0429 A towboat passes. There is very little wake in the cove.
Before I rose I heard light rain on the cabin top. This didn't sound good since we had to get up soon and be on our way. We fixed breakfast and got ready.
1000 Raised anchor We then slowly felt our way out of Mullins Cove with the depth sounder.
The day quickly proved nasty wet and cold but the scenery was incomparable. Also last night's work on the knotmeter was not effective.
These steam drifts suggest caves.
1025 Mile 439.5
Here we approach what appears to be an island but turns out to be a peninsula.
1100 Mile 440.5
1115 Mile 441.8
1135 Mile 443.2
1143 Mile 443.7
1157 Unusual structure at Mile 440.0 I quickly realized that this is the discharge point for the Raccoon Mtn Pumped storage facility. TVA pumps water up during off peak hours and uses it to generate electricity during periods of high demand. It is best to keep moving along past here.
I had never seen the depth guage register this deep but it stands to reason because the river is so narrow at this point. The speed guage showed 0.0 throughout the trip. This may be due to the paddle wheel being fouled.
1212 Mile 445.8
1215 Water guage at 34.5
1215 Mile 446.0
1225 Mile 446.8
1233 Mile 447.5
1300 Mile 449.5
The Riverboat Chattanooga Star
We took turns steering and warming back up. We each drank lots of hot tea.
I can tell we are getting close to a big city
A school campus. I later used Google Maps and Wikipedia to determine that this was Baylor School.
1340 River Gorge Tourboat is tootling along and suddenly comes to a slam bang stop just before passing us.
For all the talk about the economy being bad this section of I-24 was cram packed with tractor trailers moving stuff.
1350 Mile 453
1410 Mile 454.6
1436 Mile 456.8
1455 Mile 458.3
1630 Docked in Chattanooga
We docked at the Ross Landing Bluff floating docks between Market St and Walnut St bridges. This turned out to be a nice place to stay. At least with Andrea Lynn the wakes did not affect us much. These docks are run by MarineMax. These folks proved very prompt and courteous. They require a reservation before arriving at the dock. This seems to be a good way to handle times when the docks are in high demand.
Once we were tied up the priority was to get dried off and warmed up. I changed clothes. Then I hosed down the boat and added water to the tank. The water pressure here was quite impressive - enough to shoot the hose out of the water fill pipe when I turned the water on. The heater had a broken switch so I had take it apart and set the switch on the inside with pliers. It is now permanently set to heat. I will be getting a new heater after the trip.
A view of Walnut St Bridge at night looking toward North Shore.
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