Volunteer Cove - Local Awesome Experience 8/29/2018

As mentioned earlier, the downtown Knoxville marina doesn't allow short-term boats to stay at their marina during football season September - November.  So they recommended we contact Volunteer Cove Marina which is 15 river miles from downtown Knoxville, but only 5 driving miles from downtown!!  So on Wednesday, August 29 we leave the downtown marina at 1:45PM and head downstream to Volunteer Cove Marina.  The Marina Manager let me know he will be out of town when we arrive on Wednesday, but he said the "locals" would take good care of us......well that was an understatement.  From the time we arrived, they showed us where Cloud Nine would be staying, helped us get tied up, offered to take us to town for anything we needed, they treated us like family....they were so very sincere.  We love the people here.

Now I'm not a PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon) beer fan, but the sign caught my attention...

Nice Beer Sign....Hoping I can get a beer here

Volunteer Cove Marina.  See pink hanging flowers

I want to backtrack a few miles and tell you about the 3-mile cove we had to travel thru after we left the main TN River channel.  The cove was initially marked well so we knew where the deepest part of the channel was and the houses in the area were so nice.  As we got farther back in the cove, the water depth got lower and lower and lower to the point where we were about to turn around and go elsewhere.  We were determined to get back to the marina as the Dock Manager told us it was shallow but we should make it (should being the ultimate word).  One of the first obstacles was a bridge that was 14 feet high. Our boat is at least 12-1/2 feet above the water so it should make it, but we had to lower our VHF radio antenna down so it wouldn't get damaged. In fact, we were uncomfortable our radar arch with TV antenna and anchor light would make it easily.  So Gene made the executive decision for me to go on front of the boat, stand up and make sure the top of the boat would make it.....so off I go walking on front of the boat to make sure we would make it.  We had at least 18 inches to spare!!  Now the channel gets shallower and we no longer have a navigation line on our Garmin Navigation system.  Oh crap...  If we went any slower, we would be going backwards!!  We are now looking at all the depth charts and see we need to make a "S" curve to avoid getting "grounded".  We tip-toe through that section and the depths are now about 3-4 feet.  That is still way too shallow for our comfort, but little did we know that 4 feet was the deepest we would see for a while.  We crept along with depths as low as 1.5 feet deeper than the bottom of our boat so our buttocks are as tight as ever and we are very nervous -- we go as slow as Cloud Nine would go in hopes we would not get grounded.  I look back and our motors are stirring up mud.  Oh geez -- just let us get to the dock and tied up.  Our new dock neighbor sees us coming and he directs us to where we will park.  Luckily we get there without damaging anything...Gene and I can now breathe.

Our new local neighbor and friend is Jay Slaughter.  He has been a tenant at this marina for about 15 years.  In fact he just celebrated his 75th birthday on Monday, August 27th.  Also, his sister, Carla, has a houseboat there and she came to meet us as soon as we arrived.  They are two of the most genuine people we have ever met.  They live at this marina on their boats from April thru November and they live in Indiana December thru March.

We needed to get gas and our waste tank pumped out so we asked who did that when the Manager is not there.  Well Jay did the pump out and his sister, Carla, or Misty, another tenant would fill our gas tanks up.  Well that is local hospitality at its finest and they were happy to do it.  We spent hours on Jay's boat just talking about anything and everything.  He is also the one who waters all the marina hanging flower pots.  He waters them every day at 5AM like clockwork.

Another major plus is that they have a famous restaurant that was seen on Food Network in 2010 on Man vs. Food.  It is called Sweet P's and they serve the best BBQ ribs we have ever eaten.

One of the boat owners at the marina is also selling a Motorcycle with the Florida Gators football team logo.  I would think it would be hard to sell a FL Gator motorcycle in UT Vol country!!  He bought it from a local Pawn Shop.  If you're in the market for a FL Gator motorcycle, there's a good one in Knoxville for sale!!!

Florida Gator Motorcycle for Sale....

Sweet P's is an incredibly popular restaurant -- likely because it was on TV as a great place to eat, but also because of it's close proximity to Knoxville and the mountains.  Also many locals eat here for lunch, Thursday being the most popular day with smoked Meatloaf as their special for the day.  This is also a popular stop for motorcycles that are traveling through the mountains that come here to eat.  The motorcycle below was from Chicago and this couple has put over 97,000 miles on their bike just letting the bike take them wherever they want to go.  A sweet ride for sure.....

We took a few days over Labor Day weekend to rent a car and drive home for a few days to check on the house and go through the mail.  It took us 17 days to get to Knoxville by boat, but only took us 3 hours to get back home via a car!!  We were ready to return to Knoxville on Wednesday after Labor Day and meeting back up with our Volunteer Cove Marina friends.  

Today is Friday, September 7 and we are getting ready psyched up for Vol Navy.  I spent the day making some "goodies" to eat and Gene is washing our boat and getting the huge Vol Navy flag hung and ready to fly.  We'll leave Saturday morning around 10AM with our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter along with us.  We are so excited to have them join us for the day.  This is a once-in-a lifetime experience.  We aren't sure exactly what to expect, but we're ready to have a really fun day.  Very near the marina where we are docked now, we found out last night that former ladies head basketball coach, Pat Summit, lived just about a mile from here on the water. That was a cool tidbit to learn last night.

Well tomorrow is a big day and can't wait to share stories and pictures of our Vol Navy experience.

Love my Captain......Love Cloud Nine.