As we start our descent down the Tennessee River toward
home, we are really just going back the same way we came up the River, but the
scenery looks different and there are things we didn’t see coming up the
river!! So the trip is still gona be
AWESOME!! We had 55 miles to travel to our next destination, Blue Springs Marina on Watts Bar Lake.
We haven’t seen TV in
almost 2 months, but we do keep up with the weather continuously. With Hurricane Florence slowing down as it
reached land also slowed us down. We
found a great covered slip in Blue Springs Marina on Watts Bar Lake so we
stayed here for 4 days.
Our first order of business once we left the marina last
Friday was to lock through Ft. Loudoun Dam.
It was an absolutely gorgeous day, bright blue skies, light winds and 75
degrees….a gorgeous day for a ride aboard Cloud Nine….and she was ready for the
trip. As we are now going downstream, we
are going “with the current or downhill” meaning it is a much easier ride for
both us and Cloud Nine. We will gain speed
without using as much gas as we did getting here a few weeks ago. We call the Lockmaster to make sure there
will be no delays as we lock through. He
says the coast is clear so come on down.
We wait about 15 minutes for him to get the lock ready for us and by
9:45AM we are inside the lock ready to be lowered 72 feet. Within 25 minutes, we are through the lock
and on our way. All 8 locks we will
travel through will be a much faster process going “downstream”. That is because water drains out of the lock
much faster going downstream than when you are in a lock and the Lockmaster has to fill the Lock
for you to be raised….think of it as a bath tub. Water drains out of the tub faster than it
takes to fill the bath tub up!!
As we are in the lock, there is debris everywhere. There are huge trees in there, tree stumps at
least 4 feet in diameter, tree limbs and leaves, and even an orange Home Depot
bucket!! There is a lot of debris
because the lakes in East Tennessee are releasing water in anticipation of the
rain from Hurricane Florence. Ft.
Loudoun Dam was releasing 43,000 cubic feet per second from its dam. That is a lot of water. All of their Slues were releasing water and
once we got out of the Lock, the current was phenomenal and the debris was
following us downstream!! We had Cloud
Nine in “neutral” and we were still moving at 5 MPH – and we typically travel
at 10 MPH so we were going to make great time without using a lot of gas!!
If you remember the picture below owe posted n our way up about 3
weeks ago, we see a hillside in Kingston, TN area that has a big “T” cut into
the grass as they are UT fans!! As we
pass today, they are mowing and updating the shape of the “T”. Since it was a Friday, guess he was
freshening up the shape for the UT Football fans that will be passing through on the Tennessee River for the football game!!
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| Mowing the "T" for other Vol Fans to enjoy in Kingston, TN on River |
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| Perfect Day for a Boat Ride Aboard Cloud Nine |
Our trip was absolutely gorgeous and we knew this would be
the last perfect weather day for at least 5 days so we took in all the sights
and beauty Watts Bar Lake had to offer.
We arrive at Blue Springs Marina about 4PM. After we fill up with gas, we find our
covered slip where we will stay for the next 4 nights waiting for the rains to
pass through. Like we have encountered
in every stop, the locals on the dock we will be staying at welcome us with
open arms, help us get tied up, ask where we are from, where we are going,
etc. We are actually 2 slips down from
the Marina owner and we have a great conversation with them. After a nice dinner at the marina restaurant,
we come back to the boat and mingle with the locals. I promise you, boaters are THE BEST. They love to hear your stories and tell you
their stories. That is the most precious
part of our travels. The boater
community will offer anything you need and will take you anywhere you need to
go.
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| Blue Springs Marina on Watts Bar Lake |
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| Silo in middle of our Dock. It was there before it was flooded to make Watts Bar Lake |
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| Picture of Sailboats in the Marina at Sunset - View from our Boat |
Saturday is SEC game day – or better stated up here, it is just UT Football game day!! The UT football
game starts at 1 PM Eastern time and these folks are up by daybreak getting
snacks, BBQ, beer on ice, bottle water, a Keg, ready for kickoff. There are at least 60 people on the dock and
a big screen TV set up. They are dressed
in UT Orange from head to toe and ready for the game. Their tradition is to play the Rocky Top
theme song at the start of the game and you immediately see everyone put their
“game faces” on. It was so much fun to spend
the entire afternoon with these folks.
They also had a 2nd reason to celebrate as one of the
family’s son graduated from US Coastguard boot camp – so there was not a lack
of celebrating, smiles and laughter going on all afternoon and into the
night.
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| UT Football Dock Party!! |
We got to spend a lot of time talking with a couple of
boaters on this dock that like to travel too.
Two of the boats take a trip each winter and spend at least 4-5 months
in the southern breezes of “somewhere in Florida”. Last year they took their boats to Orange
Beach, Florida (panhandle of Florida).
They would travel back and forth 7-8 times between October and April
spending time on their boat in Orange Beach and some time at their homes in the
Knoxville area. We were intrigued with
that plan so that may become our 2019 Bucket List Destination!!
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| Beautiful 47' Grand Banks Boat that Traveled to Orange Beach. FL last Winter |
Sunday was a quiet day for everyone on the dock. It was cloudy but still not raining. It was a day for us to wash Cloud Nine,
vacuum, clean up the living area (which is the entire boat!) and do
laundry. To top the day off, we had a
visit from our dear friends from our previous marina we had spent 13 years,
Center Hill Marina. Terry and Susan
Colson live in Cookeville, TN and drove 1-1/2 hours to see us at Blue Springs
Marina in eastern Tennessee. We had an
amazing visit for about 4 hours and we took them for a ride on the river. They were amazed at all the beautiful houses
and boat docks on the river. We were so
excited to see them and grateful they made the trip to come visit with us.
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| Our Good Friends, Terry and Susan Colson Come to Visit us at Blue Springs Marina |
Monday was the rainy day at the marina. It rained most of the day but was to move out
by Monday night. It did, but Tuesday
morning was very foggy which burned off by 9AM so we loaded everything up and
headed to our next destination, Chickamauga Lake.
Love my Captain……Love Cloud Nine
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