10/13/20 – Chattanooga to Sale Creek Anchorage

Day 32

On Tuesday morning, 10/13/20, we awoke to two nice surprises! The first was the gloriously stunning fall weather for our travels, and the second was the Erwin mechanic returning to install our newly-rebuilt generator starter at 8:30 am! We were very fortunate that the technician was able to have that starter rebuilt, as replacing it with a new one would’ve cost us a cool $983.00, for the starter alone! The starter installation went quickly enough for us to leave Chattanooga by 10 am, heading for Chickamauga Lake. As with all transfers from one lake to another (we were going from Nickajack to Chickamauga), we had to traverse another lock. (I’m slowly figuring this out…) The Chickamauga lock was smaller than the ones we’re used to and so the waters were more turbulent, since we were still locking UP river. Entry into the lock and looping our line over a pin went smoothly, but the turbulence as the lock was filling quickly caused extra work for Gilligan on the line and Skipper up at the helm. The turbulence kept pushing Legacy up against the lock wall, which is really not good for our fenders or the “socks” that cover them, as they get simultaneously smashed and drug up between the boat hull and the rough wall. Steve tried to push the boat out with the bow and stern thrusters, but as soon as he’d let off on them, the boat went right back against the wall. I got the bright idea to sit on one of the steps going up to the flybridge, place my foot against the lock wall, and use my leg muscles to push the boat off the wall. Of course, the turbulence was bouncing us around, so I had to reposition my foot over and over and realized at one point this stunt would be a great way to lose a boat shoe. During all the jostling, I noticed our line holding us on the pin was getting pinched between the ballast and the wall. Every time I pulled it free, it slipped right back down again. By the time the lock master opened the gates and blew the all clear horn, that line would NOT pull off the pin. Steve had to come down from the helm and help me wrestle it free. For a split second, we were afraid we might have to cut the line loose, but thankfully did not. We did have to inform the lock master on the radio that we were “having trouble with a line”, to explain our delay in departure. But our guardian angels came through for us and the line was spared from the dreaded line-cutting knife. We both found Chickamauga Lake to be one of the prettiest we’d cruised so far on this trip. Lots of rolling hills and thick woods of autumn color. The splendid lake homes continued along the banks east of Chattanooga, but slowly began to dwindle the farther we got from the city. The further east we moved, the more natural and “untouched by man” the lake and its surrounding terrain appeared.

Our original intent had been to end our travel day around 3:30 pm and anchor on the Hiawassee River, which comes off of the Tennessee River southeast of Graysville, TN. The anchorage we found was beautiful and completely private, but too shallow and narrow for Steve’s comfort, so we had to abandon it and return back down the TN River a little ways to an anchorage in Sale Creek, which wasn’t as private (a camp ground surrounded one side of it), but it was wide and deep enough for Steve to be able to sleep that night. While sitting up in the flybridge that evening, I noticed the top of what appeared to be a chopped off telephone pole in the water about 350 feet from where our boat was anchored. The top of it stuck about 5 inches above the water line. I wondered aloud what that lone pole might be (have been) for. The next morning, as I was showering, Steve knocked on the door and told me to look out the window and I’d see what that pole was there for. When I looked out, there was a giant heron standing on the pole surveying our anchorage for his breakfast. Well, of course that’s what the pole was for!