Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Finally, a day in which we were not pushing this slow boat against
a current – we got a bit of a push. We
got underway at 0650 this morning just because I was ready ten minutes earlier
than planned, and it was a good thing too, because we had to “race” ahead of a double-wide
barge tow to get to Pickwick Landing Lock and Dam before it did. I called the lock operator on the cell phone
about ten minutes after we got underway to tell him we were an hour away and to
see what traffic was like. That’s when
he informed me about the big tow which was going to take three hours to lock
through and that I needed to get there in about forty minutes if we were to
have a chance of squeaking through before the big guy. I pushed the throttle as far forward as I was
comfortable with, and as we popped out of Yellow Creek into the Tennessee
proper, there he was, a BIG tow on our starboard beam. We turned 90 degrees to port and headed
downstream toward the lock peddling as fast as we could go. Luckily he was so slow we beat him to the
lock and got through in good order. Our
one hundred mile ride down the Tennessee with over one mile per hour favorable
current saw us running at 9.5 MPH or better all day. We saw a rather narrow stretch of waterway
for a number of miles with little to recommend for viewing followed by a
widening river with many fine homes amongst very dramatic rock formations and
bluffs. Besides the “loser” in our race
to the lock, we saw only one tug and tow headed in the opposite direction. One other faster yacht overtook us going
downstream, and we saw a few dozen bass-boats or pontoon boats all day. We slid into home at 1800 here at Cuba Landing
Marina from which we will depart at 0600 tomorrow morning in order to get to
Green Turtle Bay Resort Marina by about 1530.
Thus will be accomplished the goal of arriving there before the effects
of Tropical Depression Cindy on Thursday/Friday.
