The Tennessee River to Rogersville

Monday, 30 September – Grand Rivers, KY to Buchanan, TN – 43 mi., 4199 cum mi.

We stayed in port yesterday, since it rained all day. Today it was cloudy and 69 degrees when we fueled up and headed south. Green Turtle Bay Marina is between the Barkley Lock and the Barkley Canal that connects Barkley Lake to Kentucky Lake (which is the Tennessee River), so we were

quickly going up the Tennessee River heading south, with the cliffs of Tennessee to our port and the rolling hills of Kentucky to our starboard. It was quite breezy and there was about 1.5 ft chop but we were headed directly into the wind, so we didn’t rock and roll.   We encountered three tows, two coming down river, and one upbound. By now, we were quite familiar with communicating with the tow captains and used to the southern accent that was a bit hard to understand at first.

The river is wide with lots of room to maneuver around the barges. Reunion had stayed at Kenlake Marina for the last few nights, but we caught up with them heading south, and we pulled into the Paris Landing State Park Marina together. We found Perfect Day already there. We went to Paris for dinner at the Golden Dragon and watched the Rays beat the Rangers at Mac’s bar.

Tuesday, 1 October – Buchanan, TN to New Johnsonville, TN – 30 mi., 4229 cum mi.

Cloudy, 71 degrees. Perfect Day rented a car and drove to Nashville. We left with Reunion to the next

marina south – Pebble Isle. The sun
peeked out occasionally, and the seas were calmer than yesterday. We enjoyed the Tennessee River much more than the other rivers. Fewer barges, nicer scenery. At Pebble Isle, we met up with other loopers – 10 boats in all. The marina restaurant was normally closed on Monday and Tuesday, but they opened especially for us. So glad they did – the food was great, and the portions were very generous.  With rain predicted, we stayed in port another night. After considerable effort, we hooked up a Dish receiver (provided by the marina) to our TV and watched the Rays beat the Indians 4-0 for the wild card. Go Rays!

Thursday, 3 October – New Johnsonville to Clifton, TN – 63 mi.   4292 cum mi.

Warm, muggy, 70 degrees. Pebble Isle provided the loopers with sticky buns and coffee – nice touch.

We continued up the Tennessee River. This part of the river is beautiful. Cliffs, nice homes on the cliffs, and a scenic shoreline. Clifton Marina is small, but they squeezed in all the looper boats .
Bill and Lori went for a bike ride to check out Clifton. They came back disappointed that there wasn’t a quaint little town to explore. So we enjoyed group docktails on the marina deck. Although they had just a few tables, they served dinner, mostly hamburgers and hot dogs, but Sonya, the owner who worked the docks and cooked the meals, made seafood gumbo that night. It was so good, I had two bowls.

Friday, 4 October – Clifton, TN to Pickwick, MS – 57 mi., 4349 cum mi.

Humid, 71 degrees. We left at daybreak in a four-boat procession with Reunion, Perfect Day, and Down Time. We wanted to allow extra time, since we had another lock to go through. Seems the further up river we traveled, the nicer the Tennessee River became. Steep cliffs on the sides, homes on

stilts, docks built up to avoid high water in the Spring.












We were contacted on the VHF radio by Van who was in a motor home at a campground waiting for his granddaughter. He said he did the loop twice and was going to the rendezvous – just to say hi to the loopers – and find out where everyone was from. The Pickwick Landing Lock and Dam was staffed by a very nice lady who said she was working without pay for the last two days (the government shut down due to budget disagreements in Washington), but she was in great spirits. We were lifted up 55

feet to what was called Pickwick Lake. We passed the Pickwick Landing State Park Marina, apparently a very nice facility, and headed toward Grand Harbor where we knew other loopers were staying. And what a nice place to stay. Well equipped ships store (including beer and mixers), three courtesy cars available, cinnamon buns and coffee each morning, discount dockage and fuel pricing for loopers, pool and spa. Since we were a little early for the rendezvous, we stayed at Grand Harbor for four nights, taking a little vacation from the river travel.

We explored Savanna, TN nice river museum, Shiloh National Military Park (closed for the government shutdown, but we walked around anyway) - 23,000 men were kiled in a two-day battle here, and of course Charli had to check out the cemetery.  There were graves back to 1820's with some stones worn so smooth we couldn't read the dates.  We ate well at Freddy T’s, a restaurant owned by the marina owner who also played in a band at the restaurant. We partied with other loopers, meeting several new folks and reuniting with some we had not seen since Norfolk. It was a really nice break.

 

Tuesday, 8 October – Pickwick, MS to Florence, AL – 41 mi., 4390 cum mi.

Blue sky, cool, 63 degrees. The Tennessee River got nicer with each mile we traveled. We were told that the nicest stretch was near Chattanooga – a section called the Tennessee Grand Canyon. But we had visited Chattanooga by RV two years ago, so we not take the time to travel that far up river by boat. We did visit Florence, not only for the usual shopping spree, but also, several museums and restaurants. The Indian Mound Museum had artifacts from the University of Northern Alabama’s exploratory dig into the huge mound next door. Stone arrows, pottery, and a historical description of ancient civilizations were displayed. 

The Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum house was built in 1940. Unlike the Falling Waters concrete home in Pennsylvania, this one was cypress, but still had the contemporary lines, the built in furniture and storage sheles/cabinets, and the flat, cantilevered roof lines. 

Pope’s Tavern Museum, one time a stagecoach stop in the 1800’s, is one of the oldest buildings in Florence. It served as a hospital for both Confederate and Union wounded during the Civil War. We also found a great diner (Trowbridge) for lunch. Florence turned out to be a nice town with lots to do. We stayed two nights.

The Florence Harbor Marina, which is an AGLCA sponsor, fires a canon at sunset, then offers a sunset drink at the restaurant. It was pretty good, and they gave us a table under a 60 in flat screen so we could watch the Rays play the Red Sox (Sorry to say we lost).

Thursday, 10 October – Florence to Rogersville, AL -  21 mi., 4411 cum mi.

Foggy, 73 degrees. Waited for the fog to lift, called the Wilson Lock, everything was a go. We left with Reunion in the lead. Just 3 mi. to Wilson Lock. 93 ft. up - what a ride! And different in that the top door – rather than opening - the top of the gate sank down in the water to let us out of the lock.  First time we saw that.  A few miles up river was Joe Wheeler Lock – 55 ft up, smooth and painless.

In another two miles, we were at First Creek and the Joe Wheeler State Park Marina. We were greeted at the dock by Summer Recess, Down Time, and Second Wind. It was like coming home. Nice facility, nice folks, electricity, cable, water, pool, and restroom/showers about a half mile walk (you can’t have everything).  Near 5 PM, a big boat came by playing its pipe organ “Take me out to the ball game,” and other songs – sounded like an ice cream truck. We docktailed at poolside, meeting some new loopers on Next Step, and remeeting others (Reunion, Summer Recess, Journey (Cat), Journey (Monk) - lots of folks were showing up early for the rendezvous. We were here two years ago by RV. If you count land yachts, we crossed our wake! Although it was more fun getting here by boat. Life is good!