Two Steps Closer to Joe Wheeler

(Monday, Oct. 18 - Dist: 50.9 mi; Avg Speed: 6.8 mph; TTT: 7:50 hrs)

We continued up the Tennessee River heading south.  The Tennessee like the Cumberland drains into the Ohio River which as you have seen runs into the muddy Mississippi.  The river was still wide and quite shallow in places with lots of shoals and small islands.

It is hard to tell from this photo but we are passing Camden, the supposed mussel and pearl capital of the world??  We can only go by the guide books because we sure could not tell.

The actual mussel fisherman were in small boats and checked their traps? alone.  The photo shows one of them. They wear hip waders and seem to pull up small boxes which I presume are the traps.  I wish that we had a camera with a better zoom lens to catch some of these things as well as some of the birds and sights along the shore.

Things are pretty relaxed when one travels at trawler speeds and we are beginning to like it.....for the first 4 or 5 hours; then it becomes tedious even when I through in an afternoon nap.

 

We for the most part have it pretty easy but so do a lot of others in Tennessee.  I am amazed at the number of fishing boats that are on the water all throughout the day.

This was taken near the mouth of the Duck River and there were at least as many other boats nearby.

We spent the night at an anchorage behind Double Island with 4 other boats.  The waters are getting congested with Looper boats.

(Tuesday Oct. 19 - Dist: 58.2 mi; Avg Speed: 7.0 mph; TTT: 9:20 hrs)

We did beat out two of the other boats on this special day and again headed up river on our own.  Although we planned to make time it was impossible to go up on plane because there were so many fishing boats or we were in a town that had boats docked on the shore.

We could do some house hunting; how do you like this development??  Riverfront property which only floods a couple of weeks a year.

The water get up a little higher here;  extra tall storage area underneath your living quarters.  A lot of the builders do not even bother enclosing the lower level; makes for a large carport for 4 vehicles.

In our quest for history we thought we had found the house that General Grant used as his headquarters for the war.  Quite well kept up including the landscaping.

Oops, not sure who owns the nice property next door to the real place.

Well we got to the Pickwick Lock and Dam at a pretty decent time but just behind a tow that was taking 15 barges up river.  So we waited for 2.5 hours.  Fortunately we could tight up to the lock wall to wait it out.  This shows the lock chamber being emptied in order to allow us to enter at the lower end.

There are actually 5 boats lined up here ready to go in.

It was late when we got through, just are 5 PM and of course the place where we were going to fuel up closed at 5.  We did catch him on the phone and he gave us permission to use the condemned docks near the fuel dock.  Fortunately, there was another boat there already and he helped us get into a 32 foot dock;  the dinghy was overhanging the dock by a foot or so and our bow was stuck about 15 feet into the channel.  It is very protected here so it was not a problem.

Here is another photo of a mussel fisherman as I sign off for the night.

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