Dennis to Pickensville, AL

This morning started off with a bit of urgency. We didn’t have cell service in our little anchorage, so Ben hailed Whitten Lock & Dam on the backup VHF radio. The lockmaster told us we’d better hurry or we’d have to wait for a barge to come through before us. Ben told them we’d be right there.

Once we got into Whitten Lock, it became clear why you don’t want to anchor just below it. The force of the water release from that 80-foot drop would make for a rough night.

Between Whitten and Montgomery Locks, things got interesting. There were two barges that had gotten into trouble, one being the one we’d have had to wait for before going through Whitten. Both barges, drafting 8-10 feet, ran aground while trying to pass each other in a super narrow section of the channel. One was heading upriver, one downriver, and it was just an overall bad spot to try to make that pass.

Ben, being Ben, knew how the barge thrusters kick up sediment, which causes shoaling, and he knew how to navigate the channel safely with our 3.5-foot draft. He got permission to pass the first barge and eased us by.

But when we got to the second barge, we had to wait for the green light from the captain to proceed. Just as we were passing the tail end, we ran aground. Ben had to spin us off the shoal, carefully maneuvering us free.

As we went aground and Ben started spinning us, I was convinced we were getting way too close to the barge, so I went downstairs to my room to quietly freak out (without annoying Ben). When we were finally free, I told him the whole thing felt like an icy road pileup but on water. I asked how he stayed so calm as we got so close to the barge and he calmly replied that we were never even that close to it. Ooof. I’d be totally fine if we never had to do THAT again.

We kept moving through the day, locking down in Montgomery Lock & Dam and Rankin Lock & Dam. We stopped at Midway Marina to fill up with diesel and water. (I really liked the cute trees growing in the water, just outside of the channel.) Then it was on to Fulton Lock & Dam and Wilkins Lock and Dam.

At Wilkins, there was a family of geese hanging out inside the lock. Roo and I joked about whether they’d stay the whole time or fly off, but they just stayed in, even after we left. Maybe they live there? We loved that little show while we locked through.

Onward to Cochran Lock & Dam, Aberdeen Lock & Dam, and we finished the day with Columbus Lock & Dam. At Columbus we had to lock through during a downpour. It is always interesting to wear a life vest with a raincoat- which one goes on top?!

We finally anchored in Pickensville, just a few miles north of the next lock where we’ll start in the morning.

Locks today: 8 (the most for this year!)

Locks of the summer: 38

Locks of the loop: 152

Shoal to Dennis, MS

Knowing Wilson Lock only allows pleasure craft through from 9-10 AM, we got ready for the 9 AM down lock. At 7:45, Ben called the lockmaster to check in and let them know we were approaching. He surprised us, saying we can go in now with 2 pleasure vessels locking up and swap chambers with them at the midway point. We had no idea that was even a thing, so that was a cool new experience!

We retied our fenders in better locations and both Ben and I got prepped for battle, remembering how rough the lock walls were when we locked up ten days ago. By 8:20 AM, we were tied to the floating bollards and ready, but had to wait a bit while an engineer inspected the lower gate, let the upbound boats in, and get tied up.

We started going down around 8:40 AM. As we passed the upbound boats in the midway point between the 2 locks, one upriver vessel asked if we were coming back from Knoxville. I said yes. He said that we were making good time. He saw us on Facebook. Not sure which group, but it always gives me a giggle when people recognize us like that. We were completely out of the lock by 9:40 AM and on our way.

Today, we reached the Tombigbee River and state of Mississippi. We are no longer backtracking and are in new waters for the first time in over a week. 

As we entered the new area, Grand Harbor Condominiums & Marina greeted us from our starboard side. We had read that it was massive, but didn’t fully grasp it until we saw it in person.

The canal here is lined with rocks and reminded us a bit of the Richelieu in Canada, just wider. Every so often, we’d pass these interesting-looking dams on the riverbanks. They were designed to help control the water flow into the canal, but looked more like a game of Plinko than your typical dam!

When Ben called ahead to Whitten Lock, the next one on our route, the lockmaster said not to go through and anchor between this lock and the next, as this one is tallest on this portion of the river (80 ft) and every time Whitten runs, it sends a massive gush of water that way, and it’s not a great spot to be overnight. Since we wouldn’t make it through the following lock before dark, we decided to call it quits for the day and save Whitten for first thing tomorrow morning. 

Anchored by 6:30 PM, which was the earliest in several days especially with the push to get to Pensacola. We’ve got about 450 miles to go and are hoping to make it by the end of our 5th travel day from here.

Locks today: 1

Locks of the summer: 30

Locks of the loop: 144

Guntersville to Shoal, AL

We started the day by locking down through Guntersville, then made a quick stop in Huntsville to fill up on water and get pumped out.

Our goal for lunchtime was Big Bob Gibson's Bar-B-Q in Decatur. It’s ranked #7 of the top 10 BBQ places in the US and it’s the only one accessible by river on our trip, so of course we had to go. We grabbed a Lyft and made our way there.

Moose and Roo each ordered two ribs, Bear had a pulled pork sandwich, I got a pulled pork plate, and Ben ordered a BBQ baked potato topped with pulled pork, similar to the one we had in Chattanooga, except the potato itself was literally bigger than my head. Not even exaggerating. We all cleaned our plates… except Ben, who apparently maxes out at half a giant potato.

Big Bob Gibson's is also known for their homemade pies, so of course we couldn’t skip that. We got a slice each of lemon, coconut, and peanut butter. The coconut and peanut butter pies were our favorites, but all three were excellent.

After lunch, we couldn’t find a Lyft to get back to the dock. Ben managed to find us an Uber. 

We pushed off the Decatur dock around 4:30 PM. Not long after, we hit a storm and ended up following it downriver toward Wheeler Lock. We had to tie up and wait about 45 minutes for a barge to come through before we could lock down.

It was still raining as we got to our anchorage, but there was no lightning. The sun was long gone, so I had the headlight with me out on the bow to scan for logs in the water as we approached the site. We finally anchored for the night at Carters Branch.

Locks today: 2

Locks of the summer: 29

Locks of the loop: 143

Dayton to Guntersville, AL

Locked back down Chickamauga Lock and headed through Chattanooga. As we passed through, we saw boats from a rowing team practicing in the river, with their coaches nearby in smaller boats, megaphones in hand. We would've been able to see them from our boat if we were tied up at Chattanooga. This waterway is super busy with all kinds of water traffic!

Moose spotted the Ruby Falls building from the river. We were all looking and I had just given up because there were so many trees. He was so proud to be the one to spot it and point it out.

Once we got to Nickajack Lock, we had to wait for a bit, so we tied up to the lock wall. Ben started mounting the windlass switch at the helm while we waited. Roo was on helper duty, her favorite job. We hit 9.8 knots out the gate. We just love those current boosts!

We passed our first barge since... we can't remember when. Our best guess is June 20, so it has been about a week! It is funny because we didn't realize we hadn't seen any in a while until we saw this one.

It was another hot, hot day on the water. As we crossed back into Alabama and the Cartermaran ended her time in Tennessee, a curtain of rain was visible off in the distance. We couldn't wait for some reprieve from the heat. As we got closer, we tied down loose items and closed the windows in the cockpit just in time. The skies opened up and dumped on us for a good 15 minutes or so and then as quickly as it arrived, it was gone. Some of the clouds were laying low on the mountain, illustrating for us exactly how the Smoky Mountains got their name.

Our plan was to anchor at Guntersville in the same anchorage, where all the frogs were croaking after the beautiful sunset. It is so interesting to anchor in the same place twice because we had an easy time anchoring there the first time, but this time, the winds and current had obviously shifted and we had to drop the anchor in another spot in that area. This time, the sun had already set and the frogs were busy croaking while we anchored.

Locks today: 2

Locks of the summer: 27

Locks of the loop: 141

Knoxville to Dayton, TN

Ben and I had to make a decision- we could either stay and explore Knoxville one more day, which we all wanted to do, or we could pull some long days, hammer down, to try to get to Pensacola by the 4th of July. We decided that we wanted to try to make it to Pensacola for the fireworks. So, it’s time to cruise some serious miles with long boating days, fewer stops, as many locks as possible in a day, and not a lot of sightseeing along the way. Westbound and down, if you will.

Knoxville was the furthest we took the Tennessee River, so we started heading west again. That means we have to lock down at all of the locks we took up river to get to Knoxville and Chattanooga. 

At Fort Loudoun Lock, right out of the gate, we were cruising at 9 knots. A welcomed boost, once again, from the current. That will help with all of these long-mile days ahead of us. We will take the help from the current as long as possible!

Along the way today, I spotted a baby deer swimming in the water. We slowed down to get a closer look and searched the shoreline for its momma, but sadly didn’t see her anywhere nearby.

We were so glad to have seen this little deer, especially because a few weeks ago I spotted another deer swimming in the river, but that time I barely got a photo. I actually thought it was Hattie at first since it was so close to the boat and the same coloring as her. I was scrambling to check if she had somehow fallen in, and by the time I realized it wasn’t her, the moment to capture it close up on camera had passed. I felt a little sad then, thinking we’d probably never see a deer swimming again, but here we are with better footage this time, and both dogs still dry!

As if that wasn't exciting enough, we had a surprise in the sky today as well! Two C-130s flew low, hugging the corner of the river, just 300 feet off the ground, as they passed us. We heard them before we saw them and were shocked when we saw what was making that noise and how close they were. How's that for another unsuspecting event in the same day?!

Later in the day, we went down Watts Bar Lock and finally dropped anchor around 9:45 PM, after we were treated to one of the most beautiful sunsets of our trip so far. By the time we anchored, it was later than we should've been out and it was dark, but this was the closest, safe spot to anchor for the night. It was a long day, but we are one giant step closer to the Gulf of Mexico!

Locks today: 2

Locks of the summer: 25

Locks of the loop: 139

Vonore to Knoxville, TN

We pulled into Knoxville around 3 PM and tied up at the public dock at Vol Navy, just outside of Neyland Stadium. It was 98° with a heat index of 108°, and of course, we decided it wasn't going to hold us back. After all, we were here to explore the town and didn't have time to wait for the heatwave to dissipate.

While Ben ran to the post office to send spare boat parts to some of our Endeavour fam, the kids and I stayed back to secure our belongings inside the boat. Since this is another dock that is public and not locked, we had to put everything away from the cockpit and zip up all the eisenglass before heading out.

When Ben got back, it had “cooled down” to 97°, heat index 107°. So… basically the same, but off we went!

Our first stop was the Sunsphere from the 1982 World’s Fair. (AKA the Wigsphere, of The Simpsons fame.) We rode the elevator to the top and checked out the view. We couldn’t see the Cartermaran, but we lucked out by being the only people up there, so we lingered a bit in the AC before moving on to a quick stop at the World’s Largest Rubik’s Cube. 

For dinner, we headed to The Tomato Head on Market Street, which gave us total Pearl Street vibes with its pedestrian-only street, lined with fun shops, street musicians, and restaurant patios, which we would have enjoyed if it wasn't as hot as it was at the time! We had delicious pizzas and sandwiches, and managed to save room for Cruze’s Ice Cream just around the corner.

Before we got there, I’d read that Cruze’s sells milk and coffee milk, and we knew we had to get some. Turns out they also had chocolate and strawberry milk, so we left with a few pints of flavored milk and a half gallon of regular milk. They had about a dozen flavors of soft-serve-style ice cream. What was different about their flavored ice creams was that it was smooth, so it didn't have your typical chunks of mix-ins, unless you added toppings.

Knoxville gave us that cute small-town college feel, and we enjoyed it more than Nashville, but not as much as Chattanooga. Even in the crazy heat, we were glad we ventured out to explore it.

Kingston to Vonore, TN- Dragon's Tail of Tellico

Just outside of the Fort Loudon dock, we stopped at the Fort Loudoun Marina for diesel and to get pumped out. Unfortunately, their pumpout was broken, but the dockhands offered us all a popsicle because it was SO hot. This is one of the first days forecasted to be part of the heatwave, which wouldn't be so bad if there was some sort of breeze, but there just wasn't. 

Our clever kids were making up games left and right to keep themselves entertained in the shade.

The houses along the lake shore were beautiful on large lots. Ben and I reverted back to a favorite hobby of checking zillow for prices. Depending on where on the lake, some of them were pretty affordable while others were easily million dollar homes.

Our tank was 3/4 full, and we wanted to get it emptied before our overnight stay in Tellico, so we stopped at the Yacht Club at Tellico Village. There was a narrow slip at the fuel dock, but we only had to get the nose in so we could hook it up to the pump out, and we made it! Most of the boats at this marina are pontoons, so the size of the slips here really makes sense.

While hooked up, Ben met a retired firefighter who has kids and grandkids in Castle Rock. Small world. He was excited that we are loopers and took a photo to prove it to his wife. 

Little Tennessee River is Tellico Lake. It reminds us of Georgian Bay, but is MUCH hotter. The heat index was 106 today. We were all in bathing suits and keep getting in the shower to rinse off and get wet to stay cool. 

There was a part at the end of the lake that was an old railroad crossing. The pilings were still in place and Ben had us go to the bow to ensure there was nothing in the water that we would hit. We picked the widest part between piling and had no issues.

Not too far beyond the old railway, we anchored, ate dinner, and then took a Chicken ride to the Chilhowee Dam. 

Fun fact: We are only 8 miles from the NC border. This is the furthest east we will be inland.

Locks today: 1

Locks of the summer: 23

Locks of the loop: 137

Chattanooga to Kingston, TN

This morning, we left Chattanooga early. There was a lock a few miles away from our Chattanooga dock to start our day and another lock in the afternoon. In our second one, we lost a fender- again! This time, it didn't pop, it fell off (and, again, it wasn't my fault!) and was floating around in the lock with us. Before the gates opened, the lock employee hooked it for us and got it back to us! Hooray!

At our anchorage, the kids jumped in and swam for a bit. There was zero current and the water was warmer than bath water. They tried to get Hattie to swim with them, but she didnt want to. Moose grabbed her and threw her in at one point and she immediately got back out. I guess she wasn't a fan when she fell into the water a few weeks ago!

Locks today: 2

Locks of the summer: 22

Locks of the loop: 136

Chattanooga, TN

Ben was up early to pick up the rental car for our Chattanooga exploration days. He called me when he was close to the boat, explaining that all of the parking spaces were blocked off due to a festival. So, he was going to leave the flashing hazard lights on while he ran down the crazy pathway to get us from the dock and lead us back to the car. We had to be ready and move quick!

Our first stop was to get engine coolant. Since we were out early and didn't know when we'd be done with all we had planned for the day, we wanted to get this now since they closed at 4.

The Chattanooga agenda was a spur of the moment thing when I pulled up Chattanooga to see where it was on Google Maps. Rock City and Ruby Falls were marked and they triggered a memory of mine. I checked in with my parents and sister and sure enough, we went to both when I was a kid. I wasn't sure how old I was when I was there, but had some random memories.

Our timed entry tickets to Rock City were at 10:45. Due to the length of time spent in line buying the engine coolant, we arrived at 10:50, went potty, and got straight in5o the garden without waiting in the queue that snaked around outside in the hot sun. This also helped break up the potential crowd to travel through the same places at the same times.

As we wound through the garden, all I could remember was the swinging bridge and being confused about how to be able to see 7 states at once. When we saw the sign that directed us to choose between swinging bridge or stone bridge, everyone but Bear chose the swinging bridge so she hesitantly joined us. The others of us had to jump a little on the bridge to make it swing a little more, but we had to stop when Bear got scared, reminding me of my experience there with my mom!

Fat Man's Squeeze, Lovers Leap, Swing-a-Long Bridge, Fairy Tale Caverns- all became places etched into Bear, Moose, and Roo's childhood like they were mine. I distinctly remember the gnomes in glowing rock caves, covered by metal bars. They were too tall for me to peek into and I had to ask to be picked up at each cave, which turned into me being upset resulting in my family not getting to enjoy it as much. Roo didn’t need to be lifted up to see in, so I'm assuming when I visited as a kid, I was probably 5 or 6 years old.

We left Rock City and went to Costco to restock some food for meals- not snacks- and got their delicious chicken bakes for lunch. It always feels great to feed our whole family for less than $15! Bear was beyond excited to be in the town that Kane Brown was born in.

Once we found a place to park and unload our haul, we put everything away and were off to the aquarium. This aquarium was inside of two buildings (1st was River Experience, 2nd was Ocean Experience) right outside the gate of our marina and was highly recommended by our friend, Libby. It was amazing, too! Otters, river life, alligators, sturgeon, butterflies, lemurs, ocean life, sea turtles, sharks, jellies, and even a Giant Pacific Octopus all live there! (After reading Remarkably Bright Creatures, I was thrilled to marvel at the Giant Pacific Octopus in real life.) So many cool things to see in one place. 

Dinner at Burger Republic was a recommendation from an employee at the aquarium. It was delicious. We told the kids we would go back tomorrow just for one of their shakes because we already had a plan for cookie dough/ice cream from Downtown Dough for dessert on our walk back.

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The next morning, we woke up to swimmers swimming by the boat in some sort of race. It was surprising to see them swim right outside the windows of the Cartermaran. 

Our timed entry tickets for Ruby Falls this morning were at 9:50 AM. Today we got out early, so we didn't wind up being late like we were yesterday. It was a direct route, instead of weaving through a bunch of side streets like we did yesterday. There also was no traffic, which we chalked up to it being a Sunday morning. We ate on the run and finished our protein shakes in car to waste some time. We went inside and hungout in the gift shop until it was our time to go down the elevator 260 feet into the cave.

We were the third group in the elevator, so we were the third from the front for most of the tour. This was another nostalgic trip for me. I remembered being in the cave, but don't remember the falls, specifically. There was a cool light show. 

Lucas, our funny and informative tour guide, said that in April, they had to close down the tours because so much rain was flooding the cave. It became very dangerous to have so many tour groups with the rising waters, with slow-moving evacuation routes. At the start of our spelunking, we were 260 feet under the mountain. By the time we got to the falls, we were 1,120 feet under- but not because we descended that much, we simply moved under more of land on Lookout Mountain.

Lucas suggested Purple Daisy for lunch, but it turned out that they were closed on Sundays, so we went to Hickory Pit BBQ instead. It was a small place with only 5 tables inside and a few more outside, but it was good. They won best BBQ in Chattanooga by Trip Advisor a few times. An employee there recommended the baked potato with butter, sour cream, cheese, and chopped pork with BBQ sauce on top, so we had to try it. Wow. We also got chopped pork sandwiches and ribs. We all licked our fingers and finished all of our food!

We skipped around on the way home- Harbor Freight, Home Depot, Publix, then went back to the boat to cool down and hang while Ben dropped off the rental car. That evening, we walked to get our delicious shakes at Burger Republic before turning in for the night.