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