through.

It's hard to tell from a distance just how much clearance there is on a bridge.  Especially if you are not paying attention to your paper charts.  From this distance, the bridge looks pretty tall.  Plenty of clearance right?

 

From this distance, not so much.  Actually we had 20 or so feet, but it came upon us so fast, I'm sure glad it wasn't 17 feet, or we may have scraped a few things.  From now on I'll pay more attention the night before when I'm plotting my course.

 

We got to our anchorage at Double Island just as the rain started.  We anchored in 13 feet of water behind an island just off of the Tennessee river.  I also put out an anchor on our stern.  The wind and the current could not make up their mind which one was stronger, the current facing us south or the wind trying to spin us around facing north.  With the stern anchor out we settled down facing west.  At least for a while.  As we went to bed, I had sight of a white light on the shore off to our port side.

 

In the middle of the night, I heard the wind beginning to blow and the rain really starting to come down hard.  I got up and looked out the window.  No light!!  I went on deck and saw that the wind had won the battle and we were headed straight north.  The anchor chain was making so much noise that it woke up Pat.  I think she stayed up most of the night because of the noise.

 

Note to self, finish the anchor snubber!!  It is a piece of 5/8" nylon line that takes the stress off of the anchor chain and windlass.  It protects the windlass from the pounding of the waves and quiets things down a lot.  I had started it before we left, but was missing a key component and was waiting until I could find it.  Now I realize that I need to finish it so we can use it, and make another proper one later.

 

We got started at 9:00 the next morning.  It rained all day.  It rained so hard for a few minutes, that I slowed down to a crawl,  turned the radar on, and set the plotter to 1/4 mile range just to make sure we were in the channel and that nothing was coming.  I could tell by the AIS, that nothing bigger than us was coming our way, but we slowed down anyway.  Luckily, the bad rain did not last long, and the rest of the day was just a slow drizzle.

 

The plan when we left that morning was to anchor out again, this time behind Diamond island.  It was about 8 miles away from Pickwick Dam.  The plan was to get up early, call the dam and see how soon in the morning we could get through the Dam.  After last nights anchoring fiasco, we were thinking that anchoring behind another island with the wind and the rain might not be a good idea.  I gave the Pickwick Lock and Dam a call and he said that he would have the lock turned around and waiting for us when we got there.  So we decided that we would continue through and anchor in Pickwick Lake in an anchorage listed on ActiveCaptain.com. 

 

Pickwick Lock and Dam

Open Lock

Doors closing

Lock full

Doors open and we leave

Peanut gallery watching the action

First  boat we met after Pickwick

 

 

 

We made it through Pickwick Lock (traveled up 53 ft)  and pressed on to our anchorage in Dry Creek,  arriving just before dark at 5:30.  By now the wind and rain had subsided.  During the day while the autopilot was driving, I completed the anchor snubber and we would use it tonight to see if it worked as it should.

 

 

 

 

Display as we enter Dry Creek anchorage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kenlake State Park to Pebble Isle Marina

We started the trip to Pebble Isle Marina at about 8:30 after we had breakfast at the marina.  The morning was hazy with a light rain.  As the morning went on, it cleared and allowed me to roll up the isinglass so I could see better.

I couldn't help but notice the ATON's (Aids To Navigation) that were in the deep water of Kentucky Lake.  Red or Green, they all had mile markers, either red triangles or green squares, (red on right when returning), red or green lights,  photo cells for charging the batteries, a bird nest, and a bird.  I realize from my auxiliary training that the Coast Guard Auxiliary has a responsibility for reporting aids that are in the wrong place or not working properly. I guess the Coast Guard or the TVA must be responsible for repairing the ones that are not proper.  What I can't figure out is who replaces the bird on the one or two ATON's that had them missing?  How do they know whether to replace it with a Gull or a Comorand?  Just goes to show you I don't have an answer for everything.

 

 

Cindy's Observations:  The  day/mile markers serve as navigational aids and great nesting sites out of harms way for fowl.   It was interesting to see the placement of the nests and what type of bird fit the nest.

Today I made a great leap forward in the navigation of the boat.  As I had mentioned earlier,  I have been plotting a course on the plotter for the days travel.  Up to now I have only been using it as a reference to where the sailing line (highway) is and my relationship to it.  Today I got brave and engaged the autopilot and coupled it to the plotter to follow the course I had layed out.  Amazing!!! it followed it.  Now I need to pay more attention to just where I place the waypoints as I came a little close to a couple of ATON's today.  Luckily the autopilot has a "Dodge" button on it to get out of the way of logs, other boats, and poorly placed waypoints.


I picked up a boat on AIS approaching us from behind at an amazing rate.  She was doing in excess of 25 mph.  As I looked behind us in the binoculars all I could see was a big wake with a little boat in the middle.  The AIS identified them as "Miller Time".  How Appropriate!  I gave them a call and identified myself, and said I would slow down if they would give me a "slow pass".  If you have ever been "waked" by a large boat passing you from behind, you would understand my concern.  It moves everything in the boat that is not tied down, and even some of those things that are. Luckily they understood the term "slow pass" and acknowledged.  I slowed to 6 or 7 and they passed without incident.  We still got rocked a bit, but that was probably my fault.  Next time I will go to idle or stop for someone to go by.

Cindy's Observations:  Bass boaters are easily spotted and heard screaming across the lake leaving a rooster tail behind while getting to that perfect "spot" first.

We went a little over 57 miles today and did my first "fill up".  They advertised 10 cents a gallon off for Boat US members so we filled up.  170 gallons.  We are averaging close to 2 mpg even with the traveling upstream and pushing to get to anchorages on the Ohio River.  We are still going upstream and will be for quite a while, but the current is only running about 1/2 mph, which is not too bad.  It beats someone trying to go back up the Mississippi running against a 3-5 mile current.

We decided to stay an additional night here.  They had a courtesy car and a local restaurant with an all-you-can-eat breakfast bar!!




Narrow inlet to Pebble Isle - well marked!!

Pebble Isle Marina

Cindy's Observations:  The heavy dew in morning or rain is referred to as a "spot free rinse."  But we were soaked.  The topside carpets were soaked and squishy.  We needed a few days to dry out.  We lifted the carpets and laid them across the bow to drip dry.  Pebble Isle served a hearty country breakfast buffet. At the dock a Garmin GPS sonar mapping boat was equipped with side scanning sonar for new detail chips for nav plotters.  Several crews had been on the lakes for weeks and were close to finishing.

 A  Dodge Caravan was provided for a trip into town.Stopping at the Johnsonville State Park information center we talked with the guide whom we asked how to get to Loretta Lynn's Ranch.  She gladly gave us directions to Hurricane Mills and proceeded to give us her personal story  growing up with Patsy and Cissy, Loretta's girls.  She talked fondly of the girls and Moody their father who taught her how to swim on  the ranch.  Years back, the wooden bridge over the creek on the ranch was washed out do to a big flood along with the charm she remembered.  It has been replaced with a modern day concrete bridge. Gift shops and museums have been erected on the site. The ranch has changed with Loretta's passing and is no longer a pleasant place for her to visit.  Also on site was a replica of Loretta's Butcher Holler home were she was "Born A Coal Miners Daughter."  This truly shows her "rags to riches" story.  Docktails were at 5:30 with Flying Free, Time and Tide and Kenny Rodgers (look alike).  We finished the last of our smoked dinner and called it a night.





Creek where girls swam

 

Loretta  Lynn's Mansion

Butcher Holler Replica



GTB to Kenlake State Park

Left Green Turtle Bay at 8:50 this morning headed for a marina at Kenlake State Park in Kentucky. It is on the west side of Kentucky Lake. The lake is real wide here, no need to worry about meeting tows. The river is wide enough for many tows to pass. There are two sailing lines (channels) on Kentucky Lake. One goes along the eastern side of the lake and is very wide and deep. The other favors the western side and is a lot more narrow and shallow. It is mainly for small boats and serves the myriad of small marinas on the western side of the lake. You cannot go directly from channel to another. You might run into one of the towns that were submerged when the lake was built. To get from one channel to another, there are marked “secondary channels” that you must take or pay the price!

We came through the Barkley Canal that connects Lake Barkley with Kentucky Lake. We took the first left and followed down the west (wide) side of the lake. We did hear a “securite, securite, on channel 16 warning of demolition at mile 66.2 with some resulting blasting. We were not going that far today but I couldn't help but wonder about the crew of Sno Daz that were running about a day ahead of us. They had spent the night at Kenlake State Park, which would put them going through that area today.

There was a slight drizzle but not enough to bother the driving. It was a little difficult spotting the daymarks with the binoculars because of having to look through the isinglass. It made everything blurry. Not many pictures today either, just not good photo weather.

One thing I noticed about Kentucky Lake as compared to the Mississippi, When the plotter said there should be a red or green Buoy, there was a red or green bouy. I had laid out a course on the plotter from bouy to bouy and they were right on. I probably could have had the autopilot follow the course without any problem! The only problem is that I haven't figured out how to make the autopilot do that yet. I'm still trying to get the plotter to get on the right page when I need it. The autopilot will have to wait. In the meantime, I'll lay out the course for a reference and follow it manually. It's safer that way.

Came under bridge to get to Kenlake Marina

Got to Kenlake State Park around noon. Only went about 18 miles today. Got tied up and hooked up power to find we didn't have any. Tried the 50 amp on the pedestal, no luck. Tried my 2-30 amp to 50 amp smartbox and still no power. Tried another power pedestal, still no luck. So I walked to the marina office to see what I was doing wrong. They were in the dark, literally. A storm the night before had taken out the power lines to the marina. The good news was that the power would be back on in about 15 minutes. They were right! My original 50 amp plug worked fine.

Cindy,s Observations:  This was the same storm that blew our fire out the night before.

Cindy and Pat got the bikes down to go ride through the park. I tried to work on the blog, but the Internet service was terrible, so was my AT&T hotspot on my phone. So I did the next best thing – I took a 2 hour nap!!!

Cindy's Observations:  A very relaxing pace today.  Once powered up, meatloaf was put into the oven to bake while taking a bike ride through the Kenlake State Park.   In the park the first thing I noticed was the abundant crop of poison ivy vines attached to several trees showing lovely fall colors.  We followed the trails on the guide map and  saw the highlights.  We rode for 1 3/4 hours up and down the trails.  A tennis ball found on the ground by the courts  was brought  back for Susie, the harbor masters dog, a dachshund/black lab mix. Mike Ramono the owner of the marina is from Swansea, IL and owns Ramono,s Title Company in Fairview Heights IL.  Susie was happy, I was exhausted and the meatloaf was perfect upon returning to the boat.

Tourist

Green Turtle Bay

I will defer to Cindy for this portion of the Blog. We didn't go anywhere in the boat, burn any fuel, or have any problems. I took it easy for 3 days!!

 

 

 

We had originally planned to stay at GTB for 2 nights, but after the first day we decided to extend it for another day.  We met a lot of loopers here, some for the second time.  We had crossed paths with  them as they went thru Grafton or stayed with them at Hoppies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cindy's Observations:  Day two at Green Turtle Bay we headed out  to Grand Rivers, a short 7 miles away. With a  looper discount coupon we rented a modified golf cart .  Installed on the brake pedal  was a button when depressed lit the wired on brake lights. A turn indicator was also an after market add on.  Now we were street legal. We had a 4 hour  limit so browsing  was  to be done swiftly.  The locals were very welcoming to visitors.  Behind Patties restaurant was an old town settlement .  There was a mill with the paddle wheel.  Quaint tiny chapel and pavilion for celebrations.  Hanging high in the cotton wood tree was a 6 pipe, ranging from 5-8', wind chime.  The grounds keepers  informed me that it only chimes with very strong winds.  The gray goose honked at all the passer bys.  Lunch was in Patties.  I had to try the Chess pie.  Created by a local which became part of the towns lore.  It was a pecan pie without pecans.  A flour crust on bottom with the pecan syrup filling (no pecans) and corn bread top crust.  It was sweet and tasty.  Docktails at 5:30, dinner at the yacht club.

Day three consisted of laundry and entering blogs.  Gemini Dream had organized a pot luck dinner looper style.  He provided the smoker and the boaters took their meat to be smoked.   After five hours of anticipation, tables were set and side dishes were prepared.  Then it happened.  The sky turned and a gale blew out our fire.  In more ways than one. It gave a "to go plate" a new meaning.  Food was being thrown onto plates and we were literally "running" back to our boats for shelter.  Food had never been served so fast nor tables cleared as fast as that frightful night.  We would not be able to tell Matt how wonderful the smoked meat tasted until the morning.  I bet  the wind chime in the cottonwood tree at Patties Settlement was really making a noise.