TRIP 2 SUMMARY
June 27-July 12, 1998
Knoxville, TN-Chattanooga, TN

     The plan for Trip 2 was to cruise the rivers in that part of East Tennessee and see the headwaters of as many rivers as possible.  We also hoped to see family who lived in that area.  Our Carver 440, ILLUSIONS, was docked on the Tennessee River, Ft Loudoun Lake, after Trip1, in which we traveled from Houston to the Knoxville area.

     Trip 2 was two weeks long, but we only traveled 523 miles.  We ran the engines 45 hours and the generator 173 hours.  We went through 4 locks, beginning at elevation 814 and ending at elevation 682.    It was hot and humid, with very little rain, on most days, but cooler and nice at night.  Also, it was hazy most days, which really made us appreciate a minor cold front, which cleared the air.  Angela loved to see those mountains, and so did I.

     We flew to Knoxville, TN on Saturday, June 27, bought groceries, and ate out with my mom.  She dropped us at Dick and Sue’s, where we were keeping the boat; and then she drove home to try and get there while it was still light outside.  We carried our purchases down the 150-ft hill and into the boat, which was hot.  What was worse, our freezer had defrosted and refrozen one or more times, and we could smell the spoiled meat.  Angela spent hours that day and in the days after that trying to clean the refrigerator and get rid of that smell.

     On Sunday we explored the upper end, the head of navigation, of the Tennessee River.  The river is formed by the junction of the Holston and the French Broad Rivers, neither of which is navigable very far above the junction.  We met with family and friends for a boat ride, some neat photos and videos, and lunch in downtown Knoxville, Mile 647.5.  Angela and I returned the boat to our temporary dock at Mile 604.1 about 9pm.

     On Monday, June 29, we went up the Little Tennessee River to the head of navigation, Mile 31, which was 31 miles above the dam at Lake Tellico, which was only a mile or so from our dock at Mile 604.1 on the Tennessee River, or Ft Loudoun Lake (these two lakes and rivers have dams immediately adjacent to each other and are connected by a short canal).  We anchored in the river, since it was not likely we would have any sizeable boat traffic upstream of us.

     The next day, Tuesday, we took the dinghy and went up the river a few miles to Chilhowie Dam, the first of four TVA dams on this river without locks.  Then we motored downstream to the intersection with the Tellico River, and we turned upstream.  We found a nice cove to anchor in, but our anchor rope was coming apart, so we tied ropes fore and aft to trees for the night.

     On Wednesday, July 1, we took the dinghy and explored the upper reaches of the Tellico River and saw Ballplay Creek, Notchy Creek, and the Tellico itself, all of which were beautiful and unspoiled.  We were having battery problems, so we got a slip at the Ft Loudoun Marina for the night and did some laundry there.

     July 2, Thursday, the mechanics fixed our battery charger and replaced the second bilge blower of this cruise.  Angela cleaned the boat, and we had friends and relatives for lunch and dinner at the boat.  We returned the boat to Dick and Sue’s late that night, with our water supply replenished (happiness is a full water tank!).

     On Friday, July 3, we borrowed Sue’s car and drove to a boat store to pick up a new anchor line and some other supplies.  Then we drove up Hwy 129 to see Chilhowie Dam and the other dams on the Little Tennessee River.  The other three were Calderwood, Cheoah, and Fontana.  Fontana Dam was the tallest dam in the TVA system at 480 feet, and Fontana Lake was beautiful. I’d like to rent a houseboat (which we saw a lot of in this area) and spend a week on that lake.

     We also saw a portion of that road called ‘The Dragon’, from its curvy shape as viewed from the air.  In 11 miles the road has 318 curves; it is almost never straight.  Motorcyclists from all over the country come to test their skills by driving this road as fast as they can, which is usually 20 miles per hour-it’s really curvy.

     Saturday, July 4 was spent getting the new anchor rope spliced onto our chain and changing all the oil and filters in the engines and generator.  We left the area on Sunday, going downstream through Ft Loudoun Lock on Sunday morning.  We motored down the Tennessee about 30 miles and turned into the Clinch River.  We traveled upstream about 38 miles, past the Melton Hill Lock and Dam, and anchored just off the channel in a wide cove.  The game warden visited us that evening, checked our registration, and gave us some information about that lake we were glad to have.

     On Monday, July 6, we motored upstream to Mile 62, just above the head of navigation, and anchored in the river in about 11 feet of water.  We put the dinghy in the water and proceeded to try to get to Norris Dam, which Angela and I had seen on a previous automobile trip to this area.  We 
went about 4 miles before we ran out of water, and we were still 14-15 miles away from the dam.  These mountain streams were cold, and the slope of the bottom is much greater than streams in Texas.  (Leaving the upper end of the Little Tennessee River, I noted the depth went from 13 feet to 33 feet in about 6 miles; that’s a substantial drop.)

     Fog greeted us on Tuesday morning, and we got some great photos and video footage as we went downstream with the fog covering the water.  We called the Ft Loudoun Lock, who provide the personnel to open Melton Hill Lock, in advance and set a time for our locking through.  After the lock, at Mile 4.5 on the Clinch River, we turned right and went upstream on the Emory River.  After motoring 12 miles upstream on the Emory, we came to the head of navigation at Harriman, TN.  We turned around and went back downstream, photographing all the pretty rock bluffs we could see.  After the lower 4.5 miles on the Clinch River, we were once again on the Tennessee River, Watts Bar Lake.  We traveled 20 more miles downstream and pulled into Blue Springs Marina for the night.

     On Wednesday, July 8, we traveled downstream through the Watts Bar Lock to the Chickamauga Lake.  At the intersection with the Hiwassee River, we turned left and went upstream about 30 miles.  We anchored in the river above the head of navigation in about 13 feet of water.  I would have liked to go further up the river, but our previous experience indicated we should not go far above the dredged channel for fear of going aground.

     We spent the night at anchor, and proceeded downstream on Thursday morning.  We had managed to miss all the ‘drift’ in those rivers up to that point; but we finally hit ‘something’, never seen or identified, at 10:50am that morning.  Apparently, no damage occurred to the hull or running gear, but it scared us.  We were at the fuel dock at the Chickamauga Marina at 12:30 when a small squall blew through. 

     Friday we spent cleaning the boat and making arrangements for the boat for the next two weeks.  High on the list was getting the overheating problem in the starboard engine cleared up.  Also, we ordered chain for our anchor rode; the windlass was tearing up the rope.  The third and final bilge blower was dying and needed to be replaced.  None of the florescent bulbs in the heads would work anymore, and so on.  We rented a car and bought some CAT filters and other supplies.

     Saturday we went sightseeing in Chattanooga, primarily up on Lookout Mountain.  We also drove up to the Ocoee River and saw where the 1996 Olympic whitewater rafting was done.  There was a very involved, complex system installed for that purpose, including the redesign of the riverbed for a mile or two.  Also included were several dams, powerhouses, flumes, pumps, and pipelines to divert the river over a mountain, etc.  It was very interesting: I left there wanting to go whitewater rafting.  We returned to Houston on Sunday, July 12.

     We had met our goals of reaching and exploring the upper reaches (head of navigation) of the Tennessee River, the Little Tennessee River, the Tellico River, the Clinch River, the Emory River, and the Hiwassee River.  We prepared two videotapes of this trip.