Friday, September 21, 2012
Today we weighed anchor at 7:15 AM -- it was 58 degrees with 91% humidity and we had opposing current all day, dragging us down to sometimes only 5.4 kts. As we were leaving Swallow Bluff Island, we got a radio call from a home we had just passed. The caller was a former Looper who lived on the Tennessee River, saw our boat passing by, and just wanted to say hello. The name of his boat is "Then and Now" -- not familiar to us, but perhaps some of you remember him. He and Ralph had a nice chat and he wished us well on our adventure.
We arrived at the Pickwick Lock & Dam in the early afternoon. This was part of the massive 1938 Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) project constructing the 113' dam and the 55' lock to control flooding of the Tennessee River and provide electrical power to the region.
Leaving the lock we then crossed beautiful Pickwick Lake surrounded by high bluffs with many large homes built atop the bluffs overlooking the water. The homes are built so high that there are either long staircases extending from the water to the homes or in many instances, funicular-type tracks leading from the docks to the top. We would have loved to see what type of car ran on the tracks to transport people up and down the bluff, but we didn't. See photos below.
We anchored at Whetstone Creek off Pickwick Lake around 4:00 PM and realized that we had lost cell phone and internet connectivity. However, our follow-me-tv system worked well and we were able to catch up on the news. Pickwick Lake is bordered on three sides by Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi. We asked some fishermen where exactly we were and were. They laughed and told us we were in Iuka, Mississippi.
In Thursday's comments, I neglected to mention that while finishing dinner last evening, we got a phone call from our friend, Bill Bogutski who was attending the M.T.O.A. Rendezvous in Portsmouth, VA this week. Bill called to say "the pin man," George Kay was announcing this year's awards and that Ralph won the very coveted Ink and Quill award for writing the best article for M.T.O.A. Magazine this year. Ralph asked Bill to kindly accept the award on his behalf.
Congratulations, Captain Wonderful!! The article, he believes, is one he wrote about the shift cable replacement -- after he replaced our shift cable when it broke as we were anchoring in Covered Portage in North Channel. We are with you in spirit, dear M.T.O.A. friends, and are sad to have missed the Rendezvous this year.
Today we weighed anchor at 7:15 AM -- it was 58 degrees with 91% humidity and we had opposing current all day, dragging us down to sometimes only 5.4 kts. As we were leaving Swallow Bluff Island, we got a radio call from a home we had just passed. The caller was a former Looper who lived on the Tennessee River, saw our boat passing by, and just wanted to say hello. The name of his boat is "Then and Now" -- not familiar to us, but perhaps some of you remember him. He and Ralph had a nice chat and he wished us well on our adventure.
We arrived at the Pickwick Lock & Dam in the early afternoon. This was part of the massive 1938 Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) project constructing the 113' dam and the 55' lock to control flooding of the Tennessee River and provide electrical power to the region.
Leaving the lock we then crossed beautiful Pickwick Lake surrounded by high bluffs with many large homes built atop the bluffs overlooking the water. The homes are built so high that there are either long staircases extending from the water to the homes or in many instances, funicular-type tracks leading from the docks to the top. We would have loved to see what type of car ran on the tracks to transport people up and down the bluff, but we didn't. See photos below.
We anchored at Whetstone Creek off Pickwick Lake around 4:00 PM and realized that we had lost cell phone and internet connectivity. However, our follow-me-tv system worked well and we were able to catch up on the news. Pickwick Lake is bordered on three sides by Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi. We asked some fishermen where exactly we were and were. They laughed and told us we were in Iuka, Mississippi.
In Thursday's comments, I neglected to mention that while finishing dinner last evening, we got a phone call from our friend, Bill Bogutski who was attending the M.T.O.A. Rendezvous in Portsmouth, VA this week. Bill called to say "the pin man," George Kay was announcing this year's awards and that Ralph won the very coveted Ink and Quill award for writing the best article for M.T.O.A. Magazine this year. Ralph asked Bill to kindly accept the award on his behalf.
Congratulations, Captain Wonderful!! The article, he believes, is one he wrote about the shift cable replacement -- after he replaced our shift cable when it broke as we were anchoring in Covered Portage in North Channel. We are with you in spirit, dear M.T.O.A. friends, and are sad to have missed the Rendezvous this year.
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| Pickwick Lock 55' |
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| Most of the locks on the river system have floating bollards like this one |
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| Leaving Pickwick Lock and Dam |
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| Water level stick on Tennessee River |
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| The current was against us all day |
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| Tug traffic today on the Tennessee River |
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| Note the tracks going up the bluff from the water to the house |
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| These tracks appear to be a sort of funicular |
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| More funicular-like tracks from the water up the bluff to the house |
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| The San Antonio tug and barge |
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| View from Whetstone Creek looking out onto Pickwick Lake |
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| Anchored in Whetstone Creek |
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| Tonight's back yard |
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