Long Day

After finally getting through Fort Loudoun Lock, (we were delayed by a gas barge for 4 hours), we only had about three hours of daylight remaining, so we decided to anchor out at Paint Rock Creek, Mile 577 on the TN River, and it is a very nice anchorage. Well protected from the wind, although the wind was high at about 25 kts, the anchorage is beautiful. There was only one other boat in the creek so there was plenty of room for us. I dropped the hook while Pat handled the boat. The big Fortress FX-55 anchor grabbed immediately, and we were set for the night.

Next morning I woke everyone up when I cranked the engines at daylight. We had about 100 miles to cover today in order to get to the Chattanooga Yacht Club, Mile 477 and I wanted to arrive at our destination in daylight. That's where we will drop off Louise, Pat's mother, who will drive our pick-up truck to her home in AL and keep it for us. We had a beautiful day to cruise, sunny with cool but pleasant temps. When we got to Watts Bark Lock and Dam, the door was open and the green light welcomed us in the lock chamber. Now that's the way to go through a lock! No wait.

We arrived at Chattanooga Yacht Club at about 4:30pm, with a pretty strong wind. It's always high adventure to dock a boat in strong winds. It wasn't pretty, but we got in with no damage to the boat, the dock, or my self esteem. Wind has blown all night so I tied extra lines at about 3am. Next stop is Goose Pond Marina, about a hundred miles down river. We're not in a hurry, so we'll take two days to make this leg. Rumor has it that a 9-barge towboat is going through Chickamauga lock this morning (8 October), so we may be delayed. More later.