Pebble Isle Marina -- Home Base "for now"

Friday, August 25 was another great travel day.  Low humidity, high/wispy clouds, no wind and nice temperatures.  We had 31 miles to travel from Paris Landing Marina to Pebble Isle Marina.

Our goal when we left Nashville was to arrive in Pebble Isle Marina in New Johnsonville, TN within 8-10 days.  In addition, prior to leaving Nashville on August 18, we left one of our vehicles at Pebble Isle marina so we would have a vehicle to drive back so we could re-group, wash clothes, go thru mail, plot our next trip, etc.

We laughed when we got in the car that we were looking for the navigational beacons to guide us up the highway -- all we had to do was stay between the lines on the road!!   In addition, it was different for us to be on dry land -- we will have to get our "land legs" back under us rather than riding the waves on the boat!!

The Tennessee River continues to be magical as we move through its waters.  I failed to mention in a previous blog that it is very easy to see at least 12-14 miles ahead or behind you as you move down the river.  This river is incredibly beautiful in every way.  The water is still wide and deep as we navigate south.

One of the most unique pictures we have seen so far was the remains of an old L&N railroad bridge -- you'll see that there is only about 1/3 of the bridge still standing.  In addition, right past the railroad bridge, there is a big building in the middle of the river that is an old abandoned building that was used to ship grain on the Tennessee River before the Kentucky Dam was built in 1944.  The story on this grain building was that it was built to well that attempts to destroy it failed so officials decided to leave it.

L&N Railroad Bridge remains

Grain Building in Middle of TN River

We also see another "car ferry" -- it's not marked on any of our navigation maps nor guide books. It didn't have a name like the one on the Cumberland River, but we had to stop in the middle of the river for this ferry to cross in front of us -- who knew we'd have to watch for cars in the middle of the river!!!  This ferry must not get a lot of traffic -- it had 2 motorcycles on it -- it left the shore, then a car came up so the ferry turned around so the car could also get on the ferry!!

Car Ferry 

At this point on the river, we start seeing cliffs on our left -- so this is the first we have seen hills on the Tennessee River.  Gorgeous houses are built along the cliffs -- some having hundreds and hundreds of steps going down to the river.

It's not long before we see the 600-foot smoke stacks for the TVA Power Plant in New Johnsonville -- so we are nearing our planned destination.  At 2PM, we arrive at Pebble Isle Marina.  We check in and plan to remain here for about a week.

As it turns out, with the heavy rains of Hurricane Henry reaching Tennessee starting Wednesday, August 31, we will slightly delay our next trip down the Tennessee River and plan to leave on Sunday or Monday of Labor Day weekend.

 We traveled a total of 244 miles and 25 hours of "running time" in 8 days.

Pebble Isle Marina -- transient dock area

Cloud Nine docked on transient dock