We're on the Tennessee!

We are tied up at Kentucky Dam Marina we have made the turn onto the Tennessee River. We are truly heading south. Yesterday was a milestone: we had one of those mythical 100 mile days (102). We got the hook down and enjoyed a great Tilapia dinner thanks to Patrick, and 4 bottles of wine. Well we were celebrating our 100 mile day. After dinner and dishes we broke out the Uno cards and a bottle of black Sambuca, Patrick never scored a point but was hilarious to watch.

We were anchored in a very swift section of the river and I listened to logs careening off the hull all night. When we got up this morning we had a Paul Bunyan sized tree snagged in our anchor chain. It took the good part of an hour to free ourselves with cowboy Victor doing his best Roy Rogers imitation of a steer roper.

But on down the river we went. We only had 30 or so miles to the Tennessee and 20 plus to the Kentucky Dam. But we had one lock left on the Ohio and that proved to be our challenge for the day. The tow boat Jean Pierre with two barges went by as we were wrestling with the tree, and since he was pushing only two empty barges we could not pass him (he was moving pretty good). When we got to the Summerland Lock the lock tender assigned the tow the land side chamber and told us to wait for him to enter then take the river side chamber. This was very unusual because the river side chamber is bigger and it has a long lead in wall which the tows use to get into shape for the lock. Weeeeeell The wind was blowing like stink, the current was also running pretty good also and the tow got out of control, he started to come across into my side and trap me against the wall. The radio blares out that he was now taking the river chamber and I was to get out of the way. The engines roared, she backed down and we scooted out from under his stern and over to the landside chamber. With nary a word from the tow Capt. or the lock master. Even though it was his fault for sending the tow there in the first place.

But on we went. We started taking water over the bow for the first time down by the Tennessee turn off. When we got to the Kentucky Dam we were told it would be an hour to an hour and forty five minutes to lock thru. He had a tug with barges that couldn't both fit in the lock at the same time. We don't know how they did it but they locked them thru separately. We made a couple of attempts to tie up to the big mooring pillars they have in the river for the barges, and when we finally got it done it was too hairy so we let it go and just did donuts in the river. The lock itself was the smallest we have been in but it was the largest change in height. Up this time about 35' after waiting so long we decided to go for the marina instead of anchoring. They have a courtesy van so we can re-supply. We need a few things.

We'll be heading on down or should I say up the river tomorrow. The Tennessee runs toward the Ohio so we are really going up river now. That will change when we get into the Tom-Tenn which is slack water, then on to the Black Warrior and Tom Bigbee rivers which flow to Mobile bay.

Capt. Bob