Pickwick Lake back to Pebble Isle

I'm a little behind updating our travels, but we've been really busy deciding what to do for the "winter" months.  Do we go South -- do we stay close to home this year and venture out farther next year -- decisions, decisions, decisions.

Our plan for this year was to travel the entire length of the Tennessee River -- which would take us to Knoxville, TN.  We were on track to accomplish that -- except we learned one of the locks in Alabama, Wilson Lock, was closing October 16 through December 23 for some much-needed maintenance.  It would be closed from 6AM thru 6PM daily -- this means it would be open from 6PM to 6AM but we don't travel in the "dark" so we made the ultimate decision to NOT complete our Tennessee River travels this year, but to pick back up on our adventure next spring.

We enjoyed our 4 days at Grand Harbor Marina -- we stayed an extra day because of a lot of rain and windy conditions.  Luckily we were in a covered slip so we didn't have to deal with the rain too much.  The sunsets were absolutely breath-taking.

Another Gorgeous Sunset at Grand Harbor Marina

One thing we have NEVER seen in all our 20+ years of boating was seeing a plethora of catfish swimming behind our swim platform as our boat was parked at the marina.  We could have had a catfish feast -- if, 1) we had a net to catch these catfish and, 2) one of us had the desire to clean the fish.  We didn't have a net and for sure neither of us wanted to clean these fish!!  These fish were huge and I was feeding hot dog buns to them!!  That's just crazy!!

Catfish swimming behind our boat at the marina

We left Grand Harbor in Counce, TN on Tuesday, October 24 and went about 56 miles back to Clifton TN marina.  It was quite windy, but we needed to giddy-up and get back North toward Pebble Isle Marina in New Johnsonville, TN.  Winds were blowing at about 15 mph.  Our first stop was to travel through Pickwick Lock.  We were hoping the wind would die down inside the Lock, but NOOOO that didn't happen; however, we made it just fine thru the lock, got tied up to the bollard luckily we were the only boat in the Lock!!  The 15 mph head wind didn't help our travel speed!

Approaching Pickwick Lock/Dam

Inside Pickwick Lock -- they are opening the doors after our 70 foot drop.  

Off we go!

Our trip back from Grand Harbor Marina in Counce, TN to Pebble Isle Marina in New Johnsonville, TN was mostly un-eventful; however; we kept watching the weather on our phones as big storms were all around us.  We only ran into a misty-rain a couple of times.  The temperature was pretty cool though.

We saw houses built out of a lot of different materials, but this one "takes the cake".  It is built out of Stacked Shipping containers -- made into a 4-story home.  This house was between Savannah and Clifton, TN.  That's crazy-unique - huh.......

House built out of "shipping containers"  

We made it to Clifton Marina, one of our favorite stops, about 3:30 that afternoon.  We were the 4th boat to arrive that day so we were "tucked" into the marina in one of the last slips available.  We assumed it would be a quiet night, but all the other transient boaters and the Marina owner were ready to socialize by hanging out inside the marina, have a burger and several cocktails.  As the evening went on, the stories got bigger and the laughter got louder -- it was such a fun night.  One of the boats had traveled from St. Louis -- they had 2 captains on board and they were headed to Ft. Myers, FL for the winter.....ahhhh if I could have been a stow-away for a few months!!  The couple had purchased their boat in Missouri and hired 2 captains to show them how to drive the boat and get them to south Florida.  We had a hoot, to say the least, with the group that evening....and yes that bottle of Makers Mark in the middle of the table was "full" at the start of the evening!!

Marking Memories at Clifton Marina

The next morning, we completed our last leg of the trip from Clifton Marina to Pebble Isle Marina.  It was chilly -- the shorts and tank tops are now obsolete for our daily attire and we are in sweat shirts and long pants at least until mid-afternoon.  We were just cruising along (pun intended!) minding our own business, and our daughter calls and asks where we are.....I respond, well we are in the middle of the Tennessee River approaching the I-40 interstate bridge.  She says -- well I'm on my way home from Memphis and I'm about to cross the Tennessee River at I-40.....OMG -- how incredible is that for the timing of meeting her as she is driving over the bridge at the same time we are driving under that same bridge!!!!!!!

Our daughter parked on the Interstate Bridge taking our picture!!

Our daughter, Michelle, meets us at Cuba Landing Marina near I-40

After some hugs, facetime with her children/our grandsons, and a quick conversation, we needed to get going as we still had about 25 miles to go and it was going to be dark within the next 2-1/2 hours so we needed to shove off!!  How fun to see her along our adventure -- unplanned and unexpected.

We are approaching New Johnsonville, and one of my all-time favorite bridges is this one -- the cars drive on the top portion of the bridge and the trains cross on the lower section of the bridge.  I just love that bridge.

Unique bridge in New Johnsonville, TN

Once we pass under this bridge, Pebble Isle Marina is not far away -- we arrive at the marina about 5:30PM on Wednesday, October 25.

Ahhh it's always good to get home!!