M/V ILLUSIONS                    TX TO TN CRUISE 2004 TX TO TN CRUISE Trip 5 Knoxville to Chattanooga, TN August 30 – September 10, 2004 Travel to Knoxville, TN, Monday, August 30, 2004      Angela and I flew directly to Knoxville via Continental Airlines, arriving at 1:30pm.  We rented a car from Enterprise and went to the boat at Fort Loudoun Yacht Club.  Eric and Brian were doing a compound and wax job on the boat, and they said they would be finished by Tuesday.  We had our doubts.      We unloaded the luggage and made a grocery list.  We went to the grocery store and delivered the groceries back to the boat.  Then we went back to our favorite Knoxville restaurant, Puleo’s.  As usual, they served a very good meal. Lay Day, Knoxville, TN, Tuesday, August 31, 2004      Eric wasn’t finished, and we decided to run an errand and see some of the countryside.  We drove to Lenoir City and bought a new prop for the dinghy outboard engine.  We ate lunch at Chili’s in Knoxville, and then we drove some of the back roads.       We drove roughly northeast, passing through Seymour and Sevierville, briefly.   We took Highway 388 to Douglas Dam (202 feet high, and no locks), and we drove around that structure, taking pictures of the French Broad River and the lake above the dam.  Douglas Lake is quite large and very attractive.      We drove to the town of Dandridge, which used to be a port on the French Broad River before the lake was formed in 1943.  We took the back road from Dandridge to Clevenger, and then we drove Highway 321 to Newport.  In a book I was reading about the French Broad River, I learned that New Port used to be on the French Broad River.  When the railroads came along and laid their tracks besides the Big Pigeon River instead of the French Broad, Newport changed its location and altered its name.      I also learned why the river was called the French Broad River.  Earlier names had been given to describe streams in the area such as First Creek, Second Creek, Long Creek, Dry Fork, English Broad (controlled by the British), etc.  That stream was in an area controlled by the French at that time, so it was called the French Broad, to differentiate it from the English Broad River.      From Newport we drove Highway 25 to Del Rio, in the Cherokee National Forest, crossing the French Broad several times.  Then we returned to Parrottsville via Highway 340.  I went to the first grade in Parrottsville, when its population was about fifty people.  It hadn’t changed much.  The last time we were in Parrottsville we looked for the old home place and found out it had collapsed due to lack of maintenance after it was sold out of my grandmother's estate.      (After Parrottsville, my family moved to Greeneville, TN, where my brother Will lived at the time of this cruise, and then to Morristown, TN, where I graduated from high school.  The nearby lake at Morristown was named Cherokee Lake, which was an impoundment on the Holston River, 175 feet high and no locks.)      From there we took the fastest way back to Knoxville.  We had decided to try a German restaurant in Farragut, near the yacht club; and we drove there for some authentic Hungarian goulash.  It was good, and we had enjoyed a good day. Knoxville, TN to Anchorage at Mile 571, Wednesday, September 1, 2004      We settled up with Eric and with Polly at the yacht club and headed downstream on the Tennessee River at 11am.  We had pumped out the waste tank and filled up the fresh water tank,  and I had changed the prop on the dinghy outboard.  We dropped 72’ in the lock at Ft. Loudoun Dam, second highest on the TN River system.  We left Fort Loudoun Lake to continue downstream on the Watts Bar Lake.      At about 4pm we pulled into Smith Creek, a cove marked by one red and one green buoy, with deep water indicated by the white color on the charts.  It was a great anchorage.  We stayed there two days. Lay Day, Anchorage, Thursday, September 2, 2004      I dropped the dinghy and explored the cove, the islands in the TN River across the channel, and other coves nearby.  The dinghy ran well.  I saw a couple of very nice homes, which we photographed from the big boat the next day.      The boat was clean and waxed, and I decided to keep it that way as long as I could.  So I began scrubbing the decks with a bucket of soapy water and a brush.  I rinsed it off with our deck wash down pump.  The second day I did it, the pump quit, which had happened many times before.  The water pumps on that boat had been a problem for a long time.             Hurricane Frances was headed for the US and Florida specifically, and we kept up with it via the television and the weather and news channels.  We had an employee/friend in Florida and several other friends in Florida; so we called and checked on all of them.  The storm was tremendous in size and intensity; fortunately it diminished somewhat before coming ashore.        The high temperature was 77 degrees F at the Knoxville airport.  It was humid and warm, but not as hot and humid as it gets in Houston.  The sky was overcast in the morning and cleared in the afternoon. Smith Creek Anchorage to Ten Mile, TN, Friday, September 3, 2004      When we got up, the generator was running but we had no electricity.  No circuit breakers were tripped, but the generator was not “genning”, so I turned it off.  We pulled up the anchor and headed for Blue Springs Marina.  They promised to help, although it was a holiday weekend and they were busy.      The weather pattern continued to be overcast, humid, and still – almost no wind.      We could not get a mechanic, but we did get a slip at Blue Springs Marina.  It was a covered slip, and we wanted an open slip so as to use our satellite tv antenna.  While we were covered, I opened the control box on the generator.  Some smoke came out when I removed a 15amp fuse.  Inside a wire was burned(?) off the 2amp circuit breaker.  I went to the store and bought a 15amp circuit breaker to replace the blown 15amp fuse.  It wasn’t quite the same, but I thought it would work, and it did, after I reattached the wire to the 2amp breaker.  The generator worked fine after that.      Management found an outside slip for us, and our television worked most of the time.  The people at that marina were so friendly.  We met several folks at the first slip.  CD had a Gibson houseboat and a couple of those electric scooters to run around the marina.  (I want one of those.)  Jim and Betty, on M/V MIMI, from Kemah, TX, were in their end slip; and Jim’s brother Dick was there working on his sailboat.      At the end slip (outside slip) we were assisted by John and Corey from Crossville, TN.  They were at Grand Mariner Marina at the same time we were; and they had gotten to know Cappy and Judy, from Natchez, MS, who were trailing us from Biloxi over to Mobile.  They had a 44’ Gulfstar Aft Cabin, and we visited with them several times, on our boat and on theirs.  Next to us were Gary and Sue on a 36’ Sea Ray Aft Cabin.  Gary had just had back surgery similar to the surgery I had in August 2003.  Their friends were John and Mary, I believe; John smoked a pipe.   Gary and his friend John had worked for TVA.      I changed the oil and filter on the generator and added water to the 4D generator battery.  Also I cleaned out the sea strainer for the air conditioner pump.  It had a lot of grass in it.      After dinner Angela and I started playing Sequence again.  It became a daily habit, along with watching the news and weather channels to check on the hurricanes. Lay Day, Ten Mile, TN, Saturday, September 4, 2004      I checked the remainder of the sea strainers – the two engines, the deck wash down pump, and the generator; and all were pretty clear.  I jumped across a solenoid on the deck wash down pump and got it to run again.  (Thereafter I resumed the daily practice of cleaning the side decks each day; the spiders were very industrious,)  I tried to make the potable water pumps perform better to no avail.  Pump No. 2 did not work at all; Pump No.1 worked most of the time but was erratic.      I checked the water levels in the engine batteries.  There were two 8D batteries per engine.  One pair was fine; the other pair took a little water.  The last time I checked the house batteries they were fine, so I did not check them again.  It was getting hotter, consistent with a Labor Day weekend.  The sun came out, and the sky cleared in the afternoon.      I checked the oil levels in the engines and the transmissions.  All were okay except for the starboard transmission; I added some oil to top it off.  A little more cleaning and housekeeping finished me off for the day.      John and Corey took M/V KATYDID across the river to an anchorage to spend the weekend with family and friends.  We decided to join them there on the following day. Ten Mile, TN to Anchorage at Mile 548.2, Sunday, September 5, 2004      That was a travel day, but just barely.  Blue Springs Marina was in a cove a mile or so off the river at Mile 547.5.  It took about 30 minutes to get from the dock over to the safe harbor anchorage.  In our “statistics” I counted 2 miles for the day.      John and Corey were anchored there, along with a few other boats.  We anchored, and then I took the dinghy for a ride.  I went down the river and checked out some coves as well as White Creek, which wandered a few miles up into the hills off the lake.  I liked Watts Bar Lake.  It had lots of islands with deep water, and it had side streams I that I liked to explore.  Many of the homes had been there for a while, and families were busy with the weekend activities wherever you looked.      Back at the boat I took a second anchor out behind the boat.  The satellite tv antenna was not keeping the signal, due to swinging on the main anchor: and the second anchor solved that problem.      Hurricane Frances was downgraded to a tropical storm.  It apparently did a lot of damage in the Melbourne, West Palm Beach, and Stuart, FL.  As it came ashore and went to Tampa and back into the Gulf of Mexico, its winds diminished to 65 mph. Anchorage at Mile 548.2 to Lowe Branch, Monday, September 6, 2004      On Labor Day I visited with John and Corey at their boat, thinking they were going ashore and I might borrow a vehicle to go to a store and get some more groceries.  Actually Corey had the lettuce and tomatoes we needed, so we did not have to go ashore.             At 2:40pm we pulled up the anchors and moved out into the lake.  I showed Angela most of the spots where I had taken the dinghy the previous day.  Angela took some photos of houses we found attractive.            I wanted to take the shortcut marked “for small boats only” at Mile 541.5.  We had gone through there in 1998 in our Carver, and the Grand Harbour had the same draft.  We made it fine, and Angela took photos.  It was deep enough, but it was very narrow.                           After that we looked for an anchorage.   We decided to anchor near the Watts Bar Dam and go through the lock in the morning.  Our weather was going to be affected by the remnants of Frances, so I was looking for information on our weather.  East winds were predicted, so we anchored about 2 miles off the river in Lowe Branch, behind an island, with protection from an east wind.  We anchored in 15 feet of water.          The dinghy ride took me up Piney River, and I wish I had taken a camera.  Fred Myers’ guide said the Piney River was a delight, and I agree – it was pretty.  The Cumberland Plateau was visible to the west above many islands, deep water, and fine old homes, resorts, and campgrounds that characterize that area.  I planned to take Angela back the next day on the big boat, but the weather did not cooperate.       The weather was probably going to go downhill and stay that way for the next few days, so I lifted the dinghy back to the boat deck and lashed it down.  The winds were east and northeast all night, and fairly strong at 10 – 15 knots. Anchorage in Lowe Branch to Chattanooga, TN, Tuesday, September 7, 2004      It was rainy when we first got up, and it stayed that way all day.  I called the lock about 11am and was told a multi-hour locking was about to begin.  (The top 3 locks on the Tennessee River system were 60’ by 360’ at that time.)  We went over there promptly and were allowed to lock down before the towboat and its barges.  The drop in the lock was 59 feet, and we were then on Chickamauga Lake.             As we proceeded downstream, my plan was to anchor one or two more nights at places to be determined and then stop for a number of weeks at the Chattanooga Yacht Club.  I had read about the Town of Dayton and Richland Creek in Fred Myers’ cruise guide, so we decided to have a look at Dayton.  Angela was not familiar with the Scopes “Monkey Trial”, and Fred’s book said their courthouse had a museum in the basement which explained the whole story.      At Mile 504.4, approximately, we turned up into Richland Creek.  The rain had diminished quite a bit, and we had an enjoyable ride up the 2.5 or so miles to Dayton.  As the guide book said, the channel was deep but narrow.  Our problems started when we got to the harbor at Dayton.  We could find no dock to tie up to and the depth was inadequate.  So we went back downstream to the river.  The creek and its valley were attractive.  We thought we could see some leaves changing colors already.             We consumed about three quarters of an hour on Richland Creek.  As we went further downstream the rain increased.  The forecast for Wednesday was for more of the same or worse.  We were only 30 miles from the Chattanooga Yacht Club.  Why fight it another night?      The manager, Vincent LaSelva, was in when I called, and he said to come ahead.  We knew they had plenty of transient docks, but I wanted to keep him informed of our plans.  When we arrived we were offered a covered slip, but we wanted to watch television.  So we opted for an open slip.       As we made our final approach the winds hit their peak for the day, it seemed to me.  I had not had any problems with wind to that point, but a north to northeast wind kicked us around getting into that slip.  Vincent and his helper and Angela and I got us in and tied up about 3:45pm.  It rained the rest of the evening, and the wind blew at 12 – 15 knots, gusting to 20 or more. Lay Days, Chattanooga, TN, Wednesday and Thursday, September 8 and 9, 2004      The weather was Fall-like the next two days.  We did not have any more rain, but the skies were generally overcast, clearing on Thursday afternoon.  The high temperature was in the 70s; it was nice.      Enterprise rented us a car on Wednesday, and I exchanged it for a National car on Thursday.  Enterprise would go get me at the yacht club, and National would not.  National would rent us a one way vehicle to drop in Huntsville; Enterprise would not.      We went downtown to the Chattanooga Choo Choo.  It was a complex including a hotel/old railroad station, some shops and restaurants, some railroad cars to tour (or book an overnight stay in), and a model railroad.  We toured the model, which was said to be one of the world’s largest, with over 3000 miles of track (3000 miles scaled down I believe).  It was fun to see, with hundreds of buildings, figures, industrial operations like mines, and lots of rail cars and locomotives.  There were at least six trains running at one time on different loops of track with numerous tunnels.      Downtown Chattanooga reminded us of what little we had seen of downtown Memphis.  It had a lot of old, abandoned buildings and seedy looking neighborhoods.  It also had some very nice areas, of course; but we drove through the others to get to Market Street downtown where the old railroad station was located.      That area was very hilly, and it must have been difficult to get railroads and highways through the hills and over the rivers and creeks.       We wanted some garlic for dinner, so we ate at Carrabba’s in the Hamilton Place Mall.  On the way home we stopped for some diet cokes and other supplies that could stand the wait until we returned to the boat.       On Thursday we went to Boaters World and bought some supplies for the boat.  Then I changed the sump pump for the master stateroom and replaced the rubber piece that the foot of the outboard sat on (I had lost it on Trip 4).  I dried out the dinghy and put its cover on it.  We moved the boat from the transient dock to a covered slip and tied up and plugged in there.  General clean-up, packing for the trip home, and housekeeping took the rest of the day.      The weather was nice, but it got hot towards the late afternoon.  Hurricane Ivan had hit Grenada a day or so earlier and was headed to Jamaica with winds of 160 mph (Category 5).  No one was sure if it would hit Florida (again) or possibly go into the Gulf of Mexico (?). Fly to Houston, TX, Friday, September 10, 2004      We flew from Huntsville, AL to get a direct flight on Continental.  I figured we needed a rental car anyway, at the end of that trip and at the beginning of the next trip.  Driving to Huntsville would allow me to see Goose Pond Colony Marina in Scottsboro, AL, which I had wanted to do.  The Huntsville flight was probably less expensive, too; but it saved us from sitting in Memphis for a couple of hours.      We did stop in Scottsboro and saw Goose Pond Colony Marina and met Tony, the Harbormaster.  I had spoken to Tony over the phone.  Louis Letson was not there, and we had very little time, so I promised myself we would meet him later.  Louis and I had communicated via email several times, and I was looking forward to meting him someday.  That area was going to be the site of a Fall Color Cruise and Festival the last two weekends in October, and we drove around and checked it out. Statistics for the trip: Running Hours:  16 Miles:  150 Generator Hours:  98 Fuel Used:  N/A Fuel Costs:  N/A Running Days:  5 Lay Days:  5 Travel Days:  2 Total Days  12  Average Speed:  9.4 mph Average Fuel:  N/A Average Fuel Cost:  N/A Average Miles Per Running Day:  30 Average Running Hours Per Running Day:  3.2 Locks  2 Statistics for Trips 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 Running Hours:  165 Miles:  1,965 Generator Hours:  448 Fuel Used:  3,187 gallons Fuel Costs:  $4,407 Running Days:  34 Lay Days:  16 Travel Days:  9 Total Days  59 Average Speed:  11.9 mph Average Fuel:  N/A Average Fuel Cost:  $ 1.38 per gallon Average Miles Per Running Day:  58 Average Running Hours Per Running Day:  4.8 Locks  26 Generator Hours per Engine Hour = 2.7