We had a nice peaceful ride through Pickwick Lake, we didn’t see many houses at all – just hillsides and trees…very quite and peaceful.. The closer we got to Florence, the terrain changed significantly. The river channel got narrow and shallower, and there were lots of trees and rocks in the water outside the main river channel. We arrived at Florence Yacht Harbor Marina about 1:30 PM. It was horribly hot and the overnight/transient slips are uncovered. We asked nicely for a covered slip for 2 nights to help keep us in the shade and they were able to accommodate our request – thank goodness as it was 95 degrees and very humid. The pier we stayed on had some big boats and a very nice private patio area on it complete with a big screen tv, huge sofa, big eating table and a kegerator - - yes that’s right an ice-cold keg. The owner of this private patio told us to help ourselves to the patio and drink all the beer we wanted. Did we mention boating people are THE BEST – well that is an understatement!! All the beer we could consume with HD tv included? We didn’t want to be rude so we took him up on his offer!! We were in heaven and thought we might never leave, but then we realized we had a “bucket list” agenda to get to Vol Navy so we decided to get back to “our reality” and keep on task of getting to Knoxville.
Kathy :Tapping" into the Keg for a "cold one"
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| Take a gander at this awesome patio on the water -- Keg to the right!! |
We
completed a few housekeeping chores the next morning then took the courtesy car
to town to get a few groceries. By
Thursday, we were back on track and headed toward Wilson and Wheeler
Lakes. Completing those tasks meant we
had to venture through 2 HUGE locks in 1 day but we only had 20 miles to travel. The first lock was Wilson Lock which raises you 95 feet and takes about
an hour to get through that lock. We
made it through that lock fine. Wilson
Lake is the smallest lake on the Tennessee River – being only 15 miles long. It
is also the deepest Lake on the TN River; however the Lock is the largest on the TN River.
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| "Arrival Point" is where boats wait for the Lock doors to open so we can enter |
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| Into the Lock we go -- kinda intimidating -- it's 95' to the top |
While we were in the Lock, Gene’s brother calls and says he has a
package we had ordered through Amazon (a new stereo for the boat) and he would
meet us at a small marina in Wilson Lake and get it to us.
Gene was excited since neither of us can sing or hum worth a darn so
having s stereo was just what we needed!! Within an hour we were back on our
way – headed for Wheeler Lock. We
arrived at the lock at about 1:30PM Thursday … we called the Lockmaster letting
him know we were needing a lock through.
He responded and told us it would be about a 4 hour wait as he had a big
barge coming through and they take precedence.
We were flabbergasted and challenged that we would have such a big wait….what would we
do ….how in the world would we occupy our time for 4 hours just floating on the
water….well we saw storms coming so we put our big covers on and we took our
snap-on carpets out of the cockpit so they would not get wet when it rained. We then talked and laughed about our
“favorite moments” of the trip so far (let me assure you, this was not one of our favorite moments waiting 4 hours). About 3 hours later, we notice 4 more boats racing for the same lock we had been waiting on
for the past 3+ hours. Finally, the huge
barge was through the lock and we could all enter the lock. It is now 5:30PM and the lake has white-caps from the 40+ mph winds and lightening is streaking all over the place. It was total chaos for all of us to get into
the lock and get tied up. We got tied up after a couple of tries, but 2 of the 5 boats in the lock never got tied up and they were having a
very hard time keeping their boats in place because of the high winds inside
the lock and the turbulence that is made within the lock. We finally made it to the top, 72 feet later,
the doors opened and everyone scrambled out of the lock. By now the rain is blowing sideways in
sheets. We only have 3 miles to get to
Lake Wheeler Marina and Resort and finally get there about 7PM. It was a very long day with the 4+ hour delay
at the Lock, then we spent about 2 hours drying the boat out from all the
driving rain. Needless to say, we didn't have time to take any pictures of this lock -- we were in survival mode. However, it’s never too
late for Docktails, so our Boat Neighbors invited us over for a drink or two
and a nice visit. They have lived on
their boat for 11 years and have traveled wherever they want to go – the oceans,
rivers, Bahamas, Canada, wherever they decide to go “today”. Just when we thought it was time to go to
bed, we see racoons on the dock!! They
had come to see what “goodies” the boaters have left in their trash cans!! We saw them get onto the back deck of the boat beside us, turn
over their trash can and take a whole bag of trash off their
boat and go through it. I Didn’t realize
our trip would include “coon hunting”, but it is just another story in our
Adventure. Needless to say, we slept
good last night!!
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| Raccoon eating leftovers of a meatball sandwich!! |
Saturday is another travel day that will take us about 56
miles to Huntsville. Once we reach
Huntsville, we will be half way to our destination in Knoxville….
Love my Captain….Love Cloud Nine…
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