Headed For Euchee

Oh Where, Oh Where, Did That Little Boat Go?

Just so you don't stay in suspense, we cleared the lock and had about five or six miles to go to the Euchee Marina, our destination for the day. When we were in the lock, we had the dingy.  I saw it as I backed a little to let the wind and current take us from the chamber wall before proceeding out.  When we moored at Euchee, I held up the line and said;  "Where's our dingy?".  A quick scan of the marina and surrounding water was futile.  So we started putting out the word about the missing dingy to boaters that were coming and going from the Euchee Fuel Dock.  Come morning, I knew it was a lost cause.  But I put out the word to the marina staff that I would pay a reward if someone came in with it.  To date, no phone call.

Euchee is an interesting place.  It is a marina complete with restaurant and bar facilities and a small hotel.  It has a water slide and floating cabins as well as cabins on land and a campground.  But nothing seems to be functioning as it should.  My guess is the facilities were up-graded just before the last recession and someone took a bath.  The marina is now under new management and there are electricians and maintenance people scurrying everywhere.  To date the restaurant is open with limited hours and limited days.  Not a good thing for a resort that makes its money while the sun shines.  The lodge, hotel, cabins and floating cabins all are of a good looking log design.  I think when it all comes back together and is managed well, it will be a going concern  But for now, it's just the place that the Sea Me Smile got separated from its dingy.  Which is a thought I have never heard mentioned in all the conversations on the Looper Daily.  I don't remember anyone saying, you know everyone is looking forward and sideboard most of the time when cruising.  What if the dingy gets loose?  So, I am now a fan of toting rather than pulling.  We did both, and hindsight being twenty- twenty, it will be our M.O. from now on.

While attempting to string it, it got away, laughing as it went

Oh yes, Euchee will also be remembered as the place where Jeff caught the biggest catfish he has ever caught and Mitchell hauled in one big turtle. Pictures at eleven.  We stayed late the next morning while I did a load of laundry and hoped that the dingy would return to the marina.  So we didn't get away until about noon again.

Snapping Turtles abound in these rivers

We were getting really close now, just sixty miles from our destination.  In fact, I was looking really closely at Euchee for a mooring spot, as the ones in the Knoxville area that I wanted were not available.  However, I decided against it in light of the marina's present state of operation (did I mention the bar isn't open?).

Marci had located a very nice spot called Wolf Creek for us to spend the next night.  So we chugged up the river and found the Wolf Creek Inlet, right where they left it.   We nosed in very slowly.  You, by now, know how we feel about bent props on the Sea Me Smile.   We picked out a wonderful spot on the western bank.  In this way we would capture the early evening shade.  I put down the anchor but we were still swinging to and fro.  So I tried to talk one of my two favorite crew members into swimming over to the bank with a spring line to hang around a tree.  No takers, so guess who did it.  You will notice by the picture that the underwear I have on, along with the issue grade orange life jacket, are not "Whitie Tighties" but rather boxer briefs.  So there I am, in all my glory, but someone had to do it.  And I told 'em we are out of alligator country and you guys are a bunch of "weenies"!  So we had a nice night, though the fishing wasn't very good, and we could have used the dingy for rowing back in the cove for better fishing and also to attach the aforementioned spring line.

OK, not a pretty picture but someone had to do it

About two-thirty in the morning, Mitchell was awakened by a clamor that involved Jeff's fishing pole.  He got up and advised Jeff that he thought his pole had just been taken by something.  They went on deck and the pole was still there but Jeff reeled in a monster catfish. They fished a little more, till around four-thirty, and then headed to bed.  I heard all this commotion going on but just smiled and went back to sleep.  These are the good times.

If you don't get up early, you miss it

The next morning when I started hauling in the anchor, they both hit the deck running.  I don't know if they didn't want to miss anything or if it was just anticipation because this was the last day of a long journey by water for the three of us. We had only twenty-five or thirty miles to go and we would be at the end of our journey.... Fort Loudon Marina, just West of Knoxville.

Headed for Chattanooga

We're On The Home Stretch

There is a stretch of the Tennessee River that I have often driven by on the highway.  The highway makes a long loop and follows the river for two or three miles.  In our goings and comings to the boat, I have often thought that one of these days I am going to be on the boat going up that stretch of river while the drivers in cars are that are driving by are thinking:  "How cool... I'd like to be doing that."  Well, today, I got to do it, and I savored every mile of it.  It was also the spot that we caught up with the Lady in Red.  I don't know if they pulled over someplace and had a bite of lunch or we were just pulling a couple more knots of speed.  However, I slowed to their eight knot speed and we followed them into Chattanooga.  Just before we got to the city docks at Chattanooga, we passed one of the party/dinner boats which runs out of Chattanooga.  I think my daughter and her husband, Chris, took this boat on a dinner cruise.

It looks like fun to me and someone else is driving

Once in the city, they radioed to the city docks, which are beautiful and right downtown.  Apparently, they were going to stay there and explore the city a little.  We on the other hand were looking for the VFW dock. We found the VFW dock covered in yellow caution tape.  It looked like a crime scene.  Actually, the dock looked like it had been damaged in one of our violent spring storms.  So we chugged up the river trying to decide if we should anchor out for the night.

We didn't stay at the city dock but I will sometime

A little farther up the river, we found ourselves in an area that had some marinas which didn't seem to be welcoming the public or transient boats as they had absolutely no signage even indicating that they had fuel for sale.  The good news was we were on a stretch of river that had many walled inlets and so we decided to stay on the hook for the night.   We got the anchor down and, while we swung to and fro, we seemed to be holding alright.


I kicked back and relaxed while the boys started catching fish.  When the sun finally fell behind the trees, the temperature dropped enough to become pleasant.  But before that happened, Mitchell was appalled when he saw the old fat man strip down to his "whitie tighties" and get into the lake.  Ah, instant heat relief.  And then for a cold beer and a cigar.  I got up twice in the night to make sure we weren't drifting away into the channel.  But everything was going according to plan.  We were right where we were supposed to be.

It's hard to beat a view like this when you're anchored out

The next morning after coffee and a few calculations, I headed out.  I say "I" because neither of my crew members had yet gotten up.  But upon hearing the engine start and feeling us move, they were soon up and around. That morning as we plodded along, I got to thinking that we had not had an engine problem since we left Orange Beach, Florida, and the fuel was now clean enough that, when I drained the sight glasses, I was able to put it back in and use it.

The only mishap had been that the Garmin simply quit working.  We determined that it isn't an electrical problem, so we are shipping it off to Garmin repair in Kansas.  For a mere $240 they will (reportedly) send it back as good as new no matter if it just quit or was laying in a hundred feet of water for a week.  We shall see.  I do have a reflection on the Garmin.  When I first got it, it was nice, however I had wished that I had a bigger, fancier one on the bridge.  Now, after having it fail, my thinking is going in a little different direction.  Since the beginning of the trip the device has gone in price from just under a thousand dollars to just under five hundred dollars.  Soon to be three fifty, possibly.  I am now thinking in terms of buying a second one , the same make and model that will accept the navigation chips that I own.  In this manner we will have an instant back up.  And the darn thing, like so many electrical items in today's world, does five times more than I am looking for anyway.  Being without one on the inland lakes and rivers is not a big issue but be in the Gulf of Mexico and it becomes a whole 'nuther story.

We hadn't gone too far when we decided we needed fuel so we pulled into Sale Creek Marina at Marker 495.2 on Chickamauga Lake.  It is a well marked channel and a pretty setting, well shaded.  If I had known about it ahead of time, I might have just made it my anchor out spot and fueled first thing.  There are no amenities there for the crew that I saw but they do repairs, have fuel and a few supplies for the boat.  Fueled up, we went back out into the main channel and headed for Euchee Marina on Watt's Bar Lake.

Back at Goose Pond Colony

Ready For The Final Leg (We Hope)

When we returned to Goose Pond, all we found of the May Flies were a few dried up carcasses, hot, hot weather and terrible fishing.  But the place was still as beautiful as before.  We traveled down there on Friday night with Eric my son-in-law, once again, as our "wheel man".  The idea was that Eric and Mitchell could fish a little upon arrival and then again on Saturday and Sunday.  Eric would leave us Sunday morning and the Sea Me Smile would head up river toward Chattanooga.  And that's pretty much what we did, however the heat and poor fishing put a little crimp in our style.

We got back to Goose Pond late in the night

 Jeff has re-joined the crew, making it Bob (Captain), Mitchell (First Mate) and Jeff (Grumbler).  "Jeff, grumble?", you ask. Oh yes, didn't I mention that Jeff is an addict.  That's right he is addicted to his computer.  And low and behold, the Internet reception on the river in this part of the world is rather dicey.  So he grumbles, and Mitchell and I just laugh at him.  His saving quality is that he also likes to fish, so when the boat has to stop for a lock or for the night, he grabs a pole and starts swinging it around.  To quote my granddaughter, Gracie:  "I like being on the boat, just not when it's going."  That sums it up for the little kids, and Jeff.

I asked Chuck, one of the original guys who was involved in the river trip idea, if he could come along, but he couldn't get away.  Then I thought of "Little Wayne", but he and his better half were going to Alaska for a vacation.  And finally, I thought of a new friend from the VFW, Dale, but he was having gall bladder surgery. So Jeff, much to his chagrin, was pressed into service.

You see, there are elements afoot within my family structure who don't want the old man out on the seven seas without a specific contingent of crew members in attendance.  I tell 'em,  "I'm a big boy; I'll be just fine"!  Their response goes something like this:  "You're not a big boy, you're fat, and further more, and most importantly, you're old!"   Ain't love grand?    

So off we went on Sunday getting about a twelve noon start and deciding we were headed for Hale's Bar Marina on Nickajack Lake, TN,  The trip went smoothly, which for us means no break downs and no injuries.  In hind sight it seems so long ago that I was in constant pain and limping around.  Wait, I guess it was a long time ago. Reality check... this trip has taken forever.

We made it to Hale's Bar (get over it; it's a sandbar) about six in the evening.  We couldn't raise anyone on the radio, but seeing all kinds of empty docks, we pulled in.  We were assisted by the crew of the Lady in Red.  While securing the boat, I noticed that the Lady in Red did have a lot of red paint on her, and the lady helping me retie my lines was dressed in a lot of red.  I said,  "You must be the boat's name sake?"  She simply smiled.  I'll took that as a, "You Got It".

The old power house is supposed to be haunted

One of the interesting things at Hale's Bar is that the marina is built on two sides of an old TVA dam and power plant.  However, apparently they had so much trouble with it leaking that they finally tore most of it down and built a new damn and lock a little farther down stream.  The old lock is used by a commercial mining company as the place they load their barges.  That worked out perfectly for them.  And what is left of the old power house is used by the marina to give haunted house tours.  Now that's creativity.

Once secure, I learned from the other boat that the marina monitors channel 68 (go figure).  And, that they close at six o'clock.  Ah, minute men.  So we'd settle up the next day.  We hadn't been tied up but a few minutes when a couple came strolling down the dock and were admiring the boats and visiting.  After a few minutes of answering questions, I invited 'em to have a crawl. (That's Boater Talk for letting someone explore your boat.)  They were impressed with the boat and, in appreciation, decided that they would bring dinner down to the dock for all of us.  We provided the barbecue and they provided the food... it was great.  Now, if I could pull that hat trick off a little more often, I would love it 

The next morning, the Lady in Red left about an hour and a half before us.  We stuck around to take care of a few things like filters and oil checks and paying our dock-age bill. Then we headed for Chattanooga, just about ten o'clock.