Day 46 – 49

Tuesday, 10/27/20, was another short travel day, so we lazed around until 11:30 before pulling anchor and heading on down river to Island Cove Marina in Harrison, TN, just east of Chattanooga. The weather was cloudy and dreary, but still warm enough for us to dress in shorts and t-shirts. Not long before we arrived at Island Cove, in a particularly wide portion of the river, Steve put me at the helm for another boat-driving lesson. This time I picked a spot on shore to starboard and another one in front of the boat and then had to keep the boat in roughly the same spot, using these two marker points, using only the boat’s two engines. No steering wheel allowed! He was very patient and stayed calm for the entire 30 minutes I was ‘driving’ the boat. A patient instructor is what I need, so I was very appreciative.

We were greeted by harbor master, Randy, when we arrived at Island Cove Marina. He was extremely nice and very helpful. He even drove us around the marina on his golf cart whenever he saw us, so we wouldn’t have to walk. He put Legacy into a covered transient slip, which was a treat. Randy’s mannerisms reminded Steve of my step-brother, Gary Kandlbinder, but his voice and appearance reminded me of Danny Litford, the home maintenance expert who appears regularly on The Weather Channel. Steve helped to catch lines for two other transient boats who joined us on “Freedom Dock” in nearby slips. Island Cove is a nice marina with an Amigo’s Mexican restaurant right there onsite, which was just fine with us! They also have their very own island that is available for event rentals, such as weddings, family reunions, etc.

On Wednesday, 10/28/20, a cold front came through as predicted and it poured down rain all day. We were glad to be under a cover for that! We stayed holed-up in the boat most of that day and ventured out that evening for another dinner at Amigo’s.

The weather forecast for Thursday, 10/29/20, was supposed to be identical to Wednesday’s, since Tropical Storm Zeta was barreling through along with the cold front. But when we woke up on Thursday morning, the rain was over and the skies were already clearing! But the WIND was really up and gusting to over 35 mph, so we were glad we’d reserved the slip for another day. When we checked our weather sites, we were amazed at just how fast Zeta moved through our area and straight up to the northeast! We used the better (though cooler) weather to hire an Uber from the marina into Walmart in Harrison and back. Travis was our Uber driver going into town. He was very chatty and wanted to hear all about our boating adventures. Nelson was our driver back to the marina and he said very little during our trip, but got us exactly where we needed to go. Uber obviously hires all different types of drivers!

On Thursday evening, we managed to find enough wifi access to download and watch several of the webinars we’d paid for with AGLCA’s Fall 2020 Virtual Rendezvous. These particular webinars covered successfully traveling the TennTomBigbee Waterway.

We had originally planned to leave Island Cove Marina on Friday morning, 10/30/20, but the winds were still howling at 35 mph gusts and higher, and the water was really rough. We decided it was probably smartest to stay at Island Cove one more day, especially since the forecast for Saturday, 10/31/20, was little wind and spectacular, post-cold-front weather.

Position: N 35° 08.179, W 85° 07.607 

Distance traveled:  17.9 NM

Total distance traveled: 766.6 NM

Time underway: 2 HRS 7 MIN

Total time underway: 96 HRS 29 MIN

Total marina nights: 39

Total nights at anchor: 10

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  10

Day 45

Since Monday, 10/26/20, was a short travel day, Steve let me laze around that morning, so we didn’t leave Euchee Marina until 10:00 am. We went back through Watts Bar Lock smoothly and without incident. The Watts Bar Buzzards were again lined up on the lock wall to watch our passage. Very odd! We’ve not seen buzzards at any other lock, so far.

We noticed the water level was noticeably down when we arrived back at the Sale Creek anchorage from its level when we’d anchored there a few weeks earlier. We arrived about 3:00 pm and sat up in the flybridge for beverages and to enjoy the sunset. We also got to ‘enjoy’ being waked repeatedly by fisherman in bass boats also inhabiting our anchorage. They would just zoom right by our boat at top speed, not the least bit concerned with the effects their large wakes would have on Legacy and her occupants. Each time we get waked hard, I shout out “We’re on the high seas!” because that’s exactly what it seems like.

Position: N 35° 22.054, W 85° 03.988 

Distance traveled:  40.5 NM

Total distance traveled: 748.7 NM

Time underway: 4 HRS 20 MIN

Total time underway: 94 HRS 22 MIN

Total marina nights: 35

Total nights at anchor: 10

Locks today: 1

Locks Total:  10

Day 44

Sunday morning, 10/25/20, dawned cloudy, misty and chilly. Legacy left Fort Loudon Marina on her way downriver to Euchee Marina, on Watts Bar Lake, at Ten Mile, TN. The weather eventually cleared up through the day, so that by the time we arrived at Euchee, a beautiful late afternoon greeted us. We spent a peaceful night at this marina, with only a little bit of rocking.

Position: N 35° 40.976, W 84° 42.782 

Distance traveled:  48.3 NM

Total distance traveled: 708.2 NM

Time underway: 5 HRS 14 MIN

Total time underway: 90 HRS 2 MIN

Total marina nights: 35

Total nights at anchor: 9

Locks today: 1

Locks Total:  9

Day 42 – 43

On Friday morning, 10/23/20, we left Volunteer Landing Marina and continued upriver, to the mouth of the Tennessee River, where it begins where the Holston and the French Broad Rivers meet, just two miles east of Knoxville. This point was one of Steve’s goals to reach during our cruising.

Having reached this goal, we turned Legacy around and pointed her downriver for the first time in weeks, back through Knoxville all the way back to Fort Loudon Marina to hunker down for the impending heavy rains that were forecasted for Saturday, 10/24/20. We passed yet another Vol Navy parade heading to Knoxville for their second home football game in two weeks.

As predicted, the 24th was a total washout, so we used that day to run errands in the courtesy van and hang out inside the boat.

Position: N 35° 47.911, W 84° 14.259 

Distance traveled:  45.1 NM

Total distance traveled: 659.9 NM

Time underway: 5 HRS 6 MIN

Total time underway: 84 HRS 48 MIN

Total marina nights: 34

Total nights at anchor: 9

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  8

Day 40 – 41

Our luck held out and the weather stayed picture-perfect on Wednesday and Thursday, 10/21/20 and 10/22/20. There is no courtesy vehicle at Volunteer Landing marina, but that wasn’t a problem since we were located right downtown. A ride in an elevator and a short hike across a pedestrian walkway got us right to Gay Street, which is where all the action is.

I got around early on Wednesday morning and took advantage of the paved walking/biking pathways just adjacent to our marina. I walked about a mile and a half, all the way down to Governor Ned McWhirter Riverside Landing Park, which is where local rowers put their sculls (very narrow, rowing boats) into the river for practice and competitions. Sculling/rowing is big at Knoxville’s University of Tennessee.

Unlike previous marina’s, the terrain of the walking pathways was relatively flat and straight, which meant I could get some serious power-walking in! My power-walking leaves much to be desired, however, since I’m constantly breaking stride to stop and take pictures of wildflowers.

When I returned from my long morning walk, Steve actually put on his tennis shoes and announced he was ready to explore downtown Knoxville! I really got my steps in that day! We walked all the way down Gay Street and back, stopping at Blackhorse Brewery for lunch and Steve sampled one of their own IPAs. Then we walked over to Market Square and I actually got to do some shopping in several boutique stores, while Steve waited outside in the wonderful weather.

On Wednesday night, we walked to Calhoun’s, just west of our marina in downtown Knoxville, for dinner. The food at this Calhoun’s was just as tasty as that we enjoyed at Calhoun’s at Fort Loudon Marina.

On Thursday, we walked back downtown, did some more sight-seeing and enjoyed a terrific brunch at Ruby Sunshine, on Market Square. Afterward, Steve caught an Uber ride to Great Clips and then to Publix. I walked by myself back to the boat to wait for his return, stopping at another boutique shop on the way, of course.

Position: N 35° 57.661, W 83° 54.659 

Distance traveled:  24.9 NM

Total distance traveled: 615.8 NM

Time underway: 3 HRS 8 MIN

Total time underway: 79 HRS 42 MIN

Total marina nights: 32

Total nights at anchor: 9

Locks today: 0 Locks Total:  8

Day 39

The next morning, we awoke to super-heavy fog and had to postpone pulling anchor until it lifted.  We had noticed another apparent flying insect hatch the night before.  Steve started out the salon door and came back in slowly and quietly, motioning for me to look out the windows.  Our entire boat was covered with swallows!  Those that weren’t perched, were flying all around us.  Zooming and darting over the water taking advantage of all the newly-hatched insects.  We watched them for several minutes until Steve had to go outside, which scared them away.  WHY we didn’t think to take a video of that spectacle, I do not know.  It was not your average morning occurrence!  The fog finally lifted at 10:30 am on Tuesday morning, 10/20, so we pulled anchor and headed for Volunteer Landing Marina on the river in downtown Knoxville, TN.  The closer we got to Knoxville, the more impressive the lake estates became.

For the first time, we cruised in cloudy and chilly weather.  No rain, but no bright sunshine, either.  I was disappointed because my pictures were not as good without optimum lighting.  We arrived at Volunteer Landing Marina about 1:45 pm.  The harbor master there, Don Butler, had to be one of the nicest, most accommodating harbor masters yet.  He could not have been more helpful and polite.  I highly recommend staying at Volunteer Landing, if only to meet Don! 😊   After fueling-up and registering for our transient slip, Don directed us upriver from the fuel-dock to a covered transient slip.  He walked down to the slip to catch our lines and help us get tied-up.  It was a good thing he was there, because that was our most challenging slip entrance to date.  Our slip was right on the river (which is really narrow at that point), and perpendicular to the 4-knot current running past it.  Steve prefers to back Legacy into a slip, so I had previously run all over the boat positioning the lines and all three fenders for a port tie-up, but the river’s current was not allowing a reverse entry at all.  Every time Steve got the boat to the point he needed to be for backing up, the current carried Legacy downriver before he could get the boat turned.  We tried over and over and finally decided to just head directly into the slip, which meant I got to run all over the boat again, moving lines and fenders from the port side of the boat to the starboard side.  Yippee…  I felt sorry for Don, as it seemed like he used up his entire afternoon waiting for us to get close enough to the slip to pitch him our lines.  Even with our luxurious bow and stern thrusters, that current was so strong, Steve still had to make multiple attempts at nosing into that slip, too.  Finally, Don caught our bowline and basically manhandled Legacy’s bow into the slip against the current.  Thank you, Don! 😊  Once inside the slip, the current made tying up equally tricky.  Each time Steve thought he had us where we needed to be, the strength of the current made him change his mind and retie.  It took us over an hour to enter and get settled in that slip.  Thoroughly exhausted, we showered and walked up for an early dinner at another Calhoun’s, just west of the marina on the river.

Position: N 35° 57.661, W 83° 54.659 

Distance traveled:  24.9 NM

Total distance traveled: 615.8 NM

Time underway: 3 HRS 8 MIN

Total time underway: 79 HRS 42 MIN

Total marina nights: 30

Total nights at anchor: 9

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  8

Day 38

I like anchoring out because there is no work required on my part.  😊  We just find an anchorage and lower the anchor into the water with the windlass.  Steve puts the boat’s engines into reverse until the anchor is set.  No lines or fenders needed at all!  However, the next morning, when we pull anchor, it’s my job to stand out on the bow and use the hose to wash down the anchor chain and anchor as it’s coming back up through the windlass and into the anchor chain locker.  On the morning of the 19^th, I lost control of an unruly spray nozzle on the hose and doused myself with cold river water.  UGH!  The nozzle was stuck open and dancing around on the end of the hose like a charmed snake.  I finally got it shut off, coiled the hose as I was dripping wet, and took it back to its home in the cockpit.  Then I went inside and changed my entire outfit!

After another pleasant, but relatively uneventful day, we anchored in Poland Creek, which is south of Concord, TN.

Position: N 35° 49.688, W 84° 06.135

Distance traveled:  38.7 NM

Total distance traveled: 590.9 NM

Time underway: 4 HRS 44 MIN

Total time underway: 82 HRS 26 MIN

Total marina nights: 29

Total nights at anchor: 9

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  8

Day 37

On Saturday morning, the 18^th, we pulled anchor and continued heading up Tellico Lake (aka Little Tennessee River) as far as we could go with Legacy’s 5-foot draft.  The scenery on this beautiful lake did not disappoint!  It wasn’t long before we realized from the incredible lake mansions lining the shores that Tellico Lake is definitely the place to be in this part of the country.  We continued upriver into the Cherokee National Forest, finally crossing into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  As we approached to the end of safely navigable waters on the Little Tennessee, the giant houses disappeared and we were once again surrounded by mostly nature, with the majestic Smoky Mountains as a back-drop.  I decided we should anchor in this very spot because of the stunning panoramic views, but it was not to be.  Every time we dropped the anchor, we couldn’t get it to set.  We tried over and over, noticing that each time we lifted the anchor to move a few yards to another location, there was absolutely NO mud on the anchor or the anchor chain.  We finally assumed that the river bottom in that location must’ve been nothing but rock.  An anchor won’t set in solid rock, so we had to turn around and travel back down river a bit to another place where the bottom was muddier and more anchor-friendly.  We dropped the dinghy back into the water and took it all the way to the Chillowee Dam on the Little Tennessee River.

Position: N 35° 33.998, W 84° 07.503 

Distance traveled:  12.8 NM

Total distance traveled: 552.2 NM

Time underway: 1 HRS 40 MIN

Total time underway: 71 HRS 50 MIN

Total marina nights: 29

Total nights at anchor: 8

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  8

Day 36

After the morning fog cleared, we left Fort Loudon Marina about 10 am on Friday, 10/17/20.  Once we got out of the marina and headed upriver, we were treated with a spectacular view of the Smoky Mountains ahead of us.  We’ve visited the Smokies on several occasions via car, but never via boat until now.

As we cruised along, we passed multiple boats sailed by representatives of the Vol Navy, which were on their way to Knoxville for their scheduled home football game the following day.  I’d always heard about the Vol Navy, but never quite understood what that meant.  Now I know!  After yet another stunning travel day, we arrived early at our anchorage in Tellico Lake (behind the island upon which Fort Loudon State Historic Area is located), at 1:00 pm.  I was a bit nervous about this anchorage, as it seemed we were sitting right out in the middle of things, but Steve insisted we were way out of the channel and behind an island, for wind protection.  We dropped Digney into the water and rode it across Tellico Lake to the Fort Loudon State Historic Area, where we tied-up to a small dock, and enjoyed a self-guided tour.  Fort Loudon was first constructed during the French and Indian War in the mid-1700s, and helped Great Britain to prevent the French from penetrating the Appalachian region.  All buildings were recreated to represent their original construction.  There is a small museum onsite, along with the reconstructed fort.  It was yet another incredible weather day, with low humidity and wonderful visibility.  I was particularly enamored with the beautiful view seen from the fort’s location, and exclaimed about it on multiple occasions.  The grounds of the fort occupy a rather steep hillside, so the different cabins and out buildings were quite a climb from each other, which Steve found senseless, thinking the British should’ve thought things through a little better and leveled the grounds BEFORE they started construction, but my thoughts were that soldiers from the mid-1700s were probably not quite as lazy as we are nowadays.  The individual barracks contained six bunk-beds each, with the bed frames being wide enough to sleep two people each, which meant they could house at least 12 men per cabin.  I told Steve those cozy accommodations would’ve been more off-putting to me, rather than the hillside upon which they were constructed.  But each to his own!

Position: N 35° 34.779, W 84° 13.294

Distance traveled:  21 NM

Total distance traveled: 539.4 NM

Time underway: 2 HRS 36 MIN

Total time underway: 70 HRS 10 MIN

Total marina nights: 29

Total nights at anchor: 7

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  8

Day 34 – 35

We left our peaceful anchorage at Butler Cemetery on Thursday morning (much to the glee of the nearby hot-tub owners, I’m sure) and headed for our next stop, which was Fort Loudon Marina, just outside of Lenoir City, TN.  The riverside scenery began to change from rocky cliffs and mixed woods to flatter, rolling pastures – with some working farms.  Very peaceful and bucolic.  Steadily, as we’ve headed up river, we’ve noticed the lake homes growing more and more grand.

We had another wonderful trip, which ended with a lock-up in the Fort Loudon Lock.  We traversed this lock with quite a bit of turbulence, but no problems.  Although Steve had to run the stern-thruster so often to keep the stern off the lock wall as we rose, that he completely drained its rechargeable battery and it stopped working just as the lock gates opened for us to exit.  Lucky timing for us!  Just past the lock and dam is Fort Loudon Marina.  Steve called ahead for transient reservations and received some rather vague entry instructions.  Each time we enter a marina that’s new to us, we enter very slowly and rely on our binoculars to (hopefully) determine the location of each marina’s transient docks.  This time we’d been instructed to “come straight into the marina and we’d see the fuel docks in front of us”.  The fuel docks were located far inside the marina, so we had to come quite a distance in to finally spot them.  We’d told the marina rep we didn’t need fuel or pump-out, but she said we’d receive instructions on where to tie-up by pulling up to the fuel docks, and also pay for our visit at the same time.  However, as we neared the fuel docks, we saw they were fully occupied by two large boats that had arrived before us.  Steve slowly circled the marina’s entry several times as we waited for the boats to move.  Eventually we realized one of the boats was permanently tied there.  The other boat had just begun filling up and obviously held a LOT of fuel!  As we waited, we watched a pretty, late-model 27-foot Ranger Tug come around us and finally pull into a small transient slip, after several unsuccessful attempts.  It was obvious the captain of this boat was a newbie and was having difficulty dealing with the prevailing winds in the marina.  His first mate had dutifully hung bow and stern fenders on the starboard side of the boat, preparing to tie up.  But on his third attempt into the slip, he was halfway in when the wind blew his stern around the end of the dock finger and we heard a loud boom as his hull bounced off the corner of the dock!  I didn’t see it happen, but Steve saw the whole thing and said the boat had hit hard.  ☹ After waiting for almost an hour, the fuel-thirsty boat finally left and we were able to pull up to the dock.  We normally try to tie-up on our port side, but this time had to tie-up starboard, so I made a mad dash to transfer the lines and fenders from port side to starboard as the wind blew us about.  It was a challenge for us to get secured, but we finally did.  Steve received instructions from the harbor master on where we were to put our boat and we headed that way.  Though very shallow, there was a finger available for us right beside the poor Ranger Tug that had hit the dock earlier.  I’ve noticed that many representatives of these marinas have length-estimation challenges (men, of course), and often tell us a dock finger is far longer than it actually is…  That proved to be true with this tie-up, as well.  The rep had said “all of our fingers are 55-feet”.  However, our 57-foot boat stuck way out beyond the end of our finger, so much so that we had to get creative with tying it up.  Fortunately, we had some help awaiting us at our dock finger to catch our lines.  After we got tied and plugged up, the captain of the Ranger Tug showed us the damage that was done to his boat when it hit earlier.  A big old gash was taken out of the paint, but the hull did not appear to be dented, which was a statement to the strength of this boat!  Sure enough, we found out this captain and first mate had just purchased the Ranger Tug and that was its maiden voyage with them helming.  No wonder he was having trouble with it in that wind!

Calhoun’s restaurants are famous around the Knoxville area, and we lucked-out when we discovered one of their locations was right there at Fort Loudon marina.  We had a nice relaxing dinner there and turned in early.

A front came through overnight, so it was much cooler and drier on Friday, 10/16/20.  We drove Fort Loudon’s ancient courtesy van into Lenoir City for supplies, then returned for boat-cleaning day.  Steve on the outside and me on the inside.  I was working away in the salon when Steve knocked on the outside of the boat.  When I looked out the window, he told me to come out because our friends Rodney and Julie Wilson had just arrived!  We knew Rodney and Julie from our old sailing days on Lake Pickwick, almost 20 years ago.  They were in the area in their RV (they are HUGE UT Vol fans), and just happened to drive through the Fort Loudon marina.  Julie looked out the window and spotted Steve cleaning our boat.  Steve said he heard a woman shouting, “Steve!  Steve Linn!”  He looked up and there they were.  We are Facebook friends with Rodney, so they knew we’d moved onto our boat, but hadn’t seen it yet, nor did they know where we were on the TN River.  They parked their car and came aboard Legacy for a visit.  It was great to see them!  We caught up on things for an hour or so, and made plans to purposely meetup with them in their RV and us on our boat in the near future. 

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Position: N 35° 47.909, W 84° 14.245

Distance traveled:  37.9 NM

Total distance traveled: 518.4 NM

Time underway: 5 HRS 7 MIN

Total time underway: 67 HRS 34 MIN

Total marina nights: 29

Total nights at anchor: 6

Locks today: 1

Locks Total:  8