Even the best Captain’s run aground. It was not me this time but this cruise boat with a crew of 17. Not sure how many passengers were on board at the time but they were evacuated and on buses by the time we passed. They were looking for one of the tows to pull them off.
After a week at Joe Wheeler we had to start south again as it was getting chilly in the mornings. The Rendezvous was good, full of information. The cocktails hours were good, very good as well. Thanks to The Old Grouch we went golfing again at the RTJ course at Muscle Shoals. We played the Mighty Joe this time. It is a beautiful, links style course with water on 14 of the 18 holes. It was further complicated by 62 sand bunkers. Our scores were a few shots worse than the previous game but it was a joy to play.
The trip back down the Tennessee River actually went pretty smooth even though it was a long day. Out timing for the 2 locks was impeccable. Two of us were in the second wave of morning departures and the Wheeler Lock was waiting for us with the gates open and the green light. From there we headed for the Wilson Lock and as the dam came into sight we called the Lockmaster and he informed us that if we could get there in the next 20 minutes he would lock us down before picking up the up bound tow that was approaching. We made it and the tow was waiting on the wall as we exited the lock. This lock, one of the highest if you have been reading closely, dropped us the 93 feet in about 15 minutes. It was the fastest, smoothest drop that we have had yet. We passed Florence in a record 2 hrs 55 minutes. On the trip up it took us 4 hrs 20 minutes. The only down side to this leg was that there was a bass tournament going on out of Florence Harbor. Since we were alone, the number of bass boats prevented us from taking off on plane so it was a long day.
We spent the night at Aqua Yacht Harbor on the Yellow Creek. We had planned on anchoring in one of these beautiful coves but we caught up to our friends on Serendipity and Windsong and since they had already arranged for a courtesy vehicle so that we could go to the Catfish Hotel we gladly joined them. First though we had to stop at a local catfish farm for some cured, smoked catfish. This was a small family run business and was quite busy considering it was already after 7 PM. As for the catfish??? We had a taste at last one of our subsequent happy hours and it wasn’t bad on crackers with a lot of cheese and a wedge of apple. The verdict is still out for straight up eating.
The Catfish Hotel on the other hand was superb. It was literally miles off the highway in the backwoods somewhere in Tennessee. It was a wooden building quite large and was packed. No wonder; the food was superb. Linda had the fried catfish filets and I ordered the ribs. Both were arguably the best that we have ever had. A great place.
Well I am writing this on Monday morning waiting for some tows to clear this lock and it is getting time for us to pull up the anchor. As we say adieu, here is a photo of one of the houses in the area across from the marina.
No comments:
Post a Comment