Day: October 11, 2019

Thursday morning we left Pickwick Landing and headed for Florence, AL.   Florence turned out to be a nice stop.  It was close to town and I took advantage of refilling prescriptions at CVS and used the courtesy car.  We also drove around town and made a few other stops to meet the needs of our buddy boats.

The weather continues to be hot – record breaking temperatures in the mid to high nineties.  These temperatures basically require that we visit marinas with electric so that we can run refrigerators and air conditioners.  If we planned to anchor out, we would need to run generators consistently just to survive. 

There were a number of other loopers at Florence so it called for another evening of Docktails.  There was only one other boat who was traveling from the marina at this time so we arranged to travel together the next day to coordinate our time for the next two locks.  Lockmasters prefer to have a number of boats lock through together so that timing does not interfere with the tow boats.  Tow boats are the priority.  Our bow thruster was not working when we were ready to leave in the morning and there was also a new boat on the fuel dock that made it difficult for us and the other boat to leave our slips.  Fortunately, we were able to get out without too much difficulty but we were concerned about the lock coming up. 

Peter checked the bow thruster periodically but no response.  We needed to lock through the Wilson Lock, one of the highest locks on our journey.  As we approached the lock, our bow thruster was still not working.  This is difficult for us since we don’t really have a mid-ship cleat that can be used or a place to stand mid-ship except on the upper deck.  Since most of these locks have floating bollards, the distance is too great to manage the bollard so I need to stand in the stern and Peter uses the bow thruster to keep the bow in.  Since the thruster was hit or miss, right now a miss, we rafted to Bahama Voyager once again in the lock.  This lock had a lift of 93 feet – see the photo below.  We also had to go through the Wheeler Lock and rafted once again.  While the bow thruster starting working again, Peter was concerned that it may fail and felt more secure with rafting.  Bahama Voyager recognizes the problem with our boat’s design and is gracious enough to allow us to raft until we know what is going on with the thruster.

Ditto Landing is in Hunstville, AL.  It is a large park complex that has a marina and campgrounds.  There is a master plan to build a restaurant, golf course, etc.  There was also a Steak-Off competition scheduled for the Saturday we arrived.  In addition, there was a wings and dessert competition.  We expected that this was going to be a big event with vendors selling food or at least the competitors would be selling some of their creations.  Also, a very hot day but we walked over to the competition and was surprised to learn that it was only the competition and awards but no food would be sold.  While we found this strange as did our buddy boats from Florida, it may just be typical for Alabama.   We were fine with staying and eating on our boats and took advantage of the relatively new restroom facilities.  I think that overall, the showers were probably some of the best we have used with consistent pressure, clean and plenty of hot water.  Only problem was that there was only one shower for the entire marina.

Once we left Ditto Landing, we were heading to Goose Pond in Scottsboro, AL.  Goose Pond was one more of the first come, first serve marinas so we left early so that we made sure to have a slip.  We met another looper boat at Ditto Landing and they were also heading to Goose Pond, Hales Bar and then Chattanooga following the same schedule that we planned.  Since they run faster than the three of us, they left an hour later and caught up with us before the next lock.  We locked through together and we still rafted with Bahama Voyager so with four spaces occupied, we secured the four bollards that are in the least turbulent spaces in the lock.

Goose Pond had space for all of us and also had a courtesy car.  Bahama Voyager arranged to borrow the car to explore the town and pick up a few groceries.  In addition, there were a few washing machines (turned out only one was working) and a number of dryers.  The nice thing was that the laundry was near the restrooms and more importantly, near the boat.  So, time to get wash completed so that I could enjoy Chattanooga and minimize routine tasks when we were in the city.

Traveling along the Tennessee River presented us with an opportunity to view some early fall foliage. I decided to take some photos even though the leaves haven’t changed much since I figured it would be interesting to compare with changes on our way back next week. I think the hot weather has slowed down the change.

There were a few sections on the river that were more industrial and we saw more tows/barges than in other sections. One ship that we passed was of particular interest. The ship was named Rocketship, part of the ULA fleet. ULA is United Launch Alliance and one of that companies that does many of the launches at Cape Canaveral. That was where this ship was heading. One of our buddy boats checked on AIS to determine their destination.

Next stop was Hales Bar in Guild, TN.  This is the location of the former lock that had leaking issues.  A new lock, Nickajack, was constructed six miles before Hales Bar. Peter continued to check the bow thruster and all seemed to be good so the plan was to secure ourselves to one of the bollards and not raft.  While we were approaching the lock, another boat came up behind us traveling fast and would be able to enter the lock before us.  That would mean that we would probably need to use a bollard in a more turbulent area – not a good test for the first time after the bow thruster started working.  Bahama Voyager offered to be available again if necessary.  As we entered the lock, the new boat was having difficulty even attaching to the bollard and at the last minute starting to cut across the lock to the other side.  At this point, Peter felt it best to raft so that we wouldn’t have to deal with people who seemed to know nothing about locking through.  We got through the lock and continued on our last 6 miles of the day. 

When we approached Hales Bar, there is still part of the dam standing on this “resort” facility.  When we arrived, we knew that there was not much around but were very surprised to see that it doesn’t resemble any “resort” that we have seen.  There are a few tiny floating cottages that they rent out on the outskirts of the docks.  The docks are covered.  We have seen this before but it was the first time any of us had stayed in a covered slip.  Slips are covered because of the heat and I think the temperature dropped about 15⁰ once we were docked.  The marina claims to have wifi like so many of the others but location to get services really means there is seldom adequate internet.  I think the covered slips also increased the lack of service.  While we have had some places with spotty phone service, Verizon did not work here at all and our buddy boats also had ATT and they were without service.  It’s rare to be without both phone and internet.  Amazing what we have come to expect in our daily lives.  So different from when we boated in the early 1970s.  Hales Bar was another marina that we hoped not to return to again.  It wasn’t only the lack of technical services but you need to walk more than ¼ mile to the restrooms.

Tuesday arrived and we were thrilled to be on last travel day to get to Chattanooga.  We left early once again but this was a two-fold decision – we wanted to leave Hales Bar and more importantly, we wanted to get to Chattanooga and enjoy part of the day. In addition, we would be back in eastern time and would lose an hour by the time we got to Chattanooga.

We arrived at Erwin Marine and stayed on the Bluff Wall – close to town,  on a secure dock but with only electric and water.  Restrooms but no showers, were a walk to the Aquarium Wall, another hike.   We had ordered the parts required for the steering to be delivered to Chattanooga and also arranged for maintenance on the engine strainer but hoped to just be able to enjoy our visit the rest of the time.  The parts were not delivered on Tuesday as expected but the mechanic came later that afternoon to work on the engine strainer.  Since the bow thruster appears to be working and Peter checked the connections, we will wait until the steering cylinder can be rebuilt and then address the bow thruster if needed.

Later that afternoon we all went to WaterMarks for docktails. There was an added bonus since the boat has a large walkaround and we were in a perfect location to view the Nina and the Pinta as they arrived for a three week exhibit in Chattanooga. Apparently the ships travel every year to different ports. Earlier this year, the ships were in Ditto Landing where we stayed last week. Looking at these ships, it is hard to imagine crossing the ocean on an 85 foot boat. Not something that I would be comfortable doing.

On Wednesday morning, Peter and I took a walk into town by the aquarium wall to locate the restrooms and get an overview of what was located nearby. We saw a visitors center so went to pick up a few tourist pamphlets to plan out the next two days. There were also a few street maps and information about the free electric shuttles. Peter was particularly interested in the shuttles. In the mid 1990s when he was working for the Westchester County Department of Transportation he came to Chattanooga to make a presentation about using electric buses. Back then he was nicknamed the “czar” of alternative fuel by Rich Stiller for transportation in the county. He was thrilled to see that Chattanooga adopted this method of powering part of their transportation system and felt that he had played a small part in this development. There was also a shuttle stop at the visitors center so we hopped on the shuttle to the south end of town to see the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

The Chattanooga Choo Choo was an interesting site. There were a number of the original rail cars onsite that are available for use as hotel rooms. We were able to see some of the renovations through a few windows but I was disappointed that they did not have a car that was renovated available for the public to see. We walked briefly around the surrounding streets and then headed back to the boat, by shuttle, to share the information with our buddy boats to plan additional activities.

Later that afternoon, Peter and I went to the aquarium as the others decided they wanted to do other things – ride bikes and take care of some boat maintenance issues. Peter visited the aquarium on his prior visit but since that time, the aquarium added another building – a salt water display. We visited the fresh water building first that follows the Tennessee River water life. It’s amazing to see how many different species of fish and turtles exist in one river. Then we visited the salt water building that we enjoyed but felt that so much more could have been included. I guess we are also spoiled as we have visited quite a few aquariums so our expectation may be higher than some other visitors. After visiting the aquariums in New York, Boston and Baltimore, we tend to compare a new aquarium by these standards. As with most tourist attractions, the aquarium offers an IMAX theater with a number of different features. We attended one on the Great Barrier Reef that was informative and enjoyable.

Thursday we plan to continue to be tourists in Chattanooga before retracing our trip back west to continue our journey to Mobile Bay.

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